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Why social media needs your personal touch

Small businesses can achieve great things from social media .  If you can spend a little bit of time on research, making a plan and setting aside daily time to post and respond, you’ll see results.

Why are you doing social media?

First, ask yourself why.  What’s the reason for your social networks and what do you, as a business, what to get out of it?  My guess is you’d like more customers.

Whether you sell a product or a offer a service, you want to reach potential customers and you  want them to buy your products or use your services. You can successfully establish your businesses through the right social media channel.

Where do I start?

It all starts with a plan.  You know your customers and you know who you want your potential customers to be.  Where are they and how are you going to find them?

Start with the basics. Think about all the customers you could have.  Are they male, female, older or younger?  Do they have a shared interest, hobby or business?

Define each customer type.  Make a list, if it helps, or draw characters.  What would you say about your business to all of these different people?

TIP: Know, feel and do

This is a great way to define your customers.  Against every type of customer, write down what do you want them to know about you, how should they feel when they read about you, and what do you want them to do about it.

Is your website up to date?

Before you make a start with social media, make sure your website is in tip top shape and up to date.  It’s the home of your business; the place people go to find out what you do.  This is where your social media posts should be directing your readers with links to content on your website.

You’ll recognise this too.  When you see interesting, relevant and engaging things on a website, you want to share it. Make it easy for people to share your stuff.

Who are you aiming at – who’s it for?

Every social network has a slightly different purpose.  LinkedIn has a predominately business and opinion focus, whereas Facebook is conversational and spontaneous.  Every social media channel attracts a different type of person, for different reasons, ages or interests.

Social media content disappears fast so make it interesting enough for people to want to read more.
To begin with, pick two to suit your marketing purpose.  Don’t try to do all of them at once.  It’s better to do one or two networks well than all of them badly.

People are savvy enough to know when you’ve loaded everything into a social scheduling machine and spurted the same thing across every social channel.

Also remember, one size doesn’t fit all. People are savvy enough to know when you’ve loaded everything into a social scheduling machine and spurted the same thing across every social channel.

Help and support

Give it some time and be in it for the long haul to get the results. If you’d like help with social media, give me a call and I’d be happy to talk to you about how to get the best results for your business.
Just getting started with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or other social media? I can explain the differences, show you how to reach the right people and focus your efforts in the right place.


Karen Hyde is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and Accredited Practitioner