Social Media for new Brand Owners
Hooray, so you’ve created social media for business accounts on about every platform you can imagine. You’ve posted a couple of times ‘to see how it works.’ And, you’re now wondering… ‘oh wow, what do I do to make these social media accounts work for my business?’
This is often the chain of events that small business owners, nonprofit leaders, and entrepreneurs face about 2–3 weeks after they set up their social media for business accounts.
Perhaps you paid for an agency or firm to set-up the accounts for you. Maybe you didn’t want to pay for them to manage the account. Maybe you thought, ‘it can’t be that hard.’
Here are super common questions from brand owners new to social media for small business:
- How to use social media for business?
- How to manage multiple social media accounts for business?
- How to post on social media for business?
- How to measure social media ROI for business?
- How to create a social media plan for your business?
- How to build a social media presence for your business?
There is nothing wrong with you managing the brand/business accounts on your own. But, shouldn’t your time as the brand owner be spend how you want to spend it? Maybe you love working directly with your clients on projects, or perhaps you enjoy creating your brand’s next widget, or perhaps you love drinking coffee and networking. Why spend your time managing social media accounts when a social media professional can for you?
Important aspects when managing social media for small business:
- Engagement plan for social media accounts
- Monthly social media calendar
- Social media ROI, social media analytics and social media reporting
- Messaging themes and value proposition
- Paid ad strategy for social media
- Crisis communication response
- Frequent Posting on social media accounts
- Branded Graphics for social media
Now, don’t let this list overwhelm you — it’s merely to let you know the essential aspects of managing social media. And, again, I ask — how do you want to spend your time as a brand owner?
Why is social media for small business important ?
Benefits a brand or business can garner from social media include:
- Brand Legitimacy
- Community
- Networking
- Sales/Revenue
- Exposure
- Talent Recruitment
No more is ‘social media is a thing the kids do.’ As a contemporary brand owner…
- you realize that social media and digital properties are critical to your brand’s long-term success and engagement (or else you wouldn’t be reading this article)
- and, you are likely realizing that partnering with a social media professional may be the best way to leverage your business accounts
- but, you know there are likely a few things you could be doing as a brand owner to cross-promote your business page with your personal following.
Tips for Brand Owners to Cross-Promote their Social Media Accounts
Social Media Tip 1 – Individual Account
To start, make sure you have separate social media accounts for yourself and your business. It’s important to have distinctive online properties to share your individual perspective and your brand/business messages. Though the messaging is likely to involve similar themes (if you’re a brand owner who turned a passion project into a business, for instance), you want to make sure to create separate accounts.
Social Media Tip 2 – Share with followers
If your personal accounts have been around a while, consider this question first: Are my connections/followers interested in what my business is doing? If the answer is yes, make sure to share posts from your business account page to your personal page. Keep in mind, connections are not going to automatically know your business page is live without being prompted.
If you’re looking for free ways to boost your brand accounts, consider…
- Inboxing the friends you think will find value in what your business accounts post & invite them to follow the business page.
- Tag your business page in a post from your account “hey fam, make sure to like XYZ page for ABC reasons.”
- Share posts from your business page to your personal page as appropriate.
- Shout out to your friends who hopped over and like your business page (everybody like to get some social media love these days)!
Social Media Tip 3 – network
If you’re into networking — network! Tell colleagues, partners, & prospects in the physical world to jump online to like & follow the business accounts. BUT, don’t forget to tell them WHY. Does your page give advice, how-to info, inspiration, ideas, etc.?