I talk to my coaching clients a lot about how to tell the world about their business. If you don’t tell the world about your business, then you definitely need to read this – but even if you are already telling the world, I have a newsflash for you.
They are probably not listening.
Let me explain a bit more. As business owners, we know that marketing is important, of course we do, but it is often the thing that gets left behind in the hurly burly of actually running your business. It’s the constant curse of working IN your business instead of ON your business. Something I have implemented this year is rearranging my diary so that I have at least 2 clear days each month to focus ON my business. And marketing what I do will be a big part of that.
Now, marketing means many things to different people, and you need to find the right blend that works for your business – as a business coach, I help my clients work this out. There is no point me telling them to get busy on LinkedIn if they don’t actively have an audience there. Equally, there is no point me getting all evangelical about Twitter if they haven’t used that in months (or years) either. That’s just one of the great reasons to have a business coach – they get to know your business and how you work – or at least, they should 😉
I’m going to talk to you about social engagement from a business owners perspective. I am NOT a social media guru, not by any means, but I AM a social media user, and I know what works for me, and also, what I need to get better at. So here goes.
Blogging
You need to. You just have to accept that. This is your chance to share what you know and establish your credentials. Your chance to share your expertise and give your potential customers a chance to see how you can help them. Here are some tips from me as a coach:
If you are stuck for something to blog about, think about the questions you get asked about your product or service – your frequently asked questions. Pick the most popular and answer it. There you go – blog number one!
If the thought of having to write a blog – like, actually sit down and type one up makes you feel a bit icky, then don’t. First of all, Word & Google docs have a dictate feature. Voila! You simply talk to your device & there you have it – written content for your blog! Just make sure you proofread it before you post it – sometimes there can be some, ahem, misinterpreted words…..
If that still makes you uncomfortable, then consider a video blog instead. You, a camera & a platform to record to. You can use Canva, Zoom, PowerPoint, Pages – anything you feel comfortable with and that you can easily access. Then just pick your first topic to talk about and off you go.
What’s important is where your blog content lives too. Ideally on your website – because that’s where you’ve got all the schizzle about what you do and how it helps people. But if you don’t have a dedicated website (first of all speak to Brian Lynngaard at The Web Guys & tell him I sent you), you can use something like MemberVault posts, or your Facebook page to get started. This is because every blog you create needs to have a clear call to action that points people towards your till. That clearly tells them what you want them to do next & makes it easy for them to do that.
Once you’ve written your blog, you need to tell people about it. Otherwise you are just talking to yourself. Which leads me to…..
Social Media Posts
I use Facebook as my main social media platform. I’m not ‘down with the kids’ on TikTok, and have no intention of doing so either. I use Facebook, LinkedIn & Instagram to market myself on social media. Those three platforms are where I get the most engagement. And engagement is key. As I said earlier, I am NOT a social media guru, so I’m just going to share stuff with you that works for me. If you want actual, guru type information about social engagement – check out this article, it’s good.
What ever platform you use, you need to balance creation & scheduling – if you are not creating your own social media posts because you don’t have the time to schedule them (or, like me, the process of doing that bores you rigid), you need marketing support. And you need it from Amanda Roulstone. Trust me.
I create stuff in Canva because I enjoy that part, I use Social Bee (grab a free trial here) to schedule it. Lots of my clients do something similar. The problem is, this is often where the process ends. They create content, lob it out there into the social mediaverse and then sit back and wait for the tsunami of enquiries and responses to come in.
What they actually get is tumbleweed.
And this is where engagement comes into play. And also where you need to change how you look at it.
Imagine your website is your shop window. Your blogs are your shiny new product appearing in your shop window every week, or month, or however often you post new blog content.
Outside your shop on the pavement is your sandwich board – telling your potential audience about the shiny new product (your blog) & any other offers/advice/tips (your social posts) you have available to them.
Walking past all of it on the pavement is your potential audience. And they are transient. They are walking past it. So you need to grab their attention enough to make them want to look in the shop window, and then to open the door and make their way to your till.
So – what does this have to do with engagement?
Post often – your audience is not standing in front of your shop window just waiting for you to add something new – you need to tell them, and tell them often. You need to be slapping new stuff on that sandwich board consistently and it needs to have a consistent message & call to action.
Ask for help – it takes your time & effort to create your content, so get busy asking for help with engagement. I run an engagement hub – a messenger group – where folks can share links to their recently published content and ask for engagement. They ask for likes, comments & shares – and the group members do that. And that helps with reach, engagement & visibility.
So here is my call to action for you at the end of my latest new shiny blog – go and get yourself a copy of this – my 5 Steps for Writing Great Blogs. Then use it.