5 Steps to an Effective Social Media Strategy For Business & Ministry
For many people, social media offers a valuable connection to long-lost friends and family members. For others, it provides a steady stream of hilarious memes and photos. But for many others—especially those in business—social media presents an intense pressure to maintain a presence on all of the most popular channels. If this sounds like your situation, then an effective social media strategy might sound like a good goal. But what does effective even mean in this context? And if you have a B2C business, how do you divide your resources?
Knowing how to implement an effective social media strategy is important not only to your business but also to your overall enjoyment of technology. Technology gives us opportunities to spread our wings, so it’s unfortunate when anxiety over an active social media presence interferes with your enjoyment of life.
With so many platforms and so many different opinions about the right way to use them, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Luckily, you can take a systematic approach to manage your social media accounts so you can spend less time worrying and more time enjoying them.
Marketing has greatly evolved over the years and continues to evolve. Businesses used to rely on door-to-door marketing to find customers. Then print, radio, and TV advertising came into play. The new game in town is social media marketing, and it seems like it's here to stay. If you’re not using it for your business or ministry you may get lost in the shuffle and will be faced with the option to either get on board or go home.
Over 60% of adults worldwide utilize social media in some form. Over a billion people use Facebook (now called the MetaVerse) each month. Twitter draws 500,000 users each month. Therefore, every business or ministry should consider taking advantage of social media marketing.
Follow this simple plan to get started with social media marketing:
1. Define your goals and target customers. Goals are always important because they make you think about where you are and where you eventually want to be.
* What are your goals? Are you trying to drive more customers to your website? Do you want to boost the presence of your brand? Are you trying to get more exposure to your online ministry? Are you trying to share coupons and special offers? Do you want to communicate more with your customers or teach and preach the gospel? Are you trying to market and sell products directly? This is a good time to write this down.
* Once you set some specific, measurable goals, decide on how you want to prioritize them. The most important goal comes first! Remember to set deadlines for each goal and write them down or schedule them on a calendar.
* Know your audience. Your marketing will be different if your typical customer is a 23-year-old single male than it would be for a 35-year-old mother. If you’re in the health industry, what group of individuals specifically do you want to help? Are they men, women, or both? What about helping people make money online? Do you want to help retirees, single moms, men, or women?
* Remember to use a platform that's suitable to your target demographic. For example, Facebook is popular with women and young adults. Men over 30 are not an active group on Facebook. Oftentimes, people use the wrong platform to market to their target demographic because they may not be active on a platform where you may hang out. Hang out where they hang out!
2. Do you know the different media platforms? Become an expert and learn about the available platforms or at least know enough to get going. Figure out which platforms will reach the audience you are seeking. Choose wisely to maximize the use of your time and money and to reduce overwhelm and burnout.
* Facebook. As mentioned, Facebook is big for women and young adults. A Facebook profile is free and easy to set up. However, the ad space can be expensive.
* LinkedIn. You'll mostly find business professionals and entrepreneurs here. Again, it's free to join. This is a great place to do some networking.
* Twitter. Although originally targeted at everyone, Twitter tends to draw celebrities or those with a big following. However, the audience is expanding. Twitter users are mostly educated, young adults, and there are slightly more female users than males.
* Everything else. The point is to become aware of the many platforms and the groups that use them. Do some research! A word of advice, please do not attempt to be on all the platforms at the same time. You will experience burnout. Pick at least 2-3 starting off and then branch off to bring your existing following to your new platform.
3. Get your content figured out. Develop a plan for your content. Figure out the type of content you'll use and how frequently you'll post it. Different scheduling tools will help with this.
* What type of content will you post? What format will you use to share your content? Written posts? Videos? Audio files? If you don’t like being on video, then you may want to write blog posts or audio. Unfortunately, we live in a time when video marketing is necessary in order to grow your business.
* Determine the frequency. Then be reliable and consistent. The more frequently you post content the better, provided the information is relevant to your customers. Set a schedule and stick to it. Random posting can make you look unprofessional. Consistency is a huge struggle for most people, and I put together an awesome Mega Business Bundle where I give you ideas to create social media posts and videos. You can grab it here.
4. Create your actual presence. After choosing your platforms and creating your content plan, it's time to get busy building your online presence.
* Only create profiles that you will use. Maximize your time by only choosing platforms where you'll regularly add content. Do not spread yourself thin!
* Create a full, complete profile on each platform. Take the time to make your company look professional and remember to include links to your website! Also, have the same brand images and colors across all social media platforms.
* Get out there, follow, and connect with others. Avoid setting up accounts and then forgetting about them. Participate in online communities. If you want people to follow you, follow them first.
* Be reactive. If someone makes a comment or asks a question, respond! Don’t just leave them hanging, which I see a lot of people do.
5. Maintain, maintain, maintain. It's important to stay on top of social media. Spending a few minutes to log on each day is a great idea. Follow a few new people or make a post on someone else's profile each day. Also, ensure your content is posted on a schedule.
Creating a social media presence isn't difficult, but it takes some time, planning, dedication, and consistency. Complete the necessary research before you begin building your presence. Your time will be well spent, and the results can be significant.
It's important to be consistent. Followers cast dead profiles aside. Give them meaningful content on a regular basis. Use social media to your advantage and watch your business grow. If you made the mistake of ghosting your profiles or Facebook Pages, or Groups, just go live and apologize and restart it.
Conclusion:
It’s easier to create content once you get clarity on who your targeted audience is and then come up with ideas to schedule your posts instead of randomly posting to everyone in the world because everyone in the world doesn’t want what you have to offer and may not be looking for a solution for their problem. You will have random nosey people just looking at your content with no intention to use or apply the information you are providing or going deeper to work with you. So, continue to speak directly to your target audience so you can repel the ones who are just nosey and not part of your tribe to help.
What’s your favorite social media platform you use the most, which has been effective for your business?
