Happy New Year!
I am so excited to be back to work! After a long and relaxing few weeks off with my family I am so happy to be back to work doing what I love!
Today as promised I am going to be answering some of your top questions about social media marketing. Last week on my Facebook Page I posed the question to you “If you had one on one time with me to ask me questions about social media marketing … what would you ask me? I would love to know what you want and need to know, I will either write a blog post or audio next week answering your questions.”
This is what you asked …. with my answers …
1. My biggest questions are how do I get my fans to engage in my interactive posts more and how do I turn them into clients!?
The best way to get engagement on your posts are to first create the posts in an interactive way … give them a reason to respond. So for example instead of just talking “at” people as I see a lot of people do .. talk “to” people just like you would if you were face to face in a conversation. Another great way to start to get engagement is to try to get to know your fans, be interested in what they need and want from you not necessarily what “you think” they need … but ask them specifically (just like I did with this post). Also don’t be afraid to let them get to know you on a more personal level, even though your Fan Page is for your business social media is all about being social and part of that is letting people get to know you as a real person … not just the owner of a business … so for example that you are a Mom, or you love to bake, or your worst nightmare is waking up in the middle of a busy shopping mall with no make up on wearing your pink fuzzy slippers and sponge bob pjs (I know crazy sounding nightmare) But you know what I mean … don’t be afraid to show that you are a real person with a real life … not just a FB life. Believe it or not people want to get to know you and once you build up that relationship and form of trust it will be much easier to convert them over into a client because you will already have a relationship to build upon.
2. Where do I even start? I have a very small business and don’t have very much marketing budget. I just need to spread the word about a twice a year sale.
Since you have a small marketing budget social media is one of your best bets on spreading the word about your sale. It’s free, it’s virtually endless at the reach you can achieve with a little consistency, and you can target it to the specific people you want to reach with your marketing. Even though your sale is only twice a year if you are going to use social media for your marketing your best results will come if you maintain a relationship with your Fans all throughout the year, so when your sale time arrives you have already established that relationship with them and they are already interested in what you have to offer.
3. How do I grow my social media followers and turn them into sales? I have an invitation business and I am struggling to get fans to make a purchase on anything.
There are many ways to grow your social media followers: you can do ppc ads directed to your Fan Page to grow new Fans, you can use sites like Twellow.com to find targeted people to follow on Twitter, you can join targeted groups on LinkedIn and make connections with people that way, and you can network with people in your industry on industry related forums and invite them over to your social media pages to connect. The key to growing a big following is to do it in a targeted way so that the people you are connecting with are going to be interested in what you have to offer once they become a connection with you. Then once you start building up that relationship with them on your social media pages the sales will follow. It does take time to build the relationship .. that is one misconception with social media that a lot of people don’t understand till they really start using it as an effective marketing tool … it is a relationship building tool, so in order for it to work well you have to build the relationship first then the sales will come naturally.
4. Basically the same as the others…increasing clients, purchases, marketing, etc.
In summary if you are going to use social media marketing as one of your tools in your business to bring in new clients and sales then there are a few keys things you need to remember:
- Make sure when you are building your connections you do it in a targeted way
- Be authentic in everything you do … let them get to know you as the person and the business owner .. you are one in the same
- Be consistent with your efforts … it takes time to build your following and it takes time to create a relationship, treat it just like you would any real relationship you have in your life …
- Provide quality content that you know will be helpful to your connections … the more you give the more you will receive
I hope these answers were helpful to you and I look forward to learning more about you and your business as we build our relationships!
To Your Success!
Kate Wilber
The Marketing Momma
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Kate Wilber is the founder and CEO of The Marketing Momma. She helps small business owners bring their brand online in an effective and affordable way. Specializing in WordPress Website Design and Social Media Marketing she thrives in working with other small business owners to bring their dream alive online using the top industry strategies for ultimate success! She has been working online full time since 2008 Read More