We are already halfway through January, so if you haven’t decided on your New Year’s resolutions for 2019 yet, you’d better pull your finger out. Obviously, I’m really hoping some of your resolutions are social media-based and that’s one of the reasons I wrote this post. I hope it gives you some inspiration…
One social media resolution that business owners make (on a seemingly annual basis) is to do whatever they can to see some results from their social media efforts and initiatives.
But the key to seeing tangible results from your social media endeavours is to start with a plan. Now I’m not talking about a lengthy, comprehensive document. All you need is an outline of your social media roadmap that shows where you are right now, where you want to get and how fast you want to get there.
Once you have your Roadmap ready, here are some tips that will help you further conquer social media in 2019:
It’s not about you
I really hope that 2019 will be the year when businesses finally realise that social media marketing isn’t about them.
Yes, it’s called social media marketing, yes its aim is to sell more stuff, grow your business and hit your KPIs. But to achieve those goals, you need to understand that you are NOT the focus of your social media campaigns.
It’s all about your customers, their pains, needs and wants.
Consumers in 2019 are very aware of advertising and they do a fair amount of research before purchasing. They are also leaning more towards brands they can relate to.
Our goal as business owners and marketers will be getting to know our customers better. Making sure our values are aligned and mostly figuring out how we can serve them better.
This ties nicely to my second point…
Be more social
No one is coming to social media to be sold to. People aren’t interested in constantly seeing advertisements for your products and services. They want to be entertained, inspired and educate themselves, as well as spend valuable time engaging and socialising with like-minded people.
Focus on being helpful and social, instead of selling. Focus on building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. To do so, you really need to get to know your audiences.
Listen more, talk less
To be able to figure out what your customers want from you, you need to do your research and listen. In fact, in today’s noisy online world, it’s never been more important to listen. Everyone is talking over each other, creating more and more noise. Sometimes, to stand out from the crowd, you need to be quiet and listen.
Quality over quantity
Now more than ever does the quality of your content matter. Poorly executed content will get lost and come across as spammy.
People now realise the negative impact social media can have and they try to reduce how much time they spend online. Less time online means more competition from brands to stand out and capture people’s attention.
It’s not true that our attention spans are almost non-existent. We just no longer tolerate poor content.
Focus
To be able to deliver quality content and be social, you need to really focus on maintaining your presence on a limited number of platforms.
It ties in with knowing your audiences again.
Don’t spread yourself too thin. Don’t try to be everywhere. This way you’ll only get overwhelmed and you won’t see any results.
Find out where your customers hang out, what type of content they want to consume and be the solution to their problems. In a nutshell, be where they are and be helpful.
If you’re running your own business, marketing is only one of the numerous activities you need to do and you don’t want to waste your time and resources not getting any results.
Pick one platform and really figure out how it works. Each social network has its own specifics, tactics that work, functionalities that you might not be utilising properly. Get to know one platform really well and leverage all the tools it offers.
Show your personality
Don’t be afraid to show your personality. In 2018, we learnt that people want to see real, engaging and authentic content from brands. As a small business owner, you have a huge advantage – your business is in your hands and you can easily create more personal content.
Don’t hide behind your logo, but show people your face more often. I mean it literally – leverage video as much as you can!
The popularity of Stories will continue to grow in 2019, mark my words.
Get familiar with numbers
To understand if your social media marketing efforts are paying off, you need to understand your numbers. To be able to measure if social media is delivering for you, you need to know what to measure.
Have a plan, set up smart goals and understand how to measure your progress. Also, don’t forget to monitor your results regularly and adjust your plan as you go. If something’s not working, don’t be afraid to bin it and move on to the next idea you’ve got up your sleeve. Once you’ve found a content type that works, make more of it.
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So these are my top social media resolutions, am I missing anything? Let me know which one(s) of these resolutions will you include to your 2019 social media strategy!
If you’re not sure where to start with your social media marketing, get in touch for more info about free events, hands-on workshops and 1:1 support that I offer to badass entrepreneurs like yourself. Let’s chat!
