Tips for planning and implementing a social media strategy.
A Social media strategy shouldn’t be a headache, once you have a plan in place. So maybe you are new to all this social media stuff and how it put it together for your business. To start I would pick 2 or 3 platforms to boost your business. It’s also very important to have a Google + Business Page account, it really helps with your Search Engine Optimisation, and your business location is also picked up. If you have a website register your business with Google.
PREPARATION
So maybe you have decided to go with Facebook, Instagram and Google +, so where do you start?
- Set up Facebook Business Page – invite all your friends to like your page.
- Start your Instagram for Business – invite your friends to follow you.
- Set up Google + Business Page – Google will post to your business address a verification code which you have to enter to be recognised.
PLAN
Think of your strategy – what do you want to communicate to your potential customers. I like to post uplifting quotes, useful resources; such as articles or blog posts that I like and then I also upload my blog posts. I also advertise my courses and events.
You can advertise your events on both Facebook and Google +. Facebook has an Events Tab for followers to see all that you offer.
So you know what you are going to shout about, Great!
What next? Say for example that for the month of September Hypnosis is going to be your focus. You plan to post twice a week, one post may be an image with a Quote about hypnosis and the other may be an article on the Benefits of Hypnosis. So you need 4 images and 4 articles.
CREATING
For my social media strategy I use Pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/ they offer free images. I use Canva for all my publishing it’s also free https://www.canva.com So you open your Canva and decide what you want to create, you can use the image from Pixabay or you can choose from the collection on Canva.
Create 4 quotes and remember to put your web address on the image.
Find 4 interesting articles or blog posts on the internet.
POSTING & SCHEDULING
Now comes the fun part, you need to schedule your posts for the month so you don’t have to think about them again.
Open your Facebook Business page (Google+ will not let you schedule posts so I use Hootsuit www.hootsuite.com to schedule for Google+).
Open Hootsuits and open your email ( You will be emailing yourself to post to Instagram from your phone).
Pick a platform to start let’s say FB, go to the posts tab and write you post and upload your image also add #….. #hypnosis #health #mind #subconscious,( #’s are really important for getting found and followers.)
Then Copy what you have written. In Hootsuit go to planner and click on the day and time that you want to post. Then paste across your information, upload your image and schedule. You can also schedule for Twitter from here.
In your email paste the information and send to your phone along with the image. Schedule the Facebook post.
And repeat until all your images and articles have been scheduled.
For Instagram open your App and upload the image you sent yourself, then paste the info from the email and send.
You can now use Instagram in Hootsuit as well, so you could save yourself that last bit of work!
RELAX
I know it seems like a lot of work, you need to put 2 to 3 hours in at the start of the month for you social media strategy, once you have everything scheduled you just need to do the Instagram when you think of it.
It is also a good idea to make it personal, today people want to connect with real people so share some things that you like, if you’re out for a walk take a picture and share on Instagram ( which also has the ability to share to Facebook, Twitter and Tumbler).
Always put your web address into every post and don’t forget the #####
On a Friday I like to put a Happy Friday or Weekend post.
Hope this is helpful any questions on your social media strategy just shoot me a message.