Let Your Fingers Do The Swipping

Remember the commercial, “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking Through the Yellow Pages”? You remember those giant yellow bricks that we used to raise up our computer monitor! Every business HAD to have a yellow page ad. You might use newspaper advertising, radio or even TV ads, but a yellow page ad was a must.

But today, anything but digital marketing is pretty much obsolete. Where we once had only a few choices, now we have dozens of marketing options to choice from. How do you choose which social media platforms are the best for your business? Social sites, video, email marketing, website and SEO are all potential components of your marketing plan. Do you choose to be an early adopter of the Social Media de Jour, the latest site just launched? Or do you keep doing what you’ve been doing for years because you are comfortable with it? Maybe, you’re just on autopilot with a marketing plan you created but haven’t touched in a while.

Sometimes I think back on the “good ole days” when you had fewer choices for your marketing. Back when sales funnels were follow-ups on leads generated from your ads. Back when salesmanship meant persuading the buyer that your product solved all their needs. “What can I do to get you to buy today?” Ahh, the good ole days!

Buyers, today, are more educated in the product/service you are offering. Once they enter the sales cycle, they are researching everything from soup to nuts. They can shop price, quality, service, reputation, durability and most importantly reviews of your business. So with all the flood of information they have, why would they choose you? Better still, how will they even find you so you’re part of their decision?

Enter Social Media. Building brand awareness is one of the top activities social media can help you achieve. The message your business is sharing on social media should reinforce all your marketing efforts. But who’s listening? And just because someone “sees” your message doesn’t mean they actually “hears” you message. Assume you’re a computer repair service offering a special for desktop virus removal and cleanup. Sounds like a valid message, right? But you’re offering this on Snapchat, TikTok or even Instagram where all the traffic is mobile. Valid message – wrong audience.

Choosing the right audience is the starting point for your social media efforts. Audience demographics, as well as likes and interest, help determine the platform most likely frequented by your potential clients/customers. Don’t assume you have a complete grasp of who your audience is. Research the audience through your competitors. What groups are your audience hanging out in? What topics are they engaging in? What values and beliefs are important to them?

Next is determining your voice. Much like the example of the desktop virus removal, it’s not only important to address your audience on the platform they are on, but the voice of the message needs to match your platform. You wouldn’t talk to a baby boomer the same way you would a Gen X/Yer. People read the same way they talk. As we “hear” the message we are reading, if it doesn’t match our speech patterns, we tend to zone out and stop reading.

Now that you have identified your audience and your voice, it’s time to pick the social media platform where your audience hangs out. But first, you need to decide what content you are comfortable creating. Are you a creative type person comfortable with making videos or graphics? Are you a service type of business? Does your sales process require extensive explanation? Is your business very formal or more humorous and quirky? The key is showcasing the personality of your business. Following are the social media sites that match the different content types:

Video – If you are comfortable producing Videos, then YouTube should be your first choice. Not only is it the 2nd largest search engine on the planet, but also owned by Google and it’s the go-to for anything How-To, informational content or reviews. Other sites for video are Instagram’s IGTV , Facebook and LinkedIn.

Live Video – Live video offers a more interactive video experience. Viewers can engage in real time with your video. Currently, all the major platforms offer a live option, with Facebook leading the way in popularity.

Images/Memes – Another form of creative content is images. They can be your own content or content curated from other sources. But using graphic design tools like Canva, it’s easy to create your own images. InstaGram is one of the best places for graphics. Both Facebook and InstaGram stories are also great places to use you images and graphic creations.

Blogs/Educational Content – Blogs are the premiere vehicle to showcase your expertise and industry knowledge. LinkedIn is the best platform for sharing blog articles. Facebook also can be a destination for your blogs. Don’t overlook video blogs using YouTube.

Humor/Quirky – Content that is humors and quirky can create a strong, lasting brand awareness. Showcasing your personal or humorous side on Facebook and Instagram can create sharable opportunities.

The bottom line is to choose one platform to focus on initially before adding others. Ultimately you want to guide your readers offline, to your website and email list, the only 2 platforms you can truly control.

Need help creating an effective digital marketing strategy?  800biz Ninja Marketing has been helping small businesses develop effective and efficient marketing strategies through web site design, search engine optimization and social media marketing and training, that improves search engine ranking, increase traffic to their door and converts more browsers into buyers.