So you’ve taken the plunge and set up pages for your business on Facebook, an account on Twitter, Pinterest & Instagram and you think you might have a Google+ account… Maybe? What next?
When you finally get started, you may get that feeling of being overwhelmed, quickly followed by an affirmation that “I can’t spend all day on social media”. Don’t worry these quick tips will show you how often to figure out what’s important
Goal setting & preparation
“Whoa!” I hear you cry. “I just want to post some stuff. I don’t have time for goal setting and all this fluffy stuff”
Believe me, you don’t have time not to plan
Taking an hour to plan your strategy is setting yourself up for success. The worst that will happen is you’ll at least know your starting point so you can see if it is all worth it
Write down exactly where you are today
- How many followers do you have on Twitter?
- How many people are you following on Twitter?
- How many friends or fans do you have on Facebook for your business page?
- How many people are talking about your business page on Facebook?
- How many videos do you have on YouTube and how many times has each been watched (maybe your top or most recent 5 videos if you have lots)
- How many followers does your Google+ page have & how many views?
- How many Followers do you have on Instagram, How many are you following?
- How many Boards, Pins & likes do you have on Pinterest?
- How many connections do you have on LinkedIn?
- What is your Klout score?
- How many visits do you get in a typical month to your website or blog?
- How many visits to your site or blog come from each of the social media networks? (If you have a site, you must use the Google analytics free software!)
This may seem like a lot of work, but it will really pay dividends when you are deciding where you should go with your online marketing.
This enables you to know the score and in a week or a month, you really won’t remember whether you had 147 followers or 174. You are too busy running your business to keep every figure in your mind.
What exactly do you want from Social Media for your business?
Ok, now for the fun part. What would success look like?
How many followers do you want?
How many visits would you like to drive to your site or blog?
How many sales or leads would it take for you to be happy with spending any time on social media
Remember “Failing to plan, is planning to fail!”