3 Tips for Planning Your Small Biz Social Media Strategy

If I asked you about your small biz social media strategy, how would you describe it to me?

Social media can be a very effective way of engaging with current and future customers, community, and fans, increasing your exposure, and driving traffic to your site. However, if you think about social media strategy as only one part of your broader digital communication, you’ll get even more benefit from your efforts.

Consider these points as you develop your plan for a robust small biz social media strategy.

3 Tips for Planning Your Small Biz Social Media Strategy

Have One Consistent Online Voice and Personality

Since many of your prospects are exposed to your product or service through various channels and places online as well as offline, don’t confuse them with different messaging on each channel. Even if your specific content and strategy is different from channel to channel, your overall branding, voice, and tone should all be cohesive to help your audience connect with you on that channel.

This is one of the reasons why personal branding is so important in direct sales. It's not enough to simply hop onto social media and start posting about your business and specials. You need to carve out who you are online and start making an impression on your audience — something that will really help you stand out.

And consistency is the best way to do that.

Decide on a Central Goal

For most small business owners, business goals are to have people buy and refer others.

But your social media strategy will directly affect each of those goals.

Once you have a primary goal, you can focus on part of your strategy to drive online traffic to that goal. For example, if your goal is making sales, all your social media platforms will be directing traffic to your website. If your goal is engagement, your strategy would be driving traffic to sources where you can engage with a prospect, to answer questions, or demonstrate your leadership and mentoring capabilities. This might be Facebook or a blog.

Offline Messaging

Don’t forget to include your social media sites on your traditional and other marketing materials. This includes flyers, business cards, catalogs, phone books, or print advertisements. Make sure your offline customers can find you online and your online contacts can find you offline. And make it easy for them to do so…they shouldn't have to jump through hoops to find out where you are.

Are there more things you can do to put together your social media marketing strategy? Absolutely.

But these are the three things that you need to start with.

And, once you put these three ideas together, it's time to sit down and start planning out your small biz social media strategy:

• What is your personal brand and voice?
• How will you show that voice on each channel?
• What is your central goal?
• How will each channel help you reach that goal?
• How will people find you on your different channels?
• Is it easy for someone to move from one channel over to another channel to find you?

Using social media is just like any other form of marketing in several key ways. Your social media plan requires a strategy and a goal. A successful campaign needs to use channels appropriate for your business, goal, and target market. And your campaign will take time to show results.

But it will show results with consistent content in your own voice.

#EmpowerSocial