Social media marketing can seem overwhelming, complicated, and time-consuming…especially for entrepreneurs who are wearing multiple “hats” in their business.
My goal with this article is to give you an action plan so you can manage your social media marketing in just 2 hours a month!
The (6) things you need to be successful in your social media marketing efforts.
STEP 1: Identify Your Perfect Ideal Customer
The first step in any successful marketing plan/strategy is to make sure you are crystal clear on who you are looking to reach – I refer to this marketing as your perfect ideal customer.
Once you know who you are looking to reach, then it’s time to decide on your social media marketing goals.
STEP 2: Set Your Social Media Marketing Goals
I suggest that you use the S.M.A.R.T. Goal Framework when establishing your objectives and goals.
STEP 3: Create a Posting Schedule
Your posting schedule is the number of times that you will post per week.
I would recommend that you start with (3) scheduled posts per week and post organically (in real-time) as you go about your week as it makes sense for your business.
Posting consistently is one of the best ways to get more followers.
A consistent posting schedule shows potential followers you are invested in communicating with them—showing them that a follow will be worth their time.
A social media content calendar will help you post consistently across all platforms by ensuring that content is planned and scheduled in advance.
STEP 4: Content Plan
A content plan is the planning, creating, and management of your content.
I recommend that you use the 75/25 rule when creating your social media posts. That means that 75% of the time you will share content that is helpful, interesting, and inspirational. 25% of the time your content will sell your product or asking your audience to opt into your free resources.
In the beginning, you can keep your content plan super simple by following this guide:
- (1) post a week can be inspirational.
- (1) post a week is sharing a piece of content that you’ve created (e.g. blog, podcast, etc.).
- (1) post a week is sharing OPC (other people’s content).
If you are looking for some more creative ideas for social media content, we publish an article every month to help get your juices flowing.
One question that often arises when I suggest that businesses share OPC (other people’s content) is, “why would I do that”. “When I share OPC am I just giving that business exposure?”.
If that thought ran through your head, and you want to know how you can capture leads by sharing OPC then check out this article.
STEP 5: Pug Shop Design
Now that you have your content plan in place and you know what posts you want to share, you need graphics.
WARNING: Here’s a shameless plug about Pug Shop Design.
I don’t think I need to tell you how important graphics are in engaging people on social media.
Pug Shop Design can help you get the graphics you need to optimize your marketing efforts and save you a ton of time from having to create all your graphics by yourself. You can get unlimited graphics for one flat-rate investment per month.
STEP 6: Scheduling Tool
Identified your perfect ideal customer – CHECK
Set your social media marketing objectives – CHECK
Created a simple posting schedule you can stick to – CHECK
You know what content you want to post – CHECK
You’ve received all your graphics from your Pugging Awesome Designer – CHECK
Now you are ready to schedule your posts.
I recommend that you use Hootsuite to help schedule, publish, interact with your audience, monitor conversations, and measure performance for your social media marketing all from one easy-to-use dashboard.
STEP 7: Boost Your Social Posts for Exposure
You may have noticed that less than 1% of your fans and followers see your social media posts – frustrating I know!
That means if you have 1,000 followers (roughly) 10 of them will see all your hard work.
Sobering.
That being said, it is still important that you remain consistent with leveraging social media marketing to help you achieve your goals!
The key to making sure your posts get seen is to boost your posts for exposure.
There is a little controversy around this subject, if you are wondering if boosting your posts on Facebook is worth it, check out this article.
The simple answer is, yes, it’s worth it.
Boosting your posts allows you to reach a broader audience through targeting that you specify. If you don’t boost your posts, it’s unlikely that you’ll be satisfied with the results.
In Conclusion
Getting your target audience to learn about your business isn’t a problem.
Let me say that again, getting your target audience to learn about your business isn’t a problem.
There are more opportunities today for businesses to reach their target audience than ever before. Social media is one of the best ways to get exposure for your business.
You just have to determine where your audience is hanging out and pay to get in front of them.
The challenge is that many (small) businesses don’t want to invest in advertising.
Let me ask you a question…
If I were to give you $2 for every dollar you gave me would you do it? OF COURSE YOU WOULD! Every business owner knows that makes 100% complete sense!
That’s what investing in social media marketing (and advertising) can do for your business.
Let’s break down a hypothetical example.
Say you spend $200 on boosting your social media posts to get 100 visitors to your website.
Out of the 100 visitors, you capture 10 new leads (10% conversion).
Out of the 10 new leads, you convert 1 into a new customer (10% conversion).
Let’s say your average customer is worth $400 to your business.
That means you earned a net $200 (after advertising expenses).
That means you DOUBLED your investment!
You spent $200 to get $400 back ($200 net after expenses).
Growth is a mathematical equation. You just need to invest in your marketing to determine YOUR numbers.
