Grab my free guide, 8 Steps to Developing a social media strategy
If you have a business – nonprofits you’re included here as you must run your nonprofit like a business in order to survive – then you have to embrace the power of social media.
It wasn’t too long ago when you actually had a choice whether or not you wanted to be on social media. Now, however, you don’t – you’re either on social media and staying relevant or you’re becoming the next Blockbuster.
So how does your business (nonprofits included here) stay relevant by being on social media?
First, you need to have a social media strategy – what platform(s) should you be on? Which one is most comfortable for you? What types of content will you share? What experience are you providing for others? These are just a few things you should be considering.
It is so important that you plan something out because jumping into the world of social media without a plan is a waste of time for you and your followers. If you’re gonna invest your valuable time…make sure you’re doing it with purpose.
Keep in mind, nothing is set in stone and you can tweak things as you go. The important thing to note here is that you plan something and take action. Also, keep in mind, if this – social media – is not your area of expertise then you must invest in hiring someone to help you.
Sure you can pick up your phone, snap a photo, open up Instagram, and post to your stories but that’s barely scratching the surface. Instagram, and any social media platform really, is so complex.
If we just look at Instagram here, you have the option to post to your:
- Newsfeed
- Stories
- IG live
- IGTV
And that’s just where you can post. Then you have filters, hashtags, GIF’s, stickers, locations, tags, highlights, links, etc.
Overwhelming right? Not to mention this is literally just the start when your business is on social media – this is the posting part.
We haven’t even gotten into the engagement part which is even more important. You see, posting, of course, is important for your business/nonprofit as that’s how you get exposure. It’s one of the first step though. The next step, the most important step, is engagement! Engagement is everything!
Every time you post something on social media you open the door to opportunity.
I always say, “The magic happens in the comments” because if you take the time to actually engage with your followers you will take your business/nonprofit to the next level.
If you’re not engaging in the comments you are missing out and frankly, you need to ask yourself, “why am I even on social media?” It’s no longer about signing up for a social media account and posting as much content as you can that is all about you and what you offer.
Nope! Today it is all about the conversation and building those relationships.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “I understand what you’re saying here Ed but I have a limited to no budget.”
Listen, budget is always going to be an issue – like they say, “It takes money to make money” and this is one area you can not afford to be cheap on. There are affordable options in helping you with your social media and if you need help reach out.
To help you get started here is what you need to do:
- Choose the one main platform you feel comfortable posting on and that you have an audience on. Once things rev up you won’t have time to bounce between all the platforms unless you expand your team which is why I say focus on one main platform.
- What are some posts (think video first here as video is huge right now) that you could easily create? Think about your audience. Who are they? What interests them? What catches their attention?
- Schedule your posts out. While there are many options here from creating a spreadsheet, Trello board, built-in scheduler (on Facebook for example) to third-party schedulers like Buffer or the one I am loving right now is Loomly. What has helped me is picking a day during the week for “content planning” where I plan and schedule some of my content.
Once you have a plan and start posting then you have to start setting aside time each day to engage in the comments.
Yes, social media can be overwhelming and yes, it is a lot of work which is why if this is not your area of expertise invest in hiring someone to help. I can’t stress this enough – social media is no longer an option for your business/nonprofit and in order to stay relevant you need to be active on social media.
If you need help with your social media strategy grab my free guide, 8 Steps to Developing a social media strategy. Also, feel free to reach out anytime!