You’re probably thinking that social media and productivity don’t get along.

You might be totally right if you are not using social media with a strategy and a plan in place. Imagine going to Disney World “playing by field”.  Would you just land in Orlando and buy tickets at the entrance and just go from there? I don’t think so. Especially if you have a family with children.

Now that we are game on, I want to give you a strategy that will cure your time wasting on social media.  Let’s use our 3 P’s Formula to create a strategy for social marketing.

People

Social media is not a native place to purchase things or hiring people. That’s more Amazon, Craiglist, Letgo, Ebay. Typically those users have their credit cards ready to buy, provided that they find what they are looking for. However, social media is amazing to create an audience and engage in conversations. But how exactly can you engage in conversations without wasting your time?

The ABC’s of your contact list.

Contact A= someone who you know personally and is already sending referrals your way.

Contact B= someone who you don’t know personally, but you know about their F. O. R. M.  (family, occupation, relationship, and message).  You engage with that person frequently.

Contact C= A connection that you have never engaged with.

Your goal is to move C’s to A’s so you can have more advocators bringing their connections your way.

Facebook is great for this. You can edit your friends and add them to different lists. You can also mark them with a star so you never miss an update of those who really matter to you. This is great for turning a Contact C into a B, and A. The more you engage with them, the more they will engage with you.

Process

Successful companies hire a marketing team to run their social media. However, they work with a plan which typically includes monthly campaigns, promotions, and distribution channels. As a small business owner, this is something that you need to do on your own.

Marketing teams don’t go on social media daily. They plan their content ahead of time. All the content is related to their sales goals. Social media is only one of their multiple distribution channels.

For example, if you are launching your product or your services, your first goal with social marketing is achieving brand awareness. Most of your content will be inspirational and educational.  You also have a plan to launch a call to action. Perhaps you are doing an event, webinar, or a live show.

Related post: How To Shift From Personal Brand To Business Brand To Attract Bigger Clients

To scale your marketing, you need processes in place. This will allow you to track key performance indicators (KPI’s) and ROI.  Some examples:

• Wich marketing collateral do you use when you are connecting with someone for the first time?
• Do you have a “thank you script”?
• When initiating a conversation, which script will you use?
• Which keywords are you following so you never miss groups, events, and posts? (You can follow keywords using Hootsuite.com)
• Are you using time blocking so you can engage with new people?
• Which are your busiest months of the year so you can plan to get assistance with your marketing?

Most people think about social media and they think about their branding. Pictures, cute fonts, cute videos. If you want to take advantage of social media for lead generation, it’s much more than that. This is why receiving coaching and guidance is so much needed. You save time, effort, and remove all the “play by field” from your business.

Products

People buy you! In other words, you are the product. Once they find you and know that they like you, trust you, and believe in you. How about your products and services? Make sure that your offerings are available to your audience.

We don’t recommend using your timeline and post several times a day about your amazing offerings. However, there are ways to create “invisible sales” posts.

Let me give you some ideas:

• Storytelling: sharing stories about your clients is always effective.
• Behind the scenes: show how does it look like when people do business with you.
• Leaving a link on your profile picture and cover picture. Always keep those fresh!
• Uplift your branding. New headshots. New website. New cover. Those are always visibility boosters.
• Create a community where you can engage more directly with future customers. Get our free Prospecting Guideline to get leads using Facebook Group.

To enhance your productivity, program ahead of time: your posts, your events in groups, your time to engage with new people. This should not take you more than 3 hours a week. Remember, it’s not about quantity. It’s quality.

I hope this information serves you to get closer to your goals.

Let’s talk soon!

Jess