Ah, social media. Love it or hate it; it is a crucial part of our business. Whether you are starting a new business or are looking to give your social media plan a refresh, you most likely have had some kinds of experience on social media.

During your time on social media, you have probably noticed how some brands come right out of the gate and charge to Instagram superstar with massive followings and engagement, while others seem to have been struggling for years with a minimal audience and little to no engagement.

So what separates the two?

Under it all and between all of the algorithms and trends, being successful on any social media channel is really about your ability to create relationships with your audience or your followers. To grow on any social media channel, you need to have a few things in place, all of which should focus on creating a clear and consistent brand message and a connection with your audience.

Let’s take a look at what successful people do on social media:

1. They focus their posts on their audience. What they want, need, and tries to solve these problems or guide them with their products or services
2. They are highly interactive. They answer every comment on their posts, and they also comment frequently on posts that are in their feed.
3. They share their lives and experiences rather than continually selling and promoting.
4. They focus their efforts on the social media platforms that they have the most success on instead of spreading attention to thin on too many platforms

Notice a common thread in these characteristics? That’s right. All of these behaviors increase the connection between business owner and customer. Now that we know what works best on social media let’s look at how you can adjust or create your social media plan to connect with your audience and customers.

The following steps will help you create the most effective social media plan for your business.

1. Start by looking at all of your social media platforms. Where do you have the most engagement?

Is your Instagram struggling to get more than a few likes per post with little to no engagement in the comments? If so, take a look at what you are posting.

Try to adjust your content plan according to the things successful social media folks do that are listed above.

After a month, if you still hear crickets, it might be time to consider if this particular platform is really worth your time and effort, or could your time be spent more effectively somewhere else?

2. Another thing to consider when you are choosing where to focus your energy on social media is to look at which channels are best for what types of things.

Facebook is excellent for connecting with other solopreneurs or small business owners.

Linkedin is your best bet for connecting and reaching people in the professional world.

Instagram is great for visual-centric businesses.

You’ll always want to think about what platforms you enjoy using the most. If you like spending time on a specific social media site, you will be more likely to share and engage with your audience there organically.

3. Once you have decided on what platforms you want to focus your social media plan on it’s time to develop a content strategy.

Start by thinking about your audience.

Next, create a content calendar where you will share something that will help them in different ways on different days.

There are many different ways to create a content calendar for your business.

Choose one that works for you, but make sure you do have a plan and write it down. Having a plan will save you hours of sitting around stressing out what to post next.

4. Here’s one that gets buried under all the science and planning- Be Social! Interacting and engaging with your audience is crucial to creating a connection with your followers.

Share things from your personal life: tips, hobbies, travel experience, your new favorite recipe, Netflix series, course, or book. And don’t forget to ask your customers about their thoughts on things as well. What do their personal lives look like?

Once you implement these things in your social media plan, you will start to see changes happening in your business. Creating a clear and consistent brand message, along with encouraging interaction and engagement with your audience is what will convert followers into customers.

Want more tips on how to start and grow your business? Join the Entrepreneur Life Series right here!

New post Creating A Social Media Plan For Your Business on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

Creating Trust Through Consistency

One of the most important ways you can build trust on social media is to Be Consistent with Your Marketing-what you share.

The content you choose to share with your audience is the “face” of your business. Because of this, consistency is a critical element in a business’ success. Of course, many other vital factors will lead to a successful business, but consistency is what will create name recognition and trust from your audience, which will lead to more sales.

Consistency in What and When you share with your audience

Sharing consistent content with your audience is what will build your community so you can develop a relationship.

When you are deciding what types of content to share you should post things that will be helpful to your audience while showcasing your expertise to new followers.

By sharing consistent content, you are assuring your customers that they can expect you to give them the things they need time after time. With each visit to your website, with each share of a social post, your audience will know what they are getting.

Once there is doubt in a customers mind, you will find yourself having to start all over again and rebuild that trust. Making consistency a priority will help you avoid this situation and will keep your customers coming back to do business with you. Doubt in a customer’s mind generally means you have to rebuild that trust again to show that they should continue doing business with you.

Here is an example of how lack of consistency can hurt your reputation and your business: Think about your inbox. How many of those emails that you get are from opt-ins that you thought sounded great in the beginning, but now you can not remember what company they are from. Why does this happen? Inconsistency. When someone creates an opt-in and then abandons the people on their list by not following up and engaging in those who signed up, the recipients of these emails forget why this email is in their inbox. What happens next? Unsubscribe.

Once this happens, you have to work much harder to get people to sign up for anything you are offering.

Consistency with your brand image

Every day we are bombarded with messages from people who say they have found the answers to pulling in 6-or 7-figure incomes. I’m sure you’ve seen them.

If you tried implementing all of their different strategies, you’d be exhausted from keeping up with it all and your audience would be very confused about your overall message. And confusion is the death of gaining a sale or a returning customer.

When it comes to branding, consistency, and repetition will help develop name recognition. When you are creating the story around your brand, remember to keep it simple and clear. Always tell your customers what you are offering and why it will solve one of their problems.

Whatever your trademark is, don’t go changing it without some serious consideration first. The more consistent your brand image is, the more people will recognize and trust your business.

Here is where creating a brand kit for your business becomes vital. A brand kit can be simple or very complex. In its simplest for you want to be sure it includes your brand’s colors, fonts, and most used tag lines.

Be consistent with your brand image, colors, and message online so you’re always recognized. Once people come to identify you as an authority in your field, you will begin to see considerable changes in your business.

Want more entrepreneurial tips? Sign up for our newsletter here!

New post The Importance Of Building Trust On Social Media on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

How Pinterest Helps My Brand And Can Help Yours Too

There are many reasons someone may start a blog: a creative outlet, a way of connecting with like-minded people or simply to keep friends and family updated on their latest adventures. But, if you’re a business owner like me, you know that starting a blog is less about our personal lives and a lot more about sharing our expertise and promoting our products and services.

When I first started the blog, back in 2011, I would have never imagined how it would benefit my small local business. Above all, I would have never imagined how Pinterest would propel my blog and therefore help my business.

With blog posts that have been shared thousands of times on Pinterest, the traffic I get from this platform is loyal and eager to learn more from my other posts.

If you’ve ever used Pinterest, then you know how powerful its visual images can be. With so much content to peruse, it’s easy to find yourself sitting for hours pinning interesting articles, recipes, crafts and more.

The platform simply lends itself well to certain types of material. The benefits it can offer your business go well beyond its emotional appeal to users. Take a look at these tried and true reasons to use Pinterest to build engagement around your brand if you want to see a significant increase in user interaction and sales.

Maximize Exposure

Pinterest allows your pins to not only be seen by those who choose to follow you, but also to their followers. Your boards can gain immense traction if they contain content that appeals to your target audience.

Beautiful images that offer inspiration or a solution to a problem do really well on Pinterest. Taking the time to create something that is both appealing to look at and informative to many will increase its chances of being pinned.

Social Influence

You’ll find that Pinterest is a very socially influential platform. Its users often form communities among like-minded individuals surrounding a hobby, lifestyle, product or any number of interests. These types of social connections, along with the mere emotional pull of visual material, can lead to immediately making a purchase or planning for a future buy.

Sales Conversion Potential

Visual marketing is a powerful tool because well-delivered images appeal to the senses and the emotions. Pinterest has shown to be quite successful in sales conversion. If an individual is attracted enough to your content to spend a few minutes with it and actually pin it to their boards, they’re more likely to act on making a purchase.

Google-Friendly

Material found on Pinterest is high ranking when it comes to SEO. By taking care to name your boards with simple, straightforward titles the average user would type to find you and your offerings, you’re sure to see an increase in followers, who have the potential to become fans and loyal customers.

User Sharing

The fact that Pinterest activity is ruled primarily by users sharing the exciting things they find, brands don’t have to invest huge amounts of time to see some benefit. Of course, the more active and involved you are in maintaining your boards and sharing pins, the higher your return will be. However, the actual time and energy you need to spend on your Pinterest marketing are far less than that of other platforms that require constant monitoring and frequent addition of new material.

Plus with tools like Tailwind, you can schedule pins for an entire month in one afternoon. Tailwind is an amazing tool I have been using since its creation, I recommend it and if you want to sign up you can use my affiliate link here.

Social Media Integration

It’s easy to share your pins on other social media sites, even to your blog through embedding. You can tweet your pin, share it on Facebook or send it to another user through a message. This gives you a great deal of versatility and increases your reach with just a click of a button or two.

These are some of the most common and universal reasons to use Pinterest for your brand marketing. There are lots of other features and benefits that apply to various types of business, and new capabilities are often added. Give Pinterest a try and see what an impact it can have on your brand.

New post 6 Amazing Ways Pinterest Can Be Good For Your Brand on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas