New Marketer’s Ultimate Social Media Guide

Are you an entrepreneur or business owner wondering how this social media guide can help you grow? Do you use Facebook or Twitter but can’t figure out how to get likes, comments, and shares? Does your business need a constant flow of new leads?

If you answered yes to any of the above you’re in luck!

I’m Dee Powell, an entrepreneur and success coach. When I first came online I didn’t wholly understand the power of social media either. I made this social media guide to help you skip over some of the challenges I ran into. My best advice would be to look at the top 5 social media platforms. Start an account and get a feel for them. This will help you determine which social media platform suits your business needs.

Facebook For Family or Business Connections

I had a Facebook account I used to keep in contact with family and friends. Yet I had no clue I could use it to spread business information to people across the world from me.

Other entrepreneur’s would tell me I’m wasting my time trying to market to my friends and family. I didn’t realize I was doing that. I tried to hang onto my personal account without posting too much business stuff there. This was not getting my business the attention that it needed.

There was a point where I had to decide “am I using Facebook for personal use or business use”? And I had to stick with my choice. It’s good to want to involve your family and friends in some aspects.

Ultimately, it’s better to keep business and personal separated.

For this reason, Facebook has business pages you might call “fan pages”. They’re made for businesses or groups to build their following using the FB platform. This also gives you the ability to use Facebook’s paid advertising platform as well.

Facebook Business Pages Help Build Brand Awareness

These fan pages allow you to build your brand with many integrated tools. There are FB Live options that let you stream live video. An app called notes (which are like blogs) lets you post and share lengthy information to your page. Facebook pages give you the ability to create events, reminders, and view attendees. There’s also an area to create and promote different discounts and offers.

The biggest difference between pages and personal profiles are the insights. If you don’t have a fan page you have no idea what I’m talking about.

I didn’t know until I knew either…

It tracks and monitors visitor’s actions and characteristics. The insights give you information that you can use for narrowing down your targeting. You can view and compare likes, comments, and shares by week or month. These basic analytics include the age of your visitor and region they live in. These statistics help you fine tune your target audience.

When setting up your business fan page you’ll want to start generating page likes. This is where things can get tricky. My company partners have been doing case studies on how to get the most out of Facebook Paid Advertising.

Until I joined my current company, questions would send me to various sources. I would ask this person and that person. Or I’d have to spend time researching to find the answers. Every social media question I’ve had since, I’ve found solutions for right in my back office.

It was a relief to find a business that had all my needed resources under one roof. If I have an issue with a social media platform someone has had the same problem before me. When looking to leverage myself and setup an account on a different platform I could do so easily.

Twitter Tweets Bite Sized Info To The Masses

Speaking of leverage, each social media platform has a different feel. Each has it’s unique tools but serves the same basic need. The goal is getting your content seen by more people.

Twitter has limited character usage giving room to bite sized information. This makes it easier for busy scrollers to find tidbits fast. The now famous #hashtag was originally introduced on Twitter.

Hashtags are like keywords that when tagged create a searchable stream. For instance, let’s say you’re a job bank and you want to post job openings. You could hashtag #jobs. A job seeker who clicks on the #jobs would see a stream of all posts with that tag attached to it.

To someone who’s never experienced Twitter it could seem like a foreign language. You can even do a #hashtag search in Google to find the most common ones used, or those most relevant to your business.

Like Facebook, Twitter has a paid advertising option. This helps spread your content beyond your followers. These paid options can mean the difference in having $100 days and having $1000 days. Or getting 2-3 leads a day to getting 1000’s of leads.

There are little tricks to be aware of when advertising on either of these platforms.

One little known piece of info is image sizing. Images shared across platforms don’t always display properly. What will show up nice on Facebook might cut-off when displayed on Twitter. You will need to know the proper image sizes to use for each platform.

And in case you didn’t know…Facebook has a jail!

In cases where you’re posting too quickly, or what I like to call it “running in the halls”, Facebook will freeze you up. They disallow the action that caused the infraction for a time frame. This can be 24 hours up to 30, 60, or 90 days. You’ll want to know how to avoid Facebook jail as there is no bail.

I know it seems silly! It’s just security reasons to keep overuse and abuse at bay. Just be aware of your actions and try to stay within FB’s guidelines.

YouTube Offers The Double Whammy Video and Social Media

Another popular social media platform is YouTube. Common users don’t see YouTube as social media, but it is. You can comment, like, and share like any other platform.

The double whammy is that YT is partnered with Google Adsense advertising. These are the ads you see in front of videos. When a user clicks on those ads the channel earns a small percentage of advertising payment.

If you use YouTube to do paid advertising your ads would run in front of others videos. Video is currently the most popular and effective way to spread your business info.

Some see video marketing as a challenge as they meet their own insecurities in filming them. Here’s a great tip. You don’t have to be the star of your videos. There are great video editing tools that you can use to create content with that doesn’t focus on you.

Combine Video and Textual Content For A Solid Foundation

You choose a topic related to your business. Do a video talking about the topic, then blog about it. This builds up both your business blog and YouTube channel without doing any extra work.

Automating tools can come in handy. I have one tool that when you publish a blog on your site, it automatically gets shared to your Twitter feed. Most of the social media platforms work in this cross posting manner. It gives you leverage to publish from many platforms at once.

Automating Lead Getting With Social Media Is Powerful

This means you don’t have to man each of your accounts individually to benefit from the exposure. This saves you a lot of time and makes the best sense from a business perspective.

Those are the top 3 social media platforms businesses can use. You might think you’re hitting the same people and you’d be wrong. The crowds that visit each site vary in age and social status. Like you’re going to find more executives and professionals on Twitter.

You might find a younger crowd using different platforms like SnapChat. At first I wasn’t sure about this method. I’m in my late 50’s and this seemed like child’s play at first. They have a facial recognition technique and you can add funky photo effects.

It is playful and fun but can also be used to tell short stories. You know like stories about you, your business, or your services. It lets you combine short videos and images that include your information. Snapchat lets you direct message these snaps or you can store them for viewing for 24 hours. The add ons make it fun and entertaining to the viewer. Don’t be afraid to use them.

Adding this method to your daily action plan can bring leads from Snapchat to any other place you want them. Like to your Facebook page, to subscribe to your YouTube channel, or to your business offer.

SnapChat For Business It’s Not Just For Teens

Until about a year ago SnapChat was mostly used by tweens and teens to communicate. Tapping into the business side, one of our leaders created a training on how to use Snapchat properly. This platform has been duplicated by Facebook Messenger.

What you learn about using SnapChat can be applied to Facebook Messenger methods. That’s how you know it’s powerful. Facebook tried to buyout SnapChat and they refused. I guess it’s if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

This is my least favorite of the social media platforms but that doesn’t mean it can’t help you. That’s the other thing I’ve found about social media. What works for one person will not work for all people. Our businesses are different, our personalities are unique, and the people we connect with will reflect that.

What I’m saying is you won’t know until you know. A lot of people will say no to something before even trying it. I’m not one of those people. You’ll want to get a feel for all the top 5 social media platforms. Then decide which fits your business needs and marketing plan. And this is how you should approach every new method someone introduces you to. Try it first!

Instagram Builds Your Business Image With Images

Instagram is a mobile app that allows you to add images and short video snippets. Hashtags are used much like you use them on Twitter. The common theme is reaching those you otherwise wouldn’t.

With images you can create a perception or storyline that builds up your engagement. For example; a realtor could do well posting pictures of a home he has listed for sale. This gives the user the opportunity to consider setting up a home viewing. It’s like enticing them with the digital image in hopes they’ll want to see the real thing.

Photographers and designers are also common on Instagram. They can display their talents in an easily understood manner. Exposure on different social media platforms is like traveling the world sharing your message in each location. Instagram lets you do this without ever leaving your home.

Marketers who focus on a social media campaign can also turn around and help the next person. For instance; I’ve done a lot of paid Facebook advertising. I’m in a perfect position to help my team members who might’ve never tried paid advertising. If I continue to focus on that skillset I could freelance or contract these services out to other business owners.

The Big Picture With Social Media and Business

Social media is a way to connect with others, build relationships, and find trending information. It doesn’t matter which is your favorite or least favorite. What matters is that you put these free tools to work for you.

When you’re looking to attract new people you have to go to places people uncommon to you hangout. This is what makes Facebook so popular. The amount of daily users engaging with others is in the billions. You can grab the attention of a percentage of that and make bank.

In my business lead getting is the name of the game. My blog is the door to my store. What’s in my store? Tips, tools, and training for marketers. But that’s not all…

What my company has is also a social community. We meet daily on motivational calls, weekly via webinar trainings, and we hold events. This way you’re connected with others who can help guide through areas you’ve not traveled before.

I know when I started using the internet for business it was scarey. Somebody suggesting that I record a video horrified me. I had to come to the acceptance that it wasn’t about me…it’s about my business and what I can offer others.

If you never speak it how are people suppose to hear it?

Maybe you’re thinking you can’t compete with a billion other users trying to do the same thing. That your message will not get heard when surrounded by so many others. You’d be wrong!

People Are Craving What You Have To Offer

People crave new things, new information, and new ways of doing things. When you lead with the value within your business you can’t fail. No matter how noisy it is you have the opportunity to be heard if you speak it boldly and with a solid belief system.

One of the things people lack in their business is belief. You need to have the belief that your business or services are a gift to the other person.

You don’t need them they need you…
How are you going to get their attention?

You do this by delivering consistent value. Posting daily quotes are motivational but how does this benefit your bottom line? What you speak to your audience will be absorbed. If you can find sore spots in their business you can speak to that sore spot with a solution.

Like this post for example. I saw a sore spot of new marketers being lost when it came to social media. I wanted to find a way to help and guide them to the easiest fastest solution to their problem.

How did I do this? I created this marketer’s ultimate guide to social media. It gives them (YOU) the top 5 most popular social media sites. Then it tells them the benefits of using these sites. It also has information on how to get more direction if needed.

Boom…my job is done!

The outcome isn’t a monetary result. It’s getting this information into the hands that really need or want it. Someone well versed in social media might skip over it and that’s alright. My target was helping the newcomer. Helping them get to where they need to be, with the tools and training that will help them succeed.

At no time ever did I push this at someone. They saw it, liked it, and took the offer. That’s my role…delivering the goods. What they do with it is up to them.

The go getters will go to work digging into the information and putting it to work with for them. There are others who will take the info, read it, and take no action. And yet others who will take it and forget about it.

So no matter what….you have to put content out there! You can’t expect people to bust down your door if they’ve never heard of you or your business. Social media helps you break these barriers and lets people into your world.

You get to craft your story and present it with this purpose. Letting people in. In offline business they tell you “build it and they will come”. In online business it works more like “bring it to them in an irresistible way”. This doesn’t mean the best all around, it’s what’s best for that individual’s needs.

As marketers it’s up to us to define our audience’s needs and deliver the solutions that resolve the issues they’re having. It’s that simple. It’s not about convincing someone they need something or trying to prove the value to them. They either get it or they don’t. Your social media posts are the same thing. If you’re not getting engagement chances are you’re not bringing what the people want or need.

I’ve even questioned my audience on social media…”what is your greatest struggle online”? 

These are powerful ways to get to know your audience as well as let them get to know you. Speaking one piece of value doesn’t make you an instant expert. This is where consistency comes in. You want to set up a regular schedule of posts that hit a common target. One week you could talk about email marketing and the next you could speak on video marketing. You would be providing value to two different markets yet they are related. Throwing in personal stuff to this mix only confuses the consumer.

Separating your personal and business life on your social media accounts is paramount to being taken seriously. We have thousands of “wanna be” marketers out there. It’s up to you to set your own standards and how you want to be viewed by others. Social media puts a magnifying glass on your actions. Make sure you are displaying characteristics of professionalism. One way to gauge this is by asking yourself “would this be appropriate in an office setting”?

One last thing….even if it sounds like crickets don’t stop!

When you first start with social media marketing you likely have no audience. As this grows you might find your audience is not engaging with your content. You can tweak and fine tune your posts for a better result. This doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. Some people will follow you for years without doing business with you and then that changes all of the sudden. So don’t give up if you’re not getting the results you desire. It’s usually something small you missed, or something minor that needs a little adjusting.

Social media marketing takes time but it’s not something you should put off or skip over. It’s one of those things that if you do it NOW you’ll thank yourself later for it. Thanks for your interest in the Marketers Ultimate Social Media Guide.