Write or post something relevant.
So you know where to find your audience, now how to connect with them through relevant posts.
This is the hard one. What if you are not a writer or you don’t feel like you have anything that helps you stand out from the rest. To tell you the truth, this stumps me. We are a small business, so we don’t have a team of writers or designers to create new things all of the time. So my answer, look at the competition, read what they write, are you having trouble finding the answer to something – research it and write a little bit about what you found. Other people are asking the same thing, like . . . Social Media Plans for Small Businesses. Then – also write about what you are doing with your business – what are your goals – how you will achieve them – new products – upcoming events – new ideas – old ideas – just ideas. Business ideas help others get their brain moving; you can ask your clients or future clients what they want from you. This will lead to more things to write. Social Media is all about conversation and learning from your audience. So just talking with your audience is a success. Also, you can steal other people’s great articles and comment on them in a news section on your website. Other professionals are amazing sources for information – use them. Plus it opens you up to their network.
Above all, this isn’t a place to make sales pitches. I know you are like, what if I am displaying a new product? My answer, you can be excited about your new product and post it out there for people to see, but let your product sell itself without a phony sales pitch. Also, don’t only post when you have a new product – invent conversation in between and respond to your audience then post your product as a response.
Tip: It is also important to establish a voice for your posts. Are you funny or just the facts kind of writer? Just remember to write everything in a word processing program so you catch the big bugs in your writing, nothing spells fraud like a misspelled word; I don’t know how many times in the last week I have seen people use the word loose instead of lose – argh.
Our goal: MNW has five amazing women that bring multiple strengths to the table, a couple are excellent writers, but the rest of us keep finding other things to do, so our solution is to split up the social media task by having everyone write five articles a year. Also, post on other media regarding upcoming events, event updates, industry
Stay tuned: My final blog in this series is about social media scheduling. We have all run across blogs and social media sites for companies we enjoy and noticed they stopped posting 6 months ago – not current therefore no longer relevant . . . you leave wondering if they went out of business or if they lost the employee that was in charge of social media, or maybe they had an accident where they lost their ability to post, basically thinking of everything but the actual product or service you look to them for – then you move on to the next place to find that information.
See you next week,
Kasey B. Wright
About the author:
Kasey B. Wright is a small town, small business kind of girl with nature in her heart. She grew-up working long hours at her parents general store in amazing Joseph, Oregon – Google it, oh wait, here’s a link – visit! Really- Arts, Camping, Resort on Wallowa Lake, Mountains, 52 high lakes, Gorgeous! Enough with the free advertisement, but truly it is amazing – Google it! Now days, if not twiddling away on her iMac, painting, or mentally re-designing pretty much everything, she is outside with her family enjoying all of the adventures that lay beyond her front door (which in Missoula are abundant and basically start within a five-minute radius of her house). Her family, a husband of whom she met as a freshman in college (architect – I know two designers and yes, nothing ever gets done), our dog (neurotic first child wire-haired pointing griffon), cat (shelter cat – maybe the most adjusted member of our family), and toddler twins (girl+boy) in chronological order, keep the adventure alive! Oh yah, fish too (rarely claimed).
