6 Questions To Ask Yourself About Using Social Media

The pressure to jump on the social media bandwagon is strong for small businesses. While small business owners are rarely afraid of taking on a challenge, learning how to create a sustainable social media strategy can be daunting.  

Ask yourself these 6 questions to see if your social media plan is on the right track. 

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1. Who am I trying to reach? Every social media platform is different and understanding your market and how each platform works is key to finding the right mix.  Go where your audience is first.
   
2. Is my conversation relevant?  Choosing the right content for your audience is important. Social media is, well . . . social.  No one wants to be hit with a "salesy" pitch, one way conversations or too much self promotion. Use a bit of humor, ask questions, draw your audience in by sharing your expertise in meaningful ways. Try not to stray far from your message.
3. Am I trying to do too much, too quickly?  The myth of social media is that you need to be everywhere.  Start small on appropriate platforms for your audience and measure your success. Make sure you have the resources to manage your social media. Abandoning a platform gives the impression that you're out of business!
4. Have I utilized tools to make my work easier?  From scheduling Facebook posts and linking accounts, to using tools like Hootsuite, Google Alerts and Nutshell Mail, there are many ways to reduce the time it takes to maintain a balanced social media presence. 
5. Am I paying attention to my progress? If you're not monitoring your reports, you have no way of knowing whether your strategy is working.  Every social media platform offers these tools.  
6. Have I integrated social media well?  Find ways to get followers back to your "hub". Remember, you OWN your website and you OWN your mailing list.  Everything else is rented space and can change without your consent.  For example, Facebook's algorithm recent change determined only 6% of your content is worthy of appearing on your fan's newsfeed. Of course, if you pay to promote it, you might have improved results. Learning how to integrate social media is key to success.  

As more and more social media platforms move toward "pay to play" (advertising based) models, "free" may go away.  Choose wisely, maintain balance and you might want to get your checkbook ready.