Start Small Win Big: Your Week 8 Action Plan

Step 8: Take a closer look at your social media strategy.

Every business, no matter how big or small, should be on Facebook or Twitter. And if you’ve been participating in the ‘Start Small, Win Big’ entrepreneurial challenge, your small business is probably already active on both. There is, however, one common pitfall of many small biz social media accounts: an obsession with “likes.”

Yes, Facebook “likes” or Twitter “favorites” are important– vital, even– when using metrics to see what’s working or not. But even with measurement in mind, numbers are not the end goal– engagement is.

With that in mind, this week’s assignment is to audit and refine your social media strategy. Depending on your business, you can have many goals for your Facebook page or Twitter account. A food truck’s Twitter account can be used to update fans on where they’re parked for the day, while the purpose of a wedding planner’s Facebook page is to showcase her beautiful portfolio.

But, regardless of your industry, there are four C’s of social media that you’ll need to perform your social strategy audit: Communicate, Community, Content and Conversion.

Communicate: Look at all the posts you’ve made in the last two weeks. How many are promotional and how many are non-commercial? Paul Slack, president of Splash Media, gives the following rule of thumb: “Communicate effectively to fans by using the 90/10 rule—90% of what you create in social media needs to be non-commercial, and once you’ve made those posts, you’ve earned the right to post your 10% of promotional or commercial information.”

Community: What have you done lately to make your fans feel welcome? How quickly do you reply to complaints? On that same note, how quickly do you reply to compliments? If your business is only responding to negative comments, then that’s all you’ll ever receive.

Content: If you have a blog or website, you always want to drive people out of social media and to your website. The average lifespan of a Facebook post is one day and the average lifespan of a tweet is a few hours, but a blog post is indexed, searchable and, as long as it’s relevant, never dies. When was the last time you posted valuable content? If you don’t have a blog or website, consider putting it on your To Do list for the weekend– it’s as crucial as a social media page.

Conversion: Do you frequently receive questions like, “How do I subscribe to your newsletter?” or “Where can I buy this?” Evaluate how easy it is for your social media fans to take the next step, whether it’s making a sale or finding more information about you. Is your contact info easily seen?

Share your social media audit with the SUCCESS Start Small Win Big community today. Also, stay tuned for instructions on how to submit your final entry.

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85638 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fblog.success.com%2Fweek-8%2FStart+Small+Win+Big%3A+Your+Week+8+Action+Plan2013-03-11+20%3A54%3A37Jennifer+Changhttp%3A%2F%2Fblog.success.com%2F%3Fp%3D8563 to “Start Small Win Big: Your Week 8 Action Plan”

1. dedenodoy says:

   April 10, 2013 at 1:02 pm

   Hi Jenifer, good catched

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2. Trevor Greig says:

   April 5, 2013 at 3:14 pm

   Excellent post! To make business growth successful whatever information being provided here is worth reading. I'm glad to see this page is also available on Facebook. Social networks are one of the bests ways to make good promotion of any small or big business. Promotion makes any business huge successful. Thanks.

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3. DorisVela says:

   March 15, 2013 at 1:57 pm

   Hello everyone,

   WOW! I can't believe it has been 8 weeks already!

   Since I opened the Facebook account for the school, my goal was to inform the community the following: 1) Address all questions of Who, What, How, When – in summary and in a "reader friendly" fashion, 2) Promote Others so You Can be Promoted (John Maxwell Theory), 3) Monitor our Audience & Most Popular Posts (customer's interest), 4) Communicate Association (with who our school associates with and shares the same phylosophy) and 5) Communicate Events (our Grand Opening, etc.).

   I am in the process of Re-Opening/Re-Designing my Linkedin & Twitter accounts – Stay Tune-in!! I believe Bambini, Inc Facebook page is in the right track, but I am always open for feedback. Please visit our page and feel free to share your ideas/thoughts! http://www.facebook.com/bambinichildren

   Best Luck to All,
   Doris Vela http://www.facebook.com/doris.h.vela

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4. Diesel Tees says:

   March 13, 2013 at 11:34 am

   Great article, we try to keep the "people talking about this" # up on our FB page so that more fans see our posts.

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5. Steve Freeman says:

   March 13, 2013 at 11:16 am

   Finally, I've got to tell you it is a real joy to find a blog post that really gives good information. I have a twitter following, but absolutely no engagement. My linkedin account on the other hand drives 75% of traffic to my website. The difference is the time I spend engaging on linkedin.

   Twitter on the other hand confuses me. With the constant stream of posts it's so easy to look like noise. In fact to me it is noise, I don't pay attention at all, result – no engagement. Thanks for posting this!

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   Josh_Ellis11 Reply:
   March 15th, 2013 at 5:06 pm

   Hi Steve,

   Like you, I was very skeptical when I first joined Twitter. It can be intimidating, and the reality is there are so many voices out there, and on a level playing field, that it is easy to be lost in the crowd. After some time, I grew more comfortable with it, and I imagine you will as well.

   Like all social media, you'll only get out of Twitter what you put in. If you already have a following, there must be people who want to hear from you. Speak up!

   Glad you're keeping up with Start Small Win Big and SUCCESS. Thanks!

   Josh Ellis
   Features Editor
   SUCCESS

   [Reply]

   

   Josh_Ellis11 Reply:
   March 15th, 2013 at 5:06 pm

   Hi Steve,

   Like you, I was very skeptical when I first joined Twitter. It can be intimidating, and the reality is there are so many voices out there, and on a level playing field, that it is easy to be lost in the crowd. After some time, I grew more comfortable with it, and I imagine you will as well.

   Like all social media, you'll only get out of Twitter what you put in. If you already have a following, there must be people who want to hear from you. Speak up!

   Glad you're keeping up with Start Small Win Big and SUCCESS. Thanks!

   Josh Ellis
   Features Editor
   SUCCESS

   [Reply]

   Reply
6. Dean Cameron says:

   March 12, 2013 at 11:45 am

   Social media is a big part of our business (although I have to admit any experience I have is due to poking around and seeing what works). We have a FB page specific to our art related website and another that is related to the industry that is a place for artists to post their works at will that we promote our primary business as well. We also have accounts on Google +, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and Pinterest that we share on as well. One of the attributes of our site is the networking on top of networking aspect. Each image posted on our site http://www.flootie.com is connected to a "one click" posting to each of these sites with a feature that allows for a fan to be connected to the artist on our site as well and be sent automatic notifications when artwork by that artist is posted to our site. We "gather" fans who enjoy the artwork and share the work in a way that is void of the distractions seen on typical social media sites. We are a new website with great hopes and aspirations and the long range vision and fortitude to make it happen. Thanks for your insights and help.

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7. Mary Juetten says:

   March 12, 2013 at 10:11 am

   Social Media is one of those pieces of my startup that is truly hit and miss. When I read this week's post, I cringed because I really need to do this but it is not mission critical so it is pushed to the bottom of the list. One piece that I try to do well is the blog and content. I have focused on doing educational pieces for the last year plus so that I have a small following on my blog and on thenextwomen.com. We are doing 4 week marketing sprint which is 4 pieces of content and then a limited time offer. I started out with a goal of 3 posts a week on our blog but that is not realistic. I am at one per week and as I write this I realize that I have not done this weeks! We also are asking for guest blogs to mix it up. We are starting to have revenue now and one of the positions we need includes social media responsibility. A process for social media that honors the 4 Cs above is on the list. In the meantime, I will continue to do my best on social media!

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