As a solopreneur (an owner of a one-woman business) who is just starting out, I've been really obsessed with social media lately. I have a lot of questions, such as...
What's the best platform?
Is Facebook still the go-to? What about Instagram? All those beautiful images are bound to get noticed. I'm hearing rumours that Pinterest is a Solopreneurs secret weapon, what does that mean? How can I use it?
It's a lot of information to delve into and process. Most small business owners start out with a very small marketing budget. The fact that my career choice IS marketing doesn't change that. I want to get the best bang for my buck, just like you.
Here is what I have learned so far:
I quickly discovered what Facebook ISN'T good for. Facebook's algorithms don't like free websites. Any post that I tried to make with my wixsite.com URL on it was rejected as spam. I tried posting without the URL and putting it in the comments. That didn't work either. I also tried asking people to pm me, thinking I could send it to them from Messenger. NOPE, also a no-no.
In the end I bit the bullet and upgraded. That's an added expense, I didn't intend to have right upfront. Luckily, I think it will be worth it long-term.
If you have the same issue, I highly recommend choosing an option that gives you a free domain address for a year. A custom domain name can be costly. Taking a plan that includes it will defer that cost until business is up and running and generating cashflow.
I also recommend creating a dedicated Facebook profile for your business. (we all have that weird uncle who posts questionable content - stuff that you don't want customers to see) Take the time to follow along with the tutorial, make sure you have all the contact information complete and working, and link it to your other Social Media platforms.
Remember your profile is limited, it shows who you are, what you post, and what people that you follow post but it's not a business page. Be sure to add a business page to your new profile. Again, make use of any tutorials they offer and customize it so it works for you.
Once you have that all set up and you've invited all your friends and family, you can start telling them about what you have to offer.
You can do this through paid ads or, if you're on a budget like me, you can get creative.
The best part of Facebook is how easy it is for people to like and share your stuff.
So, make really amazing stuff!
What should I post on Facebook?
Post the best pictures you can manage. Describe your business, your services, your products...whatever. Use a really good headline to get their attention, don't overload them with text, keep your message simple and easy to understand. Then offer a quick easy way to learn more. A link to click, a message button, a phone number....whatever.
Post regularly but remember what you post stays there forever. You don't want them to scroll through your posts and see the same 3 things over and over. It's a good idea to add some variety with posts that DON'T try to sell them anything. Find fun things, memes, related GIFs, beautiful images, share them with a nice comment or a funny quip. There is a good chance that if your followers like them, they'll share them too. Remember... more exposure = bigger audience.
Post Holiday Greetings with beautiful images and memorable quotes because they give people a warm fuzzy feeling and get shared a lot .
You can add your business info to the image itself (as I did here) if you want to make sure it stays visible or you can make it a simple greeting meant to generate a connection with your audience, as with the next example.
You can also post nice pictures with inspirational quotes or "Feel Good" statements.
These types of posts and pictures can be made ahead and saved for special occasions. They can also be used on multiple platforms.
If you don't know how to do them, or you just don't have the time, I'm happy to make some for you. In fact, I made a media post for that exact thing! (how convenient, right?)
This actually segues really nicely into my next point. In marketing-speak, offering a really good deal to drum up new business is a "Lead Generator".
It works the same way as a "Loss Leader" does in a grocery store. It gets them in the door and provides them with something they will need. It creates a relationship (buyer to buyee) that can lead to bigger sales later.
This is also sometimes called a "Lead Magnet". It can be a special offer (as above), it can be something free like the one to the right or it can be in the form of a future discount.... like a coupon.
The better the item, or the better the deal ... the more leads it can generate.
(hence the name!)
Now... where was I? Facebook!
The key is to stay active but not to pester. We all have that tupperware-selling friend who posts non-stop demanding you like and share and buy constantly.
Don't be that person! Give your followers good deals and offers occasionally, but also give them some useful information, and some fun entertaining content so they don't get overloaded and decide to Block or Unfollow you.
Let's talk about Instagram
As I mentioned above, any of the posts I made for Facebook can also be used on Instagram. What I didn't mention earlier, but should have, is hashtags.
We all know what they are, but we don't all know how to make them work for us. Take a minute and go to Instagram. Now go to the search tab and type in something that you might use for a hashtag on one of your posts.
It's going to come up with a list of people to follow, but also in that list will be words preceded by hashtags. People who are interested in certain topics can choose to follow a hashtag about that topic. Say, for example, you really love cats. You can choose to follow #cats or #cutecatpics or something along that line. Once you do, you will get the top posts that were made with that hashtag.
Using a popular hashtag that's related to what you are selling is like putting out a sign to your target audience saying "Hey You!" The more likes you get on your post, the higher up the list you are and the better chance you have of being added to people's feeds by Instagram's algorithms.
You can also create a hashtag dedicated to your brand and use it with every post. If anyone searches that has hashtag, all of your posts will show up, and they will be listed with your best content on the top of the list. YAY!
Let's say you want to target people shopping for Christmas gifts. You can create a post about a seasonal product or a promotion and add hashtags like #christmasshopping #countdowntochristmas
Here is a post I made to prompt businesses who haven't started the seasonal marketing campaign yet. It reminds them that its coming and prods them (gently) to do something about it. It also offers a simple, inexpensive solution. For this post, I will use specifically targeted hashtags like #promoteyourbusinessthischristmas #getnoticedthischristmas #isyourbusinessreadyforchristmas plus a few more general ones like #countdowntochristmas #christmasiscoming #increasechristmassales #christmaspromotion because I want to cast a nice wide net.
The possibilities are endless, just make sure that they relate to your product or your specific promotion so people don't feel cheated when they click on them.
PS) Listing your dedicated hashtag on your Facebook page and website gives them a quick way to find with your posts.
Spend some time wandering around the Instagram search tab. Figure out what your target audience is searching for and add that hashtag to your posts!
Take note of related hashtags that autogenerate while you are adding yours. Instagram will not only give you a list of hashtags it thinks you want, each one shows how many posts are using that hashtag. This can help you find hashtags that are trending and get your post in front of a bigger audience.
You can find more detailed info on Wordstream.com
Why should I use Pinterest?
Reason number one is obvious to anyone who has ever popped on for a minute because they were bored and immerged hours later with sore eyes and a sudden urge to make toilet-paper-roll crafts.
IT IS ADDICTIVE!
Reason number two... as with Instagram, it uses beautiful images to catch people eyes. If your product is visually appealing, this could be your secret weapon. I'm not saying Pinterest couldn't work for a plumber too... but it would require a little more creativity to get there.
The beauty of Pinterest is that people often "pin" or save things for later. That means even if they aren't ready to look into or buy your product/service now, they were interested enough to save it. Now when they do have the time or the interest, your product or service will be right there, easily found and probably organized by category. Hallelujah!
Since Pinterest now accounts for 25% of retail referral traffic, getting your best pics and products out there is a really good start to increasing your traffic. You can't sell to someone who doesn't know you're there. Make sure they know! Another interesting tidbit about Pinterest is that 85% of its users are women. That means if your product or service is geared towards women you NEED to be on Pinterest.
Find a way to make your business visually appealing, even if it's ... not.
If that's the case, your best bet may be finding something related to your business that IS appealing and connecting the two.
Maybe your product is a lemon squeezer. (not the prettiest gadget) Instead of promoting your squeezer, shift to the side a bit and make posts about tasty cocktails that require fresh squeezed Lemon Juice.
Add a link to a recipe and promote your squeezer along with it.
I have an entire page dedicated to summer cocktails, they look amazing and they taste yummy so they are likely to be saved... and shared.
A tip that I read on Buffer.com was that Pinterest's new Smart Feed will give preference to posts with:
high quality images
source quality (pinned from high-quality websites - like that "100 best cocktails for summer" article on Martha Stewart's website)
Pinterest Rating - this breaks down to high quality images that are "clear and relevant, have minimal text and no borders, and include great, helpful pin descriptions"
The same post suggests that using really great key-word rich descriptions will get you shared more often. As will adding value to your pins... things like recipes, links to related articles or products or (as with Facebook) free stuff.
It is also a good idea to make your website Pin-friendly by having a Pinterest button right on the site and providing beautiful images on each page that Pinterest will find when they click that link.
This leads me in a roundabout way to the third reason Pinterest is a good platform to help build your business.
Pinterest users are an interesting collection of people. There are those who know exactly what they are looking for and search for it specifically. (which means if they do a search and you fit what they are looking for, you have placed your product right in front of an interested party - for FREE)
And there are those with a vague idea what they want but are willing to be "inspired" This puts your product in front of anyone who Pinterest thinks might be interested. That's a huge net to cast.
If Jane Doe researched summer cocktails three years ago for her wedding and saved a bunch of them way back when, Pinterest still has summer cocktails on her list of interests. That means it can and will randomly send her related posts. Her and every other person who may have searched words like "cocktail" "fruit" "fresh-squeezed", "juice", "juicer" ... even things like "fish recipes" or "cleaning products" if you have used a description that includes the word LEMON JUICE.
How cool is that?
Whew! I think I'm getting typer's cramp. I'm going to do a quick recap and then it's time for my Thanksgiving dinner.
Remember:
Getting your business and/or your product out there for the world to see is the first step to successfully increasing your sales. Or increasing your website traffic if that's what you're aiming for.
use high quality images, graphics and/or videos to get noticed.
don't bombard people with pushy sales gimmicks. Instead give them a selection of things to look at and connect with and slide your sales stuff in there. Make sure to include some Lead Generators and things with added value.
MAKE HASHTAGS WORK FOR YOU BY USING TAGS YOU KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE USES!
Make dedicated business accounts and only post professional things to them. Save Uncle Fred's Santa on a stripper pole for your personal page.
Be prepared for special events and holidays early. Create specific posts with greetings and promotions to take advantage of them. USE GENERAL BUT RELATED HASHTAGS TO CAST A WIDE NET
Okay, it's turkey time. I hope this helps you understand a few simple ways that you can Tame the Social Media Monster, and put it to work for you.
Click the link if you would like to take advantage of my 3/$50 promotion and have some Ready-to-use Social Media Posts ready to go before the Holidays.
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