Here’s an idea for you – stop posting items to social media the way you’ve been posting unless you have a clear strategy.
I find that so many individuals who are in charge of posting to social media on behalf of their companies or who post for themselves to build their brand and business get to a point where they’re posting without focus and strategy.
Perhaps a lawyer told them to post something right away. Or they found something cool that they think they should post. Whatever the case may be, many times we’re posting items to social without really thinking about why we are posting it and that’s a big mistake. We aren’t robots and we need to customize and tailor our posts to ensure they resonate with our followers.
Then there’s a whole other issue of whether or not you’re posting content to the right channels. Or whether you even need to be on certain channels.
I can’t tell you how many times my clients have said to me “we need an Instagram account!” to which I reply “no we don’t!” Because you should only focus on the social media channels used by your clients and prospects. Only go where your clients are. Not because of channel is cool or because others are using it. It’s so much more strategic and efficient to use one or two channels really well than to be stretched thin by having to manage content on four channels.
It’s so important to always post to social media with a purpose and to have clear goals in mind. Ensure that your content is aligned with those goals (such as lead generation or increasing visibility for key practices, industries or lawyers, launching a new product or announcing big news) and you will have much more ROI.
Here are some questions to always keep in mind before you post anything to any social media channel to help you be more strategic about your posts.
- What am I trying to achieve with this content?
- Why does this content matter to my audience?
- Where is the benefit of this content?
- Who needs to see this content?
Then think about:
- What kind of image would bring my content to life?
- What are the best channels to reach my target audience?
- What are the best keywords that describe my content?
The answers to the second set of questions will help you create your accompanying social media image, headline and hashtag.
I know this seems like a lot of work, but before long, this process will be ingrained in you and you will just be accustomed to asking yourself these questions and answering them automatically as you craft posts.
I ask myself these questions with every post I write for myself and for my clients. I take into consideration business goals, key employees and market conditions. And I write every single post with a client-centric tone. Everything you post to social media should be crafted with your clients in mind. That means right in their language, put yourself in their shoes and provide them with content that is helpful, to the point and interesting.
By adopting this process, you’ll save yourself time as well because your posts will be more focused and you’ll wind up creating a formula as you craft them.
In addition, start looking at your analytics regularly if you aren’t already to see which posts resonate with your audience so you can create more of those.
I always say that social media success is so much more than the number of likes, comments and shares. It’s about reaching the right people at the right time with the right content. And it takes time to get it right.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions and I always love to hear your ideas on what works for you.