Your Social Media Presence

July, 2021

Just because a social media platform looks good, that doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for your business. Not everyone is for everyone and the same goes for social media marketing. Choosing what social media channels your business markets on is a little bit of personal preference mixed with the reality of your business and the platform.

The personal preference comes to play if you, as the business owner, are going to be handling all content creation and management. There’s nothing worse than deciding you need to be on Twitter, but actually hating Twitter. You can’t force yourself into the Twitter vibe and it will probably be a task low on your to-do list that will eventually be forgotten.

Now, if you absolutely love Twitter and really get into the snark of it all but your audience isn’t on Twitter, it’s okay to curate that experience for your business. You don’t always have to play by hard and fast rules on social media, except, of course, the social part. So, how do you decide what social media marketing is right for you?

Start with your social media audience

Building a social media marketing strategy always starts with identifying who your audience is and where they play. When you sit down to map out your audience, don’t just list your current customers, be aspirational and define who you want to capture as well.

For some businesses, it can be helpful to break audiences up into generations. The generational audience will give you a solid picture of age, interests, and future needs. For example, if you’re a mechanic then you know that your Gen Z customers are new to car ownership and may be more inclined to work with a garage that prioritizes environmentally friendly practices. Your Gen X customers may want to indulge in the nostalgia of counter-culture on your social media platforms and your Boomer drivers appreciate both the technology of modern cars and greasy hands.

Demographics shift now and then but in general, they remain broadly consistent on social media. Hootsuite published a 2021 comprehensive breakdown about who’s on each platform that you can use to help you determine what social media platforms your customers are using.

Remember Google My Business

If there is one platform every single business must be on, it’s Google My Business. While a lot of folks don’t consider this a real social media platform, it absolutely is. Google reviews influence purchasing decisions faster than curated social media posts. Without a doubt, you’ll want to add or claim your Google listing, optimize it, and start posting and adding photos once a week. Google My Business will also improve your SEO, and that is essential.

Creating your social media content

If you’re the one managing your social media that means you are responsible for taking and editing photos and videos, writing the content, and then publishing those posts. And, because you’ve been paying attention, you know the work doesn’t stop there. You need to be social on social media. That means engaging with your audience: authentically liking and commenting on their posts, responding to comments on your content, following people in an ethical way.

Remember, no matter what you do, keep it interesting for yourself and your audience.