You’ve heard the buzz about social media, you know social media is a great way to reach customers, and you set your social media profiles. Now what?
Social media can feel very overwhelming for a local business owner. You do need to use it to be effective, but you need balance the investment of time against the return.
The first step is to think about the style of content that works best for your personality, your business, and your available time.
There are three main “styles.”
Creators
Creators are people who share content they’ve written. This can be time consuming, but the benefit is that it positions you as an expert. Consumers are hungry for information and guidance, and if you provide help and tips without a pushy sales pitch, they’ll think of you when it’s time to buy.
Curators
Curating content is a bit easier to do. Again consumers are hungry for information, and if you provide links to places where they can get it, they’ll love you for it. The other vendors or business professionals you point them to will also respect you. Those business to business to relationships are worth gold!
Chatterboxes
This might be the most time consuming style of all, and the most difficult to pull off. Chatterboxes are the people who are always present and always engaged in conversation in their social streams. While this can be effective, it can also take up a lot of your time and – well – you have to be really interesting, all the time. No Tweets about what you had for breakfast!
What’s your style?
At the end of the day, you need to do what comes most naturally to you. You may find that you do best with a combination of styles. For example, you may be a weekly creator and a daily curator. But while your style will probably evolve, it’s a good idea to have a think and consider your style before you get going. That way you will be moving in a clear direction and never feel overwhelmed!
