The beautiful Mofolusade Sonaike was live on our platform to discuss how to create visibility for your business using social media.
This topic is important because we need to learn to get customers and clients for our products and services in the midst of the huge broadcasting, advert, and media noise existing today.
It’s not enough anymore to just have a fantastic product that gets itself noticed. We need to learn to project ourselves and our products to be found and increase sales. We need to understand the power of projecting on social media for business patronage to occur.
See Also: Resources and books that will help you start, market and grow and sustainable business.
How To Get Visibility On Social Media
1 Definition
This tackles the why of doing what you do; why you want visibility on social media, what you are promoting, and what perceptions you are selling. These days, your personality is what drives your business.
Now, people want to connect with personality – the who of the person behind a brand. What is the experience one gets buying from you? There are people we buy from just because we like them. Your personality has to drive sales. You cannot be a faceless brand. People need to see the powerful personality behind the brand and what his/her story is.
Therefore, from the onset, you need to define who you are and how you are perceived. In my case, I needed people to think entrepreneurship and I needed to project being a good mother who is also achieving her dreams, none at the expense of the other. That is why all my messaging reflects these and you can arrive at your why using the business model canvas.
Consistency is also important in projecting a brand. You shouldn’t be this today and that tomorrow. You can multitask and run different hustles but you will need people to know you for one particular thing. This is what you should define before you set out building a brand on social media. People forget easily and consistency is what makes a brand memorable and recognisable.
Watch the full video of how to get massive visibility for your brand here. Also, subscribe to our channel to get business ideas and insights.
2 Authenticity
It is very important to be oneself even with distractions and tempting personal styles that seem to be working for others. Well, it works for them because they are projecting their ‘real’ selves and attracting their audience that way. If you are not them or offer what they offer, you will lose your audience and voice. It is a lot of work being someone else. It is easier and more fun to be yourself.
Managing social media is stressful, but if you put out your authentic voice, then it is much easier. Never cover up what you are good at just because you think they are not strengths or advantages. There is always someone out there who will connect with your authentic self. Business is about building a loyal tribe or band of followers who get what your brand is about and need what you have to offer. Projecting your true self inspires someone else to project themselves and shine.
3 Doing A Social Media Claim
After defining who you are and choosing a name, check that the name is available on all social media platforms and secure the name on them. This minimizes the risk of identity theft. I used to work with a company that didn’t take social media seriously at first. When they finally got around to it, they realised their names had been claimed by someone on different platforms. With this, it is easy to divert your traffic to the “fake” handle. The online space is not to be taken for granted. Empires are built online.
4 Making Use Of A Bio
A clear and concise bio is essential. An empty bio makes people uninterested in following you on social media. There should be a pitch that can tell people what you are about. For example, “I help women balance motherhood and business” or “I help women look beautiful.” There is that small window to make a first impression. A professional picture that conveys a message is also very important.
5 Don’t Overlook Visual Branding
You should be deliberate about the visual content you post and be consistent about how it is put out. It’s simply a competition for attention. Something as simple as how a logo is placed is important.
6 Posting Regularly
You need to constantly be in people’s faces. IT IS A SURVIVAL OF THE CONSISTENT! People need to see you to patronise you. Expansion of reach beyond the immediate circle is very important. Outsource if need be, but be careful about getting a social media manager. He should understand your values and what you are trying to achieve. Regular posting should be done and it’s especially necessary to be there to respond to inquiries.
7 Engagement
Let your posts talk to people. Your posts should be communicative. The trending former EFCC Twitter handler was hired by Union Bank to handle theirs because he was good. This is because the bank understands the value of engagement. Millennials are online and engagement with them gives them a perception of your brand. Your posts and responses should be crafted in such a way as to find your tribe and connect with them.
8 Provision Of Valuable And Sharable Content
Before anything is posted, one needs to give it great thought. People that are the most followed on social media are often those who are constantly offering tips, who look like they want to help, who are teaching something. Valuable and sharable content makes people keep coming back. Contents should be so good that people are so moved to share.
You should also jump on viral content. You can share valuable content to spark conversations. Social media is not like the one-way marketing that billboards are. Social media gives an opportunity for immediate feedback that builds your brand and leads to sales. Your content is important but you need to also be listening to what is happening and trending amongst people and look for ways to connect such content to your brand or business.
9 Leveraging Influencers
Never focus on just yourself. Your social media content should not be all about you. How do you identify influencers? Influencers have a certain presence on social media and people listen to them.
However, identifying those to leverage is not only about the number of followers the person has. Before advertising on a page with many followers, identify if the influencer is in your industry and if the followers are interested in what you are offering.
Secondly, it has to be ascertained that the platforms with many followers really have engagement and didn’t buy those followers. Ascertain if the influencer is a real value dispenser. It is about quality, not quantity. Quality engagement trumps the number of followers. Their followers have to be the audience you are targeting.
It’s important to provide value to influencers also. Before trying to get them to endorse your content, you have to ask yourself if you have engaged them before. Have you liked their posts before or sent them something useful? Have you offered them a value for which they will be happy and make it easy to support your brand or follow you?
10 Spending Some Money
Organic growth has a limit to how far it can go. Spending money jump-starts stagnate organic growth. Engaging a social media expert is needed at this stage. Coca-Cola, for example, still advertises, even with their size. DIY: A Practical Guide To Running Instagram Ads will help you create and promote your post without a social media expert.
All these social media hacks can be implemented with a near to nothing marketing budget to get visibility on social media because visibility is everything.
The conversation continues offline, so, you can reach us on business@entrepreneurs.ng. Remember, visibility is everything.
This is a transcript of a live video from ReDahlia Workspaces at 43B Emina Crescent, Off Toyin Street, Ikeja. We are happy to give you a FREE tour of our facility anytime.
Let’s create visibility for your brand and put your business on the world map. Contact us today to make your brand the preferred choice for our audience of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
