Posting for business

Social media seems to get more complex every day - especially if you’re using it to raise your business profile.  Walking the line between promotion and engagement is always difficult - and every social platform is different.

There was a time when it was OK to put the same post on Twitter, your LinkedIn profile, and your Facebook page - but the algorithms seem to change weekly and what works on one platform doesn’t necessarily work on another.

The content of your posts depends on: 

• What kind of business you are
• What kind of customers you want to reach or influence
• Where your ideal customers are most active
• What they want to consume

An endless stream of promotional posts featuring your company’s products or services won’t engage people.  They’ll just tune you out.

LinkedIn

There are two strings to LinkedIn - your personal account and your company page.  Most people engage with you through your personal account.  That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t post on your company page, an empty company page doesn’t look good (and is just an opportunity for LinkedIn to put their ads in place).  

The company page should feature good quality information about your products and services, testimonials, tips and advice.  In contrast your personal posts can be more conversational and on a wider range of subjects including opinions on news items and comments on other people’s posts.

Facebook

Your Facebook page can be a great place to engage - or it can be a dead place where the tumbleweed blows through!  The challenge for most page owners is that even if you have 500 likes or followers, Facebook algorithms don’t show your posts to these people - unless you boost a post or advertise.

That means that people only visit your page if you pay or if they like your content so much that they come back to your page deliberately.  That means you need to build a community that keeps coming back - so your content needs to offer them something they want.  Your challenge is to work out what that is - and then deliver it. 

Instagram

This platform is image-driven - and links don’t work, so you need to be really creative about how you present your message.  You can put narrative into the text area, but people will only see that if they’re interested enough to click and open it up.  That means your images need to be interesting and generate enough curiosity for people to want to find out more.

Twitter

Although Twitter doubled the maximum number of characters from 140 to 280 tweets still need to be short, snappy and have energy.  As you can’t put long copy on Twitter you need to make your point succinctly.

Ideally, your tweets will link the reader to more information by adding a link to a blog or a place where the reader can get more information.

YouTube

You can’t ignore the fact that YouTube has a massive audience.  Many people use it as a search engine to find ‘how to’ videos or get visual information on a subject.  If you don’t have a presence you could be missing many opportunities.

There are all kinds of advice on the ‘right’ kind of videos to upload.  And lots of successful YouTubers that break all the ‘rules’ or make new ones.

You don’t need to upload 30 minute epics, but that doesn’t mean you can’t if you have something that needs that kind of time frame.  However, it’s good to have some shorter videos too - something around the length of the average song - so anything from 3-6 minutes works well.

This is where you need to do some planning and consider what people might be searching for - then ensure your video title, tags and description all mention this key phrase.

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OF course, there are many more platforms, Pinterest, TikTok, SnapChat - and every week another one surfaces.  Some sink quickly into oblivion and some become the next new thing.  The secret is to know what your audience is looking at and then meeting them on their ‘home’ ground.

How to be everywhere

When you’re running a business you need to be visible, so you meet potential customers and they find out how amazing you are!

When I say ‘meet’, I don’t necessarily mean physically meet people - that’s only part of the process; you also need to meet people digitally - and you can meet many more people digitally than it’s possible physically.  That means that whatever you publish or present is well-focused and helps people to understand the benefits of what you do.

Strategy first

Before you rush out and start posting and joining networking groups it’s important that you know where your tribe hang out.  For instance, if your target audience is stay-at-home Mums, you probably aren’t going to meet many of them on LinkedIn - but Pinterest might be a great place to get involved.

This means you need to have a clear vision of your ideal client, who they are, what they do, what they are worrying about, what they like to do best, their personal style and what they want - and anything else that will help you to get your message on target.  This will ensure that everything else you do is laser-focused on reaching people like this and delivering information that engages them.

Content is King!

The secret of gaining a good reputation is to share loads of value.  This ticks a number of boxes:

• It engages people who may become clients at some point
• It influences what people say about you (and may result in a recommendation or two)
• It sets you up as an authority or thought-leader in your industry
• It shows you know your stuff and positions you as an expert

So aim to deliver value in most of what you publish online - whether that’s posts on social media, articles and blog posts, your website content, newsletters, lead magnets and email communications.

The people who post thoughtlessly quickly tarnish their reputations as they post things on social media that may not put them - and their business - in the best light.  The concept of having a ‘personal’ account on a social media platform doesn’t work any longer - everyone sees everything.  If you choose to be on social media, you must be aware that everything you post or share says something about you - whether it’s a political news story or a cute kitty video.

Networking for business

During the recent period of being locked in our homes, networking has moved online.  In fact, networking has been online for a long time - that’s what social media platforms are for.  [Mini-rant: I’ve never understood people who don’t have a good headshot on their social media profiles - it’s the equivalent of walking into a networking group, making eye-contact and saying ‘Hello’.  You don’t go to a live networking event with a paper bag hiding your face!]

For some networking groups networking online, using Zoom or Remo or something similar, has been a temporary solution and as the rules relax many are going back into the room.  However, some have now got a hybrid Room & Zoom approach and some will never be ‘in the room’ as it’s not geographically feasible with people from all round the country - or, indeed, all over the globe - coming together digitally.

Regardless of whether you meet physically or digitally your reputation is built on what you say, not only in your one minute pitch or 10 minute presentation, but also in every conversation in breakout rooms or 1-2-1 situations.

It’s important to be authentic - it’s difficult to maintain a persona that isn’t natural, but you must also remember that, however friendly you get, you are always representing your business and may need to consider what you tell people - and what you don’t.

Every time you have the opportunity to speak to the group whether that’s for 30 seconds or 30 minutes, it’s an opportunity to educate them about your services and the problems you solve for clients - don’t waste it!

Polish up your prose

‘I can’t write’! This is a statement I hear people saying a lot.  In fact, it’s why we have a business - as that’s the service we offer, whether it’s a blog, copy for a website, social media posts, an email campaign or a regular newsletter.  However, if you’d like to write and want to polish up your prose here are my top 5 tips:

1: Use your blog as your practice ground

Writing improves with practice.  Before you embark on writing compelling marketing content, get comfortable putting your thoughts into sentences and paragraphs.  

There’s no rule that says you have to write 1000 words - if you’ve said what you want to 200 words is enough.

2: Know what your reader wants

Everything you write, certainly for business purposes, needs to give your reader something they want.  That means you need to know your target audience pretty well.

What kind of information do they want?

If you can deliver that it will give each item you write focus and clarity.

3: One thought per sentence; one idea per paragraph

People tell me I write like I speak - but I don’t!  When I speak, I ramble, backtrack and change course mid-sentence, but people can follow my tone of voice and the accompanying body-language to help them to understand what I’m saying.  My writing is much tidier - and this is because I learned this rule early in my writing career.

When your sentence starts running onto a third line, go back and find a place to break it into two (or even three).  Huge long paragraphs are hard to read too.  White space is a great aid to ease of reading.

4: Plan first, then write - and edit later

If you think you’re in danger of serious waffling, get out a piece of paper and a pen (so you’re using your creative right brain) and jot down your subject and the main points you want to make.  Numbered lists (like this one) help to keep things on track - or subheadings to gather facts and information around an aspect of your subject.

I like mind-maps for planning, but if writing a list does it for you - use whatever works.

If you’ve got ideas, but your concern is whether your English is correct, just get your thoughts down and go back and edit it when you’ve finished.  This way you’ll have a better idea of the item as a whole and will make better decisions about what needs to be added or taken out.

5: Read it aloud

Reading your written work aloud is an excellent way to find out how easy it is to process.  If you stumble in places - that’s where you need to edit.  

Reading aloud will also highlight places where you’ve become too pompous and are using stilted or over-complicated phrasing.

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The more you write, the better you’ll get.  Start practising now.