Social Media Tips from Kate Denoyer Fitzpatrick, CEO of Kate Fitzpatrick Consulting:
Many people ask me for my "special sauce," the best practices for truly optimizing their social media strategy in just minutes per day. None of us have a ton of time on our hands, so we have to be effective with each post and update, not spending any more time on social media than is truly necessary. The core of any successful social media strategy is to keep it client- or customerbased. Your role on social media is NOT to sell your product or service; it's to build relationships with current and potential clients, providing them with useful information that positions you as an expert in your field. This is particularly true on Facebook, where people go mostly to interact with their friends socially, so remember your audience and what motivates them to engage with each social media platform.
You'll be happy to hear that you probably don't need to be spending as much time as you think promoting your business on social media! Most people tend to "follow shiny objects" on Facebook, scrolling aimlessly through their live feed reading posts from old friends, businesses they're not sure why they Liked, etc. So here are my top tips for how to sift through the noise and manage your Facebook business page in eleven minutes per day:
2 minutes - Post an update. Your followers are looking to be entertained and informed, so post a photo, favorite quote, relevant article, book recommendation, or a question/poll that engages them. This is also the place to post a link to your website or latest blog post encouraging people to click through, but remember the golden 80/20 rule – 80% of your posts should be informative while 20% can be purely promotional. Still not sure what kind of updates to post? Look at the companies you enjoy following the most and see what kind of updates they share.
3 minutes - Like 7 new Business pages. These can be companies you've recently heard about or worked with, local media or national groups that are relevant to your industry. This will help you generate content in your Live Feed to share with your followers and cultivate to show that you are an expert in your field, as well as increasing the likelihood that these organizations and their followers will Like you back.
4 minutes - Scroll and Share. Scroll through your Live Feed to get up to date on the top stories; then Like, Comment and/or Share 5 posts. This gets your brand name in front of hundreds if not thousands of new contacts and engages the law of reciprocity, which is so important to remember in social media - the more you engage with other people, the more they will engage with you!
Still have questions about how to more efficiently market your business on Facebook? I'd love to answer them for you – please email me at kkdfconsulting@gmail.com.
Coming soon: How to Manage Your LinkedIn Profile in Eleven Minutes a Day!
Kate Denoyer Fitzpatrick is a Ridgefield native who formed Kate Fitzpatrick Consulting in 2011 to help small business owners more effectively communicate their unique visions through strategic social media, public relations and website design. Her passions are working with women entrepreneurs as well as health and wellness practitioners. She offers a free social media audit and website audit to new clients. For more information, please visit katefitzpatrick.com.