~by Haley Lynn Gray~
A lot of people want their businesses seen on social media, but get frustrated with the process. How often and what should you post? Where should you post it?
Guides are confusing. They tell you to figure out what your clients want and post that. But how are you supposed to know if you’re posting the right things and if you’re posting too much or not enough?
It’s enough to make anyone’s head explode. What really works?
The reality is you need to find some Facebook groups where your ideal clients live and post 3-5 times a day if it’s a fast-moving group. You will need to post 500-1000 times to be recognized and seen on social media.
What kinds of posts and in what ratios? Generally, you should be responding to other people’s posts and adding educational and informative content of your own. You need to create about 20 helpful, educational posts for every post you put out there selling something. That doesn’t include the answers to other posts. So, the ratio is about 20:1 for helpful posts : requests.
What you don’t do is sell, sell, sell and SELL. Be gentle, as it’s called social media for a reason. You want to be seen as a resource, not someone who does drive-by posts.
LinkedIn
Sales that happen on LinkedIn don’t tend to happen on the walls or media streams. You want to post early and often so people recognize you as an expert. Post articles and links to those in groups. Selling on LinkedIn happens in the form of contacting people directly and asking if they’d like to talk or meet, then asking for business from there.
Twitter
Twitter also requires lots of posts to get noticed. You should post 6-7 times per day, spread out across different times. I like to use an auto-scheduler and monitor responses and interactions on Facebook.
Instagram & Pinterest
Instagram is good for driving traffic to your website and getting interactions with people, but you can’t sell directly on Instagram.
What about business pages on LinkedIn and Facebook?
There is a time and place for business pages and you should certainly add content, but be aware that both Facebook and LinkedIn are not showing that information to as many people as they could be. So unless someone shares your content or you advertise, it’s not really going to be seen.
Meet the Author: Haley Lynn Gray
Haley helps female entrepreneurs create a strategy plan for their businesses – so they can make enough money to spend quality time with their family, pay for their children’s dance lessons, pay bills – and not worry about where the next client is coming from.
Haley is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Leadership Girl. She helps other entrepreneurs build their businesses by sharing the benefits of her business education and experience through Business Coaching.
Whether you want to get a new business off the ground or expand an existing business, Haley can assist you.
Connect with Haley:
- Work with Haley
- Facebook Page: @Leadershipgirl
- LinkedIn: Haley Lynn Gray
