If you’ve read our “Why I Ditched New Year’s Resolutions (and what I replaced them with)” article you’ll know I don’t actually like the phrase New Year Resolution’s
Many do however
Whatever you call them – New Year’s Resolution’s / Goals / Objectives – if you take marketing seriously you’ll be thinking right now about how you can improve the Social Media Marketing for your business right now
Below we look at some of the Social Media New Year’s Resolutions you might want to consider
1. MASTER THE BASICS OF THE BIG 4
When we refer to the Big 4 we’re talking about Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn
Those platforms were the ones that were traditionally referred to as the key platforms and there’s the argument for some that the Big 4 transitioned to the Big 5 or 6 with Snapchat and TikTok
The big problems is that most small businesses haven’t even mastered the basics of The Big 4 – something new and shiny comes along (like Snapchat or TikTok) and businesses jump on those as well.
So they have a portfolio of Social Media accounts of which none are used effectively
At the tail end of 2019 one of our most visited pages has been our LinkedIn Training pages
For many after half a decade of dabbling with the Big 4 – Small Businesses are realising they must master and use these effectively before jumping on to something new
2. LEARN ONE OF THE NEW PLATFORMS
If you’ve mastered the Big 4 – then you might want to look at TikTok
They’re not for every type of business so this might be something that isn’t on your radar
If they do fit where your target market is then you might not have the time and resources to commit fully. And if that’s the case you might want to set up a personal profile – see what everyone else is doing on there, follow a few similar businesses and get a feel for it before you launch your business profile
All about Noise and Attention
3. FINALLY START BLOGGING
B2B marketers who use blogs generate 67% more leads than those that do not.
That’s a stat you really should repeat to yourself a few times when you say “blogging isn’t for me”
I started blogging back in 1999 – it’s enabled me to have 3 successful careers in Journalism, Events and now Social Media
There was no question of not blogging when I launched Altrincham HQ as I knew the power of the written word
You’re an expert. You have the knowledge. I’d go as far to say as Starting Blogging could be one of your most important New Year’s Resolution for next year
4. DO YOUR 1ST LIVE VIDEO
On a recent Buffer Survey of over 1200 Social Media Marketers on The State Of Social Media 2016 – 42% of respondents said Live Video was something they’d do more of if there were no obstacles (time, budget, resources)
The only 2 things above it were Blog Posts at 57% and Video in general at 83%
Facebook or Instagram Live video is a nerve wracking experience and whilst it needs planning, prep, a structure and a lose script – the fact that it’s live means it’s not expected to be perfect
We’ve all seen Coronation Street and EastEnders Live – people accept it’s not as polished as the pre-records
We learnt our Live Video skills on Periscope before Facebook Live launched and it shows the value of jumping on platforms early to hone the skills as an early adopter before the mass audience joins in
If you want to chat to us about planning your Facebook or Instagram Live video’s – we’re more than happy to give you a helping hand
5. SPEND MORE TIME WITH SOCIAL AND GOOGLE ANALYTICS
If you can measure something you can improve on it
From Twitter Analytics to Facebook Insights. From Instagram Analytics to Google Analytics. Your Social Media marketing and blogging efforts are measurable
To do Social Media Marketing effectively you need to spend as much time on the geeky analytics as you do with the sexy creative
Discover your inner Sexy Geek
Analytics fuels everything we do on Social Media and we listen to the feedback from the audience about which content they want more of
It pays to listen to your audience. They’re the ones that are going to buy from you. Give them more of what they want or lose them
6. INCREASE SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT
Most people still don’t get the Social part of Social Media Marketing
They find the time to broadcast – but ignore what they should be focusing on – the engagement, the relationship building, 121 conversations
Increasing Social Media Engagement is a 2 part process
Part 1. Increasing how often you engage with others
Part 2. Increasing how often others engage with you
As a business unless you’re a huge brand, celeb or use your social media mainly for customer service enquiries – Part 2 won’t happen without Part 1 happening
7. INCREASE SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS
“I’d rather have 10 followers that are engaged in what I’m posting than 1000 followers that don’t engage”
This is something we hear often. Our reply is always the same
“I’d rather 1000 followers that are engaged in what I’m posting than 10 followers that are engaged in what I’m posting”
Number of followers and quality of followers are not mutually exclusive – you can have both
If you have less than 100 followers in a town of 40,000 it means that most of the people in the town aren’t aware that you exist. You simply don’t have a sustainable marketing campaign
Increasing quality and quantity of followers should be a mission you constantly work on
8. PRODUCE MORE PHOTOS / GRAPHICS
Social Media has got visual and if you post text only updates in 2019 they’re unlikely to stand out
The photo bank should be a constantly evolving collection of photos to use with the bank being topped up every week
We know it’s hard – all businesses have problem producing enough photos for social media whilst running a business
But if you view lack of photos as essentially burning money you might start to take the production of images more seriously
Imagine if you won more customers for every new photo taken – this happens so take more photos
9. INCREASE NUMBER OF REVIEWS / TESTIMONIALS
At the Social Media Conference, speaker Ben Roberts talking about the Online REVIEWlution
We all understand reviews / testimonials because we seek them out when buying ourselves for validation – TripAdvisor, Which Trusted Traders, Facebook Reviews, LinkedIn, Freeindex
Reviews play an important part in the buying process
If a company doesn’t have reviews or reviews in large enough quantity / quality then often we will look at another company
And yet in so many businesses we have happy customers that have never been asked for feedback or reviews
Next year will you have a review / testimonial strategy in place?
10. SELL MORE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA
The Holy Grail when Social Media leads to a constant stream of new sales
This is why most of you are using Social Media for business
So how many of you are generating enough sales via social media for the time spent?
You want more right?
We all want more
Write it down – I Want More Sales Via Social Media
Then go out, set the targets and Smash it
NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS – CHAT TO US
Chat to us about Social Media for YOUR business so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your business
New Year’s Resolutions will only come true if you work on them
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
Or
Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
