If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner, you no doubt have heard that you need to be working with social media to grow your business. The big problem here, is how on earth are you supposed to find time to work on social media if you're already swamped with your daily business tasks!! We all know the last thing a small business owner needs is yet another thing on their plate!
However, social media can be simple and fun, if you're prepared. Done well it can bring you an unending supply of great leads to grow your business. All of us at one time or another find ourselves with an hour or so that's not structured where we could tackle a project or two. The next time that comes up, here's what to do:
1. Open a blank document and call it "Social Media" or something to that effect.
2. Now, write down as many questions as you can about your area of expertise that you could ask people interested in your services. So, if I'm running a Spa, I might want to ask questions like: "What do you like best about getting a massage?" "What's your favorite method of hair removal?" Perhaps you're more into business development. You could ask questions like "What's your biggest challenge with being a small business owner?" "What's your favorite small business phone app?" You want great conversation starters. If you run out of ideas, try do a Google search for something like "Great questions about (topic)" List them in a numerical list on your social media sheet. Aim for 50 great questions.
3. Next, do a Google search for great quotes about your area of business. For example "Great quotes about dogs" or "Great quotes about marketing". As you find good ones, list them in between your original list of questions, so your list is now a question, a quote, a question, a quote, etc. Again, 50 is a great number to shoot for.
4. After this, your task is to come up with as many great, practical tips as you can in your business. Again, if you run out of ideas, search Google for "simple ______tips". For example, "simple beauty tips". These are now sorted into your original list after the quotes so you have question, quote, tip, question, quote, tip, etc.
5. Once that's done you're looking for great articles to share in your market that have a long shelf life. Do a Google search for words like "dog training articles", or "small business articles", or whatever your market is. Find a great list of recent, powerful articles, and intersperse them into your list after the tips: question, quote, tip, article, question, quote, tip, article, etc. Use bit.ly to shorten your links and track your clicks.
6. Finally, you can add in some good questions or tips that could lead to your own site or products, but make sure that your own stuff isn't "in your face" or the majority of your posts.
The best thing about setting all of this up is that now you have a great source of posts that will stimulate engagement, which is what social media is all about, right?