Social Media- Is It A Waste of Time?

Social Media is something we’re all very aware of. We use it in our personal lives and we use it in our business lives. But do you know how to EFFECTIVELY use it for your business? When considering a social media campaign here are five things you should consider.

1. Who is your Audience?
“Oh, that’s easy. Everyone.” Not necessarily. Your target audience doesn’t need to be everyone. Choose one segment of your demographic and target those people specifically. It’s at this point you may decide to run several campaigns, with each targeting a different segment of your demographic. Targeting a specific segment of your demographic, will increase the effectiveness of your campaign. How? Once you have a targeted segment demographic, you can individualize the content of your campaign to that demographic. For example, you own a restaurant and are launching the addition of a vegetarian portion to your menu. You wouldn’t want to target a demographic of butchers. But you would want to target butchers for the other portions of your menu.

2. Choosing the Proper Images
Images are powerful. They communicate in an instant. They represent you, your business, your brand, your message. Choose them wisely. I’m sure we can all recall a memory of an image we’ve seen or witnessed. Make sure that the images you choose properly represent the image and message you want to send. Images are powerful and the wrong image will stay with your customers for a long time.

3. Taking a Risk
Risk taking is a given to a small business owner. You wouldn’t be where you are without having taken risk. But is it a part of a social media campaign? Sometimes. When deciding how you are going to run your promotion, the content and images you will be using, risk can definitely be a deciding factor. Do you want to use humor to get your message across? Or take a more serious route? No matter which path you choose, be careful of your verbiage. You don’t want to offend any segment of your target demographic during your campaign. Keep your message focused on your message.

4. Timing
Scheduling your posts and planning them out over the course of the next few months or for the year is a great advantage we have. However, it is always good to go in and check that the timing is still appropriate. For example, you own an event company and you’ve written a fabulous social media campaign about hosting events on St. Croix. Due to the recent Hurricanes, it might not be a good time to publish those messages. Reschedule them for a different time and change the location of your posts.

5. Using References and Links
In the wide world of web, speed is fleeting. When linking to external sources (those other than your personal website), or using references in your blogs, Facebook posts, and tweets, make sure they are accurate and current. When checking on the Timeliness of your posts, take a quick minute to confirm that any links referenced are still active.

Social media can be fun. It’s a great way to interact with your customers and to gain new ones. To inform your current customer base of new items, services, and information. By using the FIVE guidelines listed above, you can make certain that your social media campaigns are NOT a waste of time.