Are you looking for the latest social media tips for eliminating overwhelm while marketing your business? Look no further than these 16 tips for creating your social media mindset so you can take action on what works.

1 – You Don’t Have To Do Everything

I see business owners burn-out on social media very quickly when they think they have to be on every platform and update 24/7. Give yourself a break. It is good to claim the real estate on each platform for your name and/or business, but then choose the one or two platforms that your ideal client uses and learn to communicate with them there. Once you mastered these, decide if you want or need to add another platform. Doesn’t that feel better already?

2 – Know Your Ideal Audience

We all like to think that our products or services are good for everyone, but in reality there is a select group of people that resonate best with us. It’s okay to niche your business. In fact, it’s better than spreading yourself way too thin trying to be everything for everyone. Who is your ideal target audience? Where do they hang out online? As mentioned above, work with the platforms that they use the most. This way you don’t have to be on Snapchat when your customer is mostly on Facebook.

3 – Build Relationships First

Social media is like a big party. When you walk into a party, you don’t go up to someone and immediately ask for them to buy something. That would be weird. On social media don’t immediately start selling to people you just met. Ugh, I hate when I connect with someone and their very next message is to a sales page.  Twitter Direct Messages or any kind of message with links back to your website that ask for the sale is considered SPAM. Just don’t do it. Work on getting to know the person first.

4 – A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Have a good, professional picture to use on your social media profiles. Be sure you are looking at the camera and have a nice, warm smile. Use the same photo on each of your profiles for better recognition.

If using a logo for a business, be sure that it’s clear and sized correctly. It is worth paying someone to give you multiple sizes of a good quality logo than to use something that is fuzzy and/or doesn’t fit in the space provided. It’s the little details that make all the difference.

5 – Branding

Each of your social media platforms should be named the same. This is true if it’s a business name or a personal name. This allows for ease of searching and identifying your name or business. It also adds to your search engine optimization.

6 – Do a Social Media Audit

Over the past 13 years, social media sites have frequently popped up. When was the last time you had a thorough look at your total social media presence? Are you named the same on each platform? What is the profile picture? There are a lot of areas you should be evaluating. If you would like to have a professional take a look, go here to sign-up for a Social Media Audit with me.

7 – Content is Still King and Queen

Providing high-quality content for your audience and potential customers is key to having social media work for you. Great content attracts people organically and creates trust in you and/or your business. Create consistent, relevant content that illustrates your expertise, approach, culture and core values. This will help to keep you top of mind whenever potential customers are ready to make a decision. 

8 – Video, Video, Video

Create more video content. Video is the most important strategy in content marketing. Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube or with Periscope, Blab, or Facebook Live, be sure you are adding video to your updating plan. By the way, don’t feel like you have to use all of these platforms. Choose where your ideal customer likes to connect with you.

9 – Be Real

Social media should be an extension of what it’s like to meet you in person, or for a business, should convey the culture. Don’t be afraid to show the human side of the business. Give a peek inside. Endear your customers to you.

10 – Be Useful or Educational

Too many times I see businesses that are using social media like it’s a commercial or a big ad. Instead of that approach, think of this medium as a way to provide education or to be useful in some manner. There are many thoughts out there on how much to sell on social media, I like the 80/20 Rule where 80% of the time is all about education, entertainment and being helpful, and 20% is selling something. No one likes to be spammed!

11 – Have a Plan

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have a social media marketing plan. When I hear of a business owner or entrepreneur that is struggling with social media, at the core is that they don’t have a social media structure, strategy or plan that aligns to their goals. The lack of a plan causes overwhelm and frustration and then social media gets put on the back burner. If this is you or someone you care about, I have a proprietary system that will make everything so much easier. Ask me about Social Media MAP – Mindset and Action Plan. 

12 – Consistency in Updating

You do not need to be on social media 24/7. However, you do need to show up consistently. Once a month is not considered consistent (and the algorithms won’t be your friend). I recommend daily connection in most cases.  Also, there are many tools you can use to pre-schedule your content so that you can: plan it, schedule it and then check-in daily for engagement. For my scheduling, I use Hootsuite and the Facebook scheduler, but there are lots of other options available.

13 – Hashtags

Using hashtags to help identify the topic or keyword in a social media update can be helpful, but choose the correct platform. Hashtags work great on Twitter, Google+ and Instagram, but they have very little use on Facebook (although they are searchable). They are not necessary for Pinterest and on LinkedIn they are not searchable at all.

14 – Social Media Tools

One of my favorite tools for creating graphics is Canva. It’s a great site that provides you the proper sizing for creating social media images and has lots of different formatting options. I call it the “photoshop for dummies”.

15 – Personalize Connection Requests

When asking for a connection to someone on LinkedIn, use the feature where you can send a personal message. Mention where you met, what you talked about and ask for the connection. If you haven’t met the person before, tell them why you wish to connect. This starts the relationship. (This feature IS available on the app. When looking at the profile of someone, in the upper right corner should be three dots, click on the dots and this should bring up a menu of options.) Don’t skip this step, it’s important in establishing rapport.

16 – Facebook Advertising

I typically hear a collective groan when I mention Facebook and advertising together. Then the whining starts, “I don’t want to pay to play….”. Well, you are missing out on one of the best and least expensive advertising opportunities available. Consider the sheer size of Facebook and the information that is available to them, Facebook ads have a high success rate at targeting a specific audience of potential customers for very little money.

There you have it, 16 social media tips that can help focus your social media efforts. Did you learn something new that you can take action on? As always, if you have questions, reach out to me.

Until next time….