Your business strategy is your social media strategy

Do you advertise on the radio because you hope people will like the commercial? Do you advertise in the newspaper in the hope that people will share the ad with their friends? No. You advertise in these places for one reason: to drive sales of your service or product.

Yet when we land on social media, too often we become starry-eyed, seduced by the glamour of this shiny new thing. We lust after likes. We crave comments.

Too often I hear small businesses agonising over social media strategy, treating it as something different to their business strategy.

Guess what? Your business strategy is your social media strategy. Consider the following business objective and audience:

Objective
Get people to come into my clothing store and purchase.

Audience
Women 21-41, within 25 kilometres of my shop, interested in the boho look, willing to purchase at $50-$150 per item.

If this is your business objective, then your social media objective is the same: get people to purchase the clothing you sell. Not likes, not shares, not comments. Sales.

This is why, once you have built a following for your business on Facebook or Instagram, you need to start getting those people off social media.

Yep, you read that correctly. Let me explain.

A lot of things happen on your business’ social media accounts; likes, comments, shares, and so on. But those things, by themselves, are not worthwhile aims. Remember - you’re a small business owner so you’re not in it for glory and public adulation. You’re in business to make a living doing something you’re passionate about.

Making a living means selling your product or service. So when you’re writing content for your social media - make sure you’re always focused on the end result. Set your objectives the same way you would a normal business or marketing strategy and expect your social media to contribute to those objectives.

So where does that leave content plans, compelling imagery, building rapport and brand awareness, and having conversations with your customers? These are all tactics. They are a (very important) means to an end. But if all of those things aren’t contributing to your bottom line you may be wasting your precious time.

Strategy is something I do best. Send me an email or even give me a call if you would like to know more about how I can help your business turn social media into sales.