Don't forget to strategize!

“We’re a small business with a small marketing budget. Why don’t we just sign up for different social media accounts and market that way. We can figure it out as we go along.”

This sort of phrase became all too familiar to me while I worked as an intern trying to help small businesses build their online presence and connect with consumers. One of the most unrecognized aspects of social media marketing for small businesses is the social media strategy. Signing up for a Facebook account, checking it once a week, and hoping that that will bring new business is not enough. Businesses need to come up with a strategy for their social media marketing if they want to have success. Through my past internship experience I’ve learned that by doing these things, small businesses give themselves a great start to developing their social media strategies.

First, do a little research on the different social media networks you’ve heard about. Just because you’ve heard of StumbleUpon doesn’t mean it’s the right platform for your business. Learn about what each site does and how it presents information. It’s not a bad idea to take the time to look up other businesses on the platform and see how they interact with consumers. By doing this, you can get a better feel for what each site does and how it can benefit you.

Next, consider are what type of business you are and who you are trying to reach. These will help you decide what social media platforms are for you. For example, if you are a local plumber and you make the house calls, Foursquare is not for you. Customers won’t be around to check in. If you’re a hardware store looking to show off your stock of power tools, Pinterest is not where your target market is hanging out online.

Once you’ve narrowed down what sites you think will work best for your business, think about what will realistically work for you. While interning I found that many businesses thought that they had to do it all right away and consequently spread themselves too thin. If you can’t give your social media network the time it needs, it doesn’t matter that you have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. You’re not really interacting or marketing to consumers effectively.

Consider the content you want to present to your followers. You don’t want to post the same things every day and you don’t always want to ask them to like a picture. Think about what you want your followers to do with the information and what types of content are most appropriate for the site. For example, Instagram is not the most appropriate platform for a  long wordy paragraph. Don’t feel overwhelmed by this planning – you don’t have to figure out everything you ever plan to post right away. But do think about what you want to share. It will help you feel less flustered later.

Come up with a guideline for posting. It’s not realistic for every business to post things every hour. (Don’t forget that you actually have a business to run!) Figure out what will work best for you. If you feel that you have the time and content for two Facebook posts a day, that’s great. But if you don’t, create a timeline that works for you. Again, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin.

While these things are certainly not a comprehensive list for creating a social media strategy for your business, they will get you thinking on the right track. The starting point is often the hardest part for small businesses looking to utilize social media. So when you decide that social media is right for your business, don’t forget the important first step – strategizing!