Social Media Superpowers

I am no Wonder Woman when it comes to social media marketing. I post what I like, what I think is newsworthy, and ultimately what I think will help give you insight into growing a successful social media platform for your business. There are always questions about what sites are hot or trending right now. A few automatically come to mind like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Foursquare. Is there more out there? Of course there is…but do you need to be on every single social media site just because everyone else is? I’d say no…didn’t your mother ever ask you “If everyone decided to jump off a cliff would you jump with them?” You need to make the decisions for your business that make sense. Understand your audience and find out where they are. You can also decide what platforms to choose based on the direction you want your company to travel in. Let’s say you’re an insurance agent and you want to attract some big commercial clients….where would you start? Well they’re businessmen/businesswomen so of course sending them business or helping them grow would be a friendly and extremely acceptable way of getting in their good graces. But how would you send them business? Simply sending referrals isn’t going to be enough…you need to think bigger! Think outside of the box. Offer them something no one else can, knows how to, or is even willing to do for another company.

Let’s Be Partners

Teaming up with another business to host events or giveaways is an awesome way of attracting business and having fun with your potential clients! Call it Partner Spotlight or something catchy that draws in other businesses. Pick one a month or one a week to partner with to spotlight their business, entertain, have door prizes, etc. If you were trying to get their business wouldn’t you jump at the chance to take them to lunch or dinner to get to know them? Well here’s a better opportunity to get to know them and help them grow.

How Do We Use Social Media To Promote It? What Would It Look Like?

There’s no need to re-create the wheel. Go talk to your local chamber of commerce and pick out some clients that you think you could help grow and would love to have their business. Give them a call or stop by welcoming them to the community and to the chamber of commerce and ask about their business. Ask what they do and how they impact the community. Ask if they have a website or social media site that you can send traffic to. Sometimes you can come right out and say “I’d love to help you grow your business! How do you feel about partnering together to host some events and attract new business for both of us?” I always say honesty is the best policy so don’t waste time beating around the bush.  The normal reaction after telling someone you want to help them grow their business is usually “That’s awesome! I’d love to! What can we do to make it work?” So hit the ground running with actual ideas and plans that way the client knows you’re serious! Create events on Facebook, send out tweets from the event, post photos on all social media sites, record video promotions before and after the events. It’s really a simple process as long as you don’t let yourself get caught up in all the “tools”. You can make these marketing attempts…so the next time your mother asks you “If everyone jumps off a cliff are you going to jump too?” you can say you have a plan…you can say you have a safety net.