Hello Will, I hope you are well. I’d like to share with you the news about my new venture – I’m now working freelance!I’m running my own Social Media Consultancy specialising in design, lifestyle and interiors sectors. You can find more information on my website here: www.justynasowa.com
Your business can also start growing through the business use of social media platforms. To take your first step, contact me direct at j_sowa@outlook.com. I would love to hear from you! Justyna Sowa
As I’m just starting, it would be brilliant if you could spread the message about my new venture among people who would be interested in social media management and training tailored specifically to the design industry.
Social media best practice in 10 stepsCreate an excel spreadsheet detailing platforms you use, days of the week on which you post content, content quantity and regular features such as Product/ Inspiration of the Week. Prepare your content: have high-resolution pictures on hand, add Google Analytics tracking to your links and shorten them in bitly.com, pre-write your posts and schedule content.
2. Be consistent
It is key to focus your social media activity on the unique elements of your brand. Ahead of the week, decide what your focus will be – is it a new product? New collection? News about the showroom or the trade event you’re exhibiting at? Decide on one aspect, and create a story around it, which you will communicate throughout the week. This way your followers will build an informed and consistent perception of your brand.
3. Be descriptive
Never assume that your social media audiences know your brand – there will be plenty of prospective clients and media representatives that might be hearing or finding more about your brand for the first time.
When posting images, say what they represent, why you are sharing them (new product, manufacturing method, materials used?) and importantly, link to your website for people to find more information about it.
4. Track your activity
Use Omniture or Google Analytics tracking on all links shared on social media – only this way you can analyse your social media activity and its performance against other marketing activity streams.
5. Sell through content
Handholding your audiences through your marketing activity always works. Can more information about your products be found on the website? How is it best to contact you and arrange a meeting? Can people sign up to your newsletter through the website?
Explain all of that to your online audiences. Tell them what your brand is about, what you specialise in, where to view your products, at what events they can meet you in person. Give your audiences all the information they might require.
If you only share image of your products and quick brand updates, without detailed captions and further information, your audiences will view this content, possibly like it, but will not take further actions.
6. Get your point across
If your social media audiences have hundreds of connections, what is the likelihood that they will see every message that you post online throughout the day?
You have to be persistent in getting your message across, promoting it throughout a period of time through a number of tweets and Facebook posts with the use of varied quotes, images, stats or news stories. While your audiences might not see the message when you post it for the first time, they’ll be more likely to see it if it appears in their Twitter or Facebook news feed a couple of times during the week.
7. Don’t give out everything on social media
Driving traffic to your website through social media is very important. Your website is the place where potential customers can browse through your full product offering, can find out more about your company, can request information, sign up to the newsletters and get in touch to arrange meetings.
You can drive traffic to your website by using social media to ‘tease’ content: using quotes which form part of wider content on your website, posting product details with the full images available on your website or posting only one image from the whole collection to be viewed on your website.
When you do that, you have to make sure that the content on your website is worth visiting. That’s where product galleries, videos and company blog come handy, as you can update them on a regular basis without changing the structure of your website. Think how you can make the website as interactive and newsworthy as possible.
8. Connect to everyone you know
Common mistake is to start your social media networking by fiercely hunting for new leads and connecting with numerous industry representatives with whom you haven’t previously established relationships.
In truth, the first step is to connect to everyone you already know. Your past and current clients; people and companies you work with – everyone who you have a good business relationship with. These are the people who will recognise you on social media and instantly engage in conversations, recommend you to their connections and promote your brand virally.
9. Create a habit
Habits are as powerful on social media as they are in real life. Regular content on your social media accounts will keep people coming back for more. This can be having a Product of the Week albums on Facebook posted on Mondays or having Inspiration Friday on Twitter where you talk about your latest ideas for new products and collections.
10. Interact
Social media platforms will bring best results to your brand if you use them for a two-way communications. Creating your own content should be the 50% of your activity. The other 50% comes from interacting with your followers and their community – that’s how you build your brand on social media. Take part in discussions, report on your business activities and wider industry happenings, share news on the latest initiatives and support all businesses within your industry.
Your business can also start growing through the business use of social media platforms. To take your first step, contact me direct at j_sowa@outlook.com. I would love to hear from you! Justyna Sowa