I remember first discovering Twitter; I was hooked. I would bring my laptop everywhere and would constantly be checking for new tweets. There were some early influencers using the channel strategically to promote their brands, but most of us were just out there engaging. Wow, has it ever changed! I quickly learned that I needed to set deadlines for myself, even turning on a timer, to manage how long I was spending on each channel. Otherwise, 10 minutes became an hour, and nothing was getting done!

As social media became more popular, and the number of users across the channels kept increasing, marketers quickly looked for ways to leverage it to further brand engagement. Social Media has gone from a past-time to full-time employment.

The big misconception is that small businesses have an “easy” way to expand their reach, and increase the size of their prospect pool, just by engaging and interacting.

But its not easy, its strategic.

Unless they have a dedicated team member managing their social media, small business owners go through cycles of involvement. They read a blog, or take a class, highlighting the advantages of social media for business, they jump back in, excited with a new direction, and quickly realize the work involved to keep up the momentum. The excitement dwindles, engagement drops, and its back to the status quo. If there is one thing we’ve learned about social media, its that consistent content rich engagement brings the greatest success.

At the risk of sounding overly simplistic, it comes down to an understanding of:

Who – Who is your target market.

What – What should you be posting.

Where – Which social media channels should you be posting to.

When – When your target market is online including when your posts most likely to be seen. This means you can post less but at more targeted times when your messages are most likely to be seen.

How – video, text, photos – a mixture of the three. Are your posts scheduled or spontaneous, or both!

From here you can develop an easy to follow formula that works with the time you have available. Your messaging will be well received both in format, timing, and frequency; maximizing the effectiveness of your messaging with the time that you have available to manage it. Tie this strategy into a lead magnet to capture email addresses, and you’re not just building your social media following, but your email list as well.

Curious to learn more? Jump on over to our website and check out our Social Media Jumpstart package. It’s a quick and easy way, with no commitment, to get you back on track to social media success.