Social media is evolving faster than you can say ‘myspace’! The number of users for each popular platform is growing by the second and yet there are still so many people out there who have no idea how to use it or have a ‘technophobia’ when it comes to things digital. It has revolutionised the way we talk to each other and do business but there are also many sceptics who still believe it is just a fad.
The truth is, we all still enjoy tangible and real events but we also enjoy sharing that moment with others and documenting our life journey at any opportunity. The social benefits for people’s connections can increase significantly this way and with word of mouth being the traditional way of growing a business, it is no surprise that business people are focused on a social strategy to get their products, seen, talked about and to expand their market reach.
You will find lots of people online to help with learning about social media but the complexity of all the things you can do can be overwhelming. What would be best is to seek specific help for your individual or business goals. For example, you may want to get a general feel for it to work out how it can be beneficial for you. Others may want to see how they can grow a following of people in a specific area.
Facebook is normally the first platform to explore in the social media world and you may find it hard to initially to build up likes and get your key messages seen. Firstly, you need to ensure your business page is set up correctly with as much information as possible, i.e. address, categories, description, name and quality of images. Next you need to use social plugins, i.e. add the like button to your website and share your page with lots of people.
This basic information is enough to get found in the important search results but unfortunately, Facebook’s organic reach is decreasing. As you post updates, you can see how many people have seen it but it may be surprising to see such a small number now, even if you have a lot of likes. This can be due to the time of the post, i.e. at peak times, it’s likely to get seen by more of your audience. However, it is now more important than ever to budget for the paid reach.
This involves setting up adverts to encourage people to like the page or to boost your updates to get seen by more people. This is often, where people put the brakes on, as they have little money to pursue paid advertising. However, there are other organic ways to generate interest in your pages, your content and your products or services.
Social Ant can offer discounted rates for startups for social media training or management arrangements. This can help you kickstart your social media strategy and reach that first milestone. Contact me about a month’s trial to see how things improve and your follower base grows.
Twitter: @thesocialant