Tag: Social Media

Top 3 Things to Know About Having a Business Page vs a Personal Page in Social Media

When it comes to social media, there’s two main components when it comes to visibility: personal visibility and professional visibility. Anyone with a social media account has some level of personal visibility on social media. While some small businesses use their personal feeds and accounts to market their business, most companies create a separate professional account or feed for their promotional posts. 

We are often asked: is it okay to post business content on our personal pages and do we really need a professional presence for our business on social media?

This is a good question. Here is our best advice.

No One Likes Spam

You are probably connected to a lot of people who have started a small business who use personal accounts to market their businesses products or services and who add you to groups (without notice), and private message you at random about their products wanting you to buy them based on the fact that “they have seen a result and you should buy because you trust them”. This is called spam. And no one likes spam.

Too many small businesses, especially MLM salespeople and network marketers, use their personal feeds to market their products and services. The idea behind this approach is many small businesses have a much bigger following on their personal pages than they do on their business feed (if they’ve set up a business feed at all). Plus, if you are selling for another company, there can be rules against representing yourself as more than just a salesperson for that business. 

While it’s a sound theory, it has some flaws. 

  • People, unless they are also trying to sell you something, don’t become your friend or follower on social media to get spammed by your advertising. This is an instant turn-off causing your followers to not engage with your posts and, therefore, teach the algorithm to not show them any of your content.
  • Just because they know you or are related to you, doesn’t mean that they are your target audience. You could be spending a lot of time and energy advertising to the wrong crowd.
  • Social media users are smart and they can see a salesperson a mile away. If you want to lose social media friends, start treating them like walking wallets.

You Don’t Own Your Audience

Facebook’s Terms of Service state clearly that you aren’t to use your personal profile for business purposes. If enough people report your posts to Facebook, they can shut down your entire account (and there goes your entire audience with it). 

Because you don’t own your audience, at any time, a social media account can change their algorithm, change their rules, or shut down completely – and your entire marketing list vanishes. There are popular social media channels that no longer exist today. 

It’s much better to provide value-added content that your audience enjoys and engages with and then convert those people to a platform you own – like your email marketing list.

At least with a business profile, you know those individuals want to hear what your business has to say and they are more likely to tolerate a few promotional posts or be tempted to join your email list than random folks on your personal feeds. 

What You Should Do Instead

Top 3 things you can do to build your professional social media audience the right way: 

  1. Network with people, actually get to know them and build trust through your relationships and knowing things about their lives. These are warm leads that will be more interested in what you have to offer. 
  2. Don’t add everyone to your FB groups, instead post about your group and ask people to join of they are interested.  You can even private message them, inviting them that way to join (but only ask once).  Give an incentive, offer a fundraiser to host your party or host an event with a collaborative partner to co-host something instead.  (P.S. – a Handwritten note or mailed invite goes a long way and is way better than spamming!)  
  3. Having a business page or profile will actually help you track numbers, sales, and engagement vs tossing spaghetti at a wall on your personal account to see what fits (and losing people you actually care about.)

Is it a struggle each month to create and post social media content for your business? Do you just not have enough time in the day to get it all done? The Social Media Advisor team are experts in helping you stay consistent online! We’ll work with you to create an editorial calendar, messaging, and branded images aligned with your culture and promoting your business so you don’t have to worry about it anymore! Find out more about our Monthly Social Media Support package on our website.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

Top 3 Uses of Professional Headshots in Your Social Media Marketing

Images of YOU are going to bring higher engagement than any stock image out there. The more you have to work with, the better you’ll be able to build an online presence – both on your website and in your social media marketing.

Connecting with Your Audience

Plan to get a series of great photos done professionally that show your brand voice – indoor, outdoor, doing a fun activity you love, different times of the year. The variety will be helpful all year long in social media marketing. Leave blank space in areas for adding quotes and tips. The less busy the background, the more area you’ll have to work with. Most importantly, showcase your personality! These images will help you grab the attention of your audience and will help them feel like they are getting to know you. This familiarity is important for connection and connection is what social media is all about!

Building Trust & Credibility

In social media, we call profiles that have no pictures (that just use the generic, standard default image) as eggheads. Avoid the eggheads always. What a lack of a profile picture suggests, whether true or not, is that this person isn’t real. They either don’t really exist, they are pretending to someone else, or they aren’t active on that particular platform or channel.

Because these people are hiding, they aren’t to be trusted or taken seriously. While adding a profile pic won’t make you an expert in your industry – not having one means immediate disqualification. The first step to earning credibility and earning trust online is to simply show up.

Showcasing Your Brand

“Brand photography is one of the best ways to create credibility and increase your like-know-trust factor with your savvy audience.”
Hilary Hartling

While traditional headshots are better than nothing, the best thing to do is invest in the talents of a brand photographer. What is brand photography? The goal of a quality brand photography session is to capture the essence of your brand in photos. These images are less professional and stiff and have more of a lifestyle feel to them. These images increase your brand recognition and help the audience to connect with you in a real, authentic way.

If you want to be found as a business, you have to stop hiding behind other people’s images and content. It’s time to show up so your audience can resonate with you.

Are you struggling with not understanding how to use social media for your business?  Not sure when to post, how to post, or what #Hashtags even are? Over a 3-month period, we will develop a Road Map of exactly how to use social media for your business. During our Quarterly Strategy Road Map period, we will work on ads, reporting, creating posts for higher engagement, and breaking through fears and frustrations regarding social media marketing.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

Top 3 Things People Don’t Love About Social Media Marketing

It’s no secret that people are becoming disillusioned with social media. This actually has much more to do with the way people use the social media platforms than it does with how the channels are actually structured. The owners of these platforms want you to have a good experience because, otherwise, you won’t return. However, there are ways people and businesses are currently using social that are ruining it for folks.

Here are the top 3 things people don’t love about social media marketing:

Being Sold

There’s nothing more annoying today than having a complete stranger come at you with a sales pitch. Whether it’s online or offline, we are savvy consumers and know how to locate what we need, when we need it. That makes it challenging for business owners seeking new customers for their product of service. Social media, in particular, was not created as a platform for consumers to find new ways of spending money. It was created to help people connect and build relationships.

Does that mean you shouldn’t be selling on social media? Absolutely not. It simply means that the way you sell to people online should start with connection, building relationships, and establishing trust first. Once people start to know, like and trust you – they’ll want to know what you do and how it will help them.

Lack of Connection

Many businesses are on social media today because they have been told they need to be, but aren’t actually using social to engage with and connect with their audience. Posting for the sake of posting – and then complaining that you aren’t getting any business – is based on the misconception that you can simply post and get results. Social media users follow you because they want to consume great content while connecting with real people.

No Transparency

It’s well-known that people are often posting the best version of themselves on social media. However, social media users are looking to connect with, and build a relationship, with the person behind the brand. Otherwise, there’s no reason to hang out or engage with the content on your page. They don’t want just the most polished version of you – they want to relate with the struggles, setbacks, and failures – and the lessons learned – just as much as they want to consume the good stuff. Also, social media users can spot a fake a mile away! Just be the real version of you on social media and the right people will follow, literally.

Understanding why people dislike social media marketing will help you, as a brand, develop content and a social media presence that actually attracts people. Stop paying attention to what other people are doing and start building genuine relationships online. You’ll find that this method works 1,000x better than just posting and hoping for the best.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

How Can You Fall in Love with Marketing Your Business Through Social Media

As a business owner, the amount of work you have to do to stay on top of running your business, while promoting it, can be overwhelming. Few businesses look at social media marketing through the lens of loving this opportunity to show up and connect with others. Here are some ways you can shift your perspective to fall in love with marketing your business through social media this year.

Refining Your Message

One of things that creating a social media marketing strategy does for your business is that it forces you, as a business owner or entrepreneur, to develop and refine your message. You have to know what you want to say, and how you want to present yourself as a business, to create social media content. The more you refine your message, the more confident you’ll become when promoting it. This is an excellent opportunity to share the right message with others.

Growing Your Audience

There’s nothing more powerful, when it comes to a successful social media strategy, than the feeling of having grown your own audience. Building community online is the most impactful way to score when it comes to know, like, and trust. It starts small but, over time, you can truly be leading a community of people who trust you and are eager to hear what you have to share.

Spreading Your Influence

Social media marketing allows you to share your message beyond your immediate community. You may be able to find enough clients by taking time to meet people in person each month, but you’ll never be able to scale offline in the same way that you can online. Building a website is important, but if you never direct traffic to your website – no one will find it. One of the best ways to send people where you want them to go is to hang out where they are and connect with them, build trust, establish a relationship – and then encourage folks to check out what you’ve created. Social media marketing is the best way to accomplish this.

Your mindset regarding social media marketing is one of the greatest factors for success with this type of marketing. If you approach social media with the intent to share your message, grow your audience, and spread your influence – instead of simply focusing on conversions – you’ll find the experience much more rewarding for you and your business.

Want help getting started? At the Social Media Advisor, we can optimize your social media profiles (helping you get FOUND), assist you in creating monthly social media content (so you get SEEN) and teach you how to use social media marketing effectively (so you are finally HEARD). Contact us to find out more: https://thesocialmediaadvisor.com/

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

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