Happy New Year! As much as I talk about New Years Resolution pitfalls, I still LOVE THEM! Who doesn’t love dreaming about everything that could be in your life and in your business. A HUGE part of your business success this year is MARKETING! What are you doing to get your name out there and lead generate?
As you are mapping out your strategy here’s my list of what’s hot and what’s not!
HOT: in social media
Authentic, relevant, original content. We don’t expect you to be perfect. We like to see your growth and who you are as your success in business. We like to see content you have created so that we know you are an expert in your field. If you find a great article from Forbes, please pass it along! We like to know that you are staying up on what is going on in your industry. We also LOVE to see consistency!
Not: in social media
Airing grievances, TMI, passive aggressive attempts at attention, whining, excessive animal videos (unless you are a vet or dog groomer) and constant posting of other people’s information. Like I mentioned earlier, we like to see that you are up on your field and what is new. However, if you only post other people’s information, we start to wonder if you have any original ideas. Inviting people to groups specifically to sell them something. I can’t tell you how many mascara groups I am a part of! If you are inviting us to a group, it needs to be content and community based. If you are selling a product, host an event rather than create a group. Then we get to choose if we are going to attend or not.
Hot: in Social Media Platforms
Diversification is key this year! Even though it’s annoying to create content for and update all of the different sites, it’s important. People interact differently on each platform. Twitter is short, witty, and a place where you really can talk to anyone. It’s a great place to get to meet new potential clients. It’s like the speed dating of social media. LinkedIn is more of the modern networking or chamber of commerce meeting. It’s professional, it’s about referrals, recommendations and legitimacy. Instagram is fun, fresh and very visual. It’s a great place for give aways and list building. Pinterest is… honestly… I personally hate it. I’m not crafty or cutesy. But it’s powerful and if your industry is crafty, cutesty, or can in any way show visual results, it’s important. And most people do love it!
NOT: in Social Media Platforms
Google Plus. The biggest draw to google plus was google authorship. It was tied to your SEO rankings and was one more part of Google trying to take over the small business world. It was discontinued in April, and now Google plus is just as boring as before. It’s kind of like a ghost town. Facebook. Gasp, I said it. Facebook is still an important platform, but it is definitely not your best bet for business. I have two pages on FB. One is for a community education group and the other is my business page. My non-business page, gets hundreds of views every time I post one of my inconsistent posts. The business page gets less and less views per post, but more and more requests to boost my posts. I’m not saying jump ship on FB, but definitely diversify!
Hot: in content creation
You tube videos, shorter downloadable audio and video recordings, books, ebooks and audio books. People are on the go and while we want to hear from you, we don’t want to be tied down while we listen. We want to connect with you while we are on the go.
Not: in content creation
Long webinars, Teleconference calls, and anything that takes longer than 30 minutes, unless it’s a live event.
What’s NEVER HOT in marketing? Disorganized frantic attempts to get clients because you need cash! Take time this month to map out your marketing strategy! Every month you need to be engaged in lead generating activities. Every month you should know what those will be before the month starts! Make a marketing commitment this year!
