Four Ways You Can Succeed as a Social Media Superstar

Ever wonder why some small businesses seem to rock at social media whilst others (maybe even yourself) are anything but superstars? I am going to give you the secret formula in this post.

Social Media Tips

People like to buy; they don’t like to be sold to. This can be a tricky proposition and has to be done with a well laid out strategy. The formula consists of four social media basics, that when combined will take your from a ho hum marketer to super stardom.

1. Be Consistent

Everything about your social media strategy needs to be consistent––from your tone to the frequency of posts. There’s nothing more irritating to an audience than looking as if you are flying by the seat of your pants.

  • Choose an approach that mirrors your company’s philosophy. Should your tone be casual and quirky or professional and prim? If your tone is inconsistent in your updates, it can be confusing to your audience. Your tone needs to be consistent not just on one channel, but across all channels of your social media. What you do on Twitter needs to be consistent with what you do on Facebook and the like.

  • Timing is everything and also is another example of keeping consistent in your approach. If your audience is dialed in and expects posts during the week, between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., sharing a killer video at 1 a.m. in the morning is likely to get missed. Decide what is your target time frame and post only during that period.

  • The frequency of posts is also important. If your audience has become accustomed to you posting three times a day and then all of a sudden, days go by between posts or you post just once a day, your efforts look sloppy and careless. If you have the luxury of posting say three or five times a day, then stick with it. If that’s your goal, but you know you might fall short, then stick with one post a day and make it a super stellar post.

  • Keep your message consistent. The type of information you share needs to be consistent. For instance, if you plan to share a “daily tip” or “today’s hot video,” keep with that message and do it regularly.

2. Be Relevant

People who make their buying decisions based on social media information are inundated with thousands of marketing messages from Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. They are looking only for relevant content, everything else is just noise and gets filtered out. Here are a couple of things to consider:

  • Know where the conversations about your niche are happening. (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

  • Know the nature of the conversations and emulate that in your content.

  • Know the influencers and thought leaders. Being in the know will give you an understanding of what people want and need, everything from likes and dislikes to purchasing intent. With so much chatter going on in the social media world, real time insights will help your brand stay relevant.

3. Credibility

Credibility is one of the major factors consumers take into account when making a buying decision. So, how can you position your business as a credible source for information among the masses?


  • Brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors are great people to have in your corner. They not only have practical hands-on experience with your product or service, but they have come to love it! Consumers love to see passion from those who are excited about something they are considering buying. Just the word of mouth alone equates to instant credibility.

  • Past customers. Your previous customers (happy customers, of course) are your ace in the hole. When they love a product or service, by spreading the word they feel like a superstar because they can now offer their friends a great solution. Not only thank them for spreading the word, reward them by running a Facebook contest or giveaway.

  • Enlist the help of your employees or partners. Who wants to sell a bogus product or service? When given the option, most people would rather sell something they believe in and customers can tell if employees like or dislike the company they work for. Think of your employees as a walking billboard and involve them in your social media efforts.

4. Outsource

Should you outsource your social media management? Let’s be honest here, as an entrepreneur we are often challenged with letting go of the reins and letting someone else come to the rescue. However, as your business grows, so do the constraints on your time and resources. At this point it might just not be possible to give your best effort to your social media––a big mistake business owners often make. What good is a social media strategy if only to sadly see a great strategy turn into a flop? Ask yourself, am I able to be consistent, relevant, and credible, and focus enough energy to accomplish social media stardom? Social media will elevate your business to the next level, there’s no doubt about that. But, if it is half ass, be realistic, it’s just not going to work.


If you are still sweating it, that’s where you have to make the decision whether or not to outsource. Outsourcing is the solution if you don’t have the time or resources. By outsourcing, you are guaranteed that someone is paying attention to your social accounts and not letting the ball drop at opportunities to turn leads into customers.


With so many resources out there to choose from, how can you decide what resource to go with? It’s not an easy decision and you should speak with a few different companies and determine who would provide the best results for what you want to achieve. A great social media agency to consider is $99 Social, especially if you are a small business with a limited budget. Many social media partners charge upwards of thousands of dollars a month to run campaigns and interact with fans. If you manage your costs, you can achieve the same results with as little as $99 a month.


$99 Social Packages and Prices


As you can see, there are options to how you want to manage your social media in an affordable way. Check out what other small business owners have to say about $99 Social


$99 Social Customer Testimonial


$99 Social Customer Testimonial

Social media is becoming more complex each and every day. Managing your social media is one thing, but keeping up with the trends, changes, and updates across all channels is a full-time job. If you don’t have someone on the inside who can focus on this for the purpose of growing your business, outsourcing may be the solution. While you may want to be a social media superstar, I am guessing you really want to be doing what you do best and that is focusing on creating new and fresh ideas and products.

Growing your business should be at the top of your priority list, not trying to wrap your head around the latest Facebook enhancements.

 

Matthew Toren
 

Matthew Toren is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, investor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com. He is co-author, with his brother Adam, of Kidpreneurs.org, BizWarriors.com and Small Business, BIG Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right (Wiley).