Social Media – Consistency is Key
There are so many different social platforms out there and so much to explore that the whole idea of using them to help market your business can seem overwhelming. The biggest mistake I see and one that I see incredibly frequently is where there is a flurry of activity in one of these portals and then nothing sometimes for months as a time.
It’s like when you go to a website and click on latest news, the last post that comes up is from 2 years ago. They would be better off not having a news page in the first place right? Showing this lack of follow through can harm your reputation which is ironic considering that social media is all about helping to build your online reputation.
When you start using social media you need to have a plan, yes it’s boring but its vitally important to understand the following:
- What you are looking to achieve
- Who is going to be responsible for social media in your business
- Do they have the necessary training
- How much time will be allocated to the campaign
- How are you going to measure, review and re-adjust
If you find that it will be difficult to do more than 15 minutes a day, well then plan how to best use this time. There are some great tools around like Hootsuite which enable you to schedule the messages you are sending but don’t overuse it as you need to have that human element attached to what you are doing and so being ‘around’ and engaging with people regularly is far better.
Quantity is important because you want to reach as many people as possible, but quality is even more important. For example, you are far better posting one important piece of information on your Facebook page each day, than posting 20 that are just rubbish. People will soon switch off if they see you using these things as a broadcast platform only. You NEED to talk to people not simply send out countless messages. Otherwise you simply aren’t doing it properly.
So why not fit your social media time into your day and make it become a habit, try doing it first thing before you even look at your email, or whilst you are eating lunch. Whatever you decide, keep it consistent.
