Written by: Kim Ward, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Social media can feel like a wide-open space that never ends and makes no sense. That’s how I felt when I first stepped into the online space back in 2015.
I was desperate to grow a business so that I didn’t have to return to my corporate job and put my newborn baby in daycare.
Social media was just becoming a “thing” for business and I felt confident that I could make a lot of money.
The problem?
I had seen so many young adults build these “dot coms” as we called it, millennials getting rich overnight, or so it seemed, that I was naive enough to think that money would basically flow out of my laptop keyboard.
That thought process was responsible for a lot of bad habits. I don’t regret it; those habits helped me build the global business that I have today and the ability to be able to provide relevant insight to your business and social media strategy.
My first recommendation is to evaluate who your target audience is. This is important and will serve as your first “best practice” with social media.
Know where your audience hangs out and go there.
If you are on a social media platform creating content, being consistent and serving an audience that’s not there, you’re wasting your time. Get to know where your audience is already hanging out and then create a plan to plant your business flag on that platform.
Now, when you are posting your content, it will be seen by your ideal audience and that’s one less challenge for you to overcome.
Secondly, I would recommend that you have a very strong understanding of the challenges and struggles that your client deals with.
Social media marketing is all about providing a solution to those pain points. Sometimes it’s done through humor and sometimes it’s more serious, either way, you’re proving to your audience that you can help them solve a problem and get to their desired result quicker.
Have a strong understanding of your ideal client's challenges and struggles.
When you create content that serves as a solution, your audience will understand that taking that next step with you is simply the next logical solution. You don’t have to feel like a spammy salesperson.
My third and final best practice, for the sake of this article, is to track your social media metrics.
Track your social media metrics.
Knowing if your numbers (followers) are growing is important when it comes to evaluating things like:
Am I on the right platform for my business?
Is my content valuable to my audience?
Are people clicking on what I’m offering?
Do my posts generate healthy engagement with my followers?
Without knowing your metrics, it's left up to your imagination and emotion. When you are running your business based on emotion instead of facts, a lot can go wrong.
You may feel a little lost at first, especially if you’re not familiar with each platform and what it has to offer, but working with a digital marketing strategist like myself will help reduce your overwhelm and help condense your learning curve.
Cheers to your social media success!
Kim Ward, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kim Ward, is a leader among driven entrepreneurs, helping them find their fire so they no longer feel defeated and make decisions that move them closer to their goals instead of sleepwalking through their day. After losing her sister and mother to suicide, and surviving an attempt of her own, Kim has dedicated herself to improving the quality of lives around her. She is the CEO of Katie's Mission, a nonprofit organization fighting to end the stigma around mental health and providing wrap-around services to those in need. Kim is a co-author in a 1 best-selling compilation book in 4 countries ‒ "The Power of Yes. How Network Marketing Creates Dream Lives". Her mission: Help you get through challenges and adversity with a powerful truth that can help those around you.
