My philosophy on growing your business using social media is this: First, I firmly believe in not spending money on some service doing it for you – I do believe the efforts you put forth are very much worthwhile and in time will pay off! I like to compare working on social media like owning a newspaper. We need to build our subscriptions, which I will cover shortly, and next we need content, and this is where you will separate yourself from others and, again, we will cover that shortly. Be very proactive; newspapers not only have writers, editors and people in sales, they have reporters going out in the community covering events and reporting the news – proactive! I will explain what I mean by being proactive later.
Subscriptions – You need readers, lots of readers, and not just people in the same line of work as you are! Where do we find readers? Start looking at Facebook groups in your area like social groups, communities and common interests, friends of friends, you get the point. Build your subscriptions so when you publish you have more readers, but they should be the right readers. Facebook has a 5,000 maximum of friends on your personal account, I am normally between 4,900 and 5,000 – been busy over the years. LinkedIn is another great platform for getting your name in front of people, and some are successful using Instagram, which I believe is a very powerful tool, and I am proud to say I got hired once on Snapchat!
Content – Would you want a paper that has advertisements on page one? I think not. So we need to give something people want: local events, human interest, think lifestyle page in your newspaper. I like the ratio of 6 or 7 out of 10 being local and lifestyle. Easy on the pictures of food, pets now and then are okay, look at social media as being a way to reach people.
Proactive – Start liking and commenting on other people’s posts. Get involved with them by simply reacting to what might be important to them! Try to stay A-political – take it easy on controversial subjects.
Advertising – If you are going to post for business make it informative, professional and personal, if you can. Try to get your sellers involved by sharing on their networks the home they want to sell – another way to build subscriptions and get your name out there!
Probably like you, I find myself with blocks of free time sitting and waiting, relaxing, etc. I do plan my articles in terms of when to post, while other posts happen when I am in the mood. It’s not just about your posting! Get involved, build friendships and relationships and the benefits will follow!
