On one of the largest entrepreneurs' Facebook groups I found this post today:

And there are quite a few questions or requests like that

Earlier today I saw on another group a similar post (which unfortunately I couldn’t find when I looked for it to show it to you here as well):

 

How to start marketing your entrepreneurship with social media?

 

I have to admit. I was quite surprised. It started this morning when I went to a few of the biggest Facebook groups for entrepreneurs to see what questions have been asked lately.

Working and connecting with so many entrepreneurs, online marketers and social media experts it seemed to me that not only that every entrepreneur has a deep knowledge about social media, but that everybody and their brother are online marketing or social media experts, selling their services to their peers (those that didn’t become online marketers yet. But they sure will).

But I was wrong. Although there are quite a few entrepreneurs that offer online marketing and social media services, it’s only a few. The majority of the entrepreneurs on these groups have many questions about social media, and many of them feel confused regarding how and what should be done through social media to promote your entrepreneurship.

In this episode I decided to go to the basics and share the 4 uses and benefits entrepreneurs can start gaining through social media easily;

 

Social media today paves the way for entrepreneurs:

Here are the 3 social media most important marketing uses and benefits entrepreneurs can achieve quickly:

 

Customers engagement

A reminder:

Marketing is all about looking from the customers’ point of view - because the money you are looking for is in your customers’ pockets.

That’s why the ability to engage with your potential customers is definitely the biggest advantage of social media over any other marketing tool.

Marketing is about connecting with your costumers. But back then in the days before the internet became so popular, it was almost impossible; All we had was One Way communication. We, as brands, sent the message out-there (through very expensive media routs like TV, Outdoor, Newspapers or Radio) and hoped some of the potential clients heard or saw it.

The ability to interact and engage with your audience is where the magic of social media starts working. It’s all about engaging with people, listening to them and talking with them.

 

Dan Gingiss is an author, speaker, and expert of customer experience, who built his personal brand while still working full time in executive positions.

I love Dan’s story because it represents the big opportunity each entrepreneur has today.

As Dan said when he talked about the pros and cons of social media for building your brand through providing meaningful value to your audience:

“What I love about social media is it’s the first and only marketing channel where people can talk back to you. You can’t talk back to a TV commercial, and if you remember the early days of social media, marketers looked at it as another broadcast channel. ‘Let’s put our TV commercials on Facebook! People will love that!’ Of course, no one wanted to see TV commercials on Facebook. Companies were forced to listen to what customers wanted, marketers had to adjust to all channels in that way, like they’ve had to in social media, which is listening to your customers and then delivering the content that they’re asking you for instead of acting like, ‘We know, as marketers, better what our customers want.”

 

The 4 main trends of social media today

Facebook Groups - Still free and the most effective group interactions and member dialogues today.

Facebook Live - Still free and attractive, real time interaction is a gift.

Instagram Stories - relevant to specific audiences and effective today.

YouTube channel in particle and video in general. I’ll talk about video in the content part.

 

Interaction and engagement with your customers enable you to build the Know, Like, and Trust, which is a key for making business.

 

Using Social media to attract leads and paying customers

There are many things you can do in social media. Here are 3 tips that aren’t too difficult to implement but have a big effect on attracting customers to you.

1. Join 2 groups in the social media networks where most of your customers hang out and make a habit of being there every day for around 10 to 20 minutes. Give yourself a few days to learn what works best in that group. See who and what get the most responses and what the group members are offering. Then, start to be active in the group - for these daily 10-20 minutes. Answer questions related to your product or service, share relevant tips or write about different angles related to your market space. This will allow you to build your reputation as an expert in the field of your business on one hand and to be the go-to-expert the group members will turn to in your market on the other.
2. Find 2-3 bloggers most of your target audience follows. Read their blog, share, respond, and like things that are relevant to your market. However - don’t fake it. Be authentic. Follow these bloggers on social media and be active there as well, when relevant. Through your involvement, let the blogger know that you are active in this market. You can also send them direct messages telling about your product or service and asking to hear their opinion and advice. Be sensitive and honest. One thing you must never do - don’t ever ask them to write about you or your product! It’s likely that if they appreciate what you do, they will share it with their audience.
3. Choose one phrase that is the most important to your potential customers in what you do and use through all your social media activities. Use it in all your social media channels, posts, and comments. For example, one of the startups I worked with, Tvinci, in the domain of stream TV realized in an early stage of their business that the leading phrase of their new market is OTT (Over The Top) TV. So, they used that phrase in blog posts, relevant comments, and any media interaction they could. It helped them to be seen as the leading experts in that field. When bloggers or journalists had questions in this field or looked for a comment, they approached Tvinci. It also helped a lot with their SEO, and they become the first to appear when people searched that phrase.

 

As you can see, I wrote about where and how to use social media the best. Now it’s time to talk about what. This is the content;

There are different types of content. You can use the content to establish a strong presence on social media, and you can use social media to promote the content and drive people to your site.

 

Main types of content

The idea behind writing content is to attract your audience with educational, relevant content in your field that will be valuable to their success and will position you or your company as the trusted professional provider.

Written content - is probably the classical way to transfer information and provide value. The blog post is the most common way of professionally written content; however, emails, books, eBooks, scripts, and guides are popular as well.

Video - For several years now, business owners and marketers know they should publish videos to attract customers. Many haven’t started yet or only do so occasionally. However, Instagram stories, as well as Facebook Live, really boost the trend.

Podcasts - The strength of audio; music, podcasts, and audiobooks are a part of being exposed to content wherever and whenever you want to listen.

Email Marketing - Email marketing can be a part of social media or content; it was a significant part of interacting and engaging with your customers. However, recently, it seems like email marketing is not as effective as it used to be.

 

Social media makes it possible for entrepreneurs without a business or marketing background to launch a new product or service and turn it too fast and meaningful success.

 

Become the influencer of your field

Become the voice of your new market category

One of the most important parts of establishing any new product or service is to decide, based on research and market overview, what market category you can lead and take ownership of, in order to become the voice of this category.

You should make sure to speak “in the name” of the new category and not to promote your product. People became more and more skeptical about advertising and promotion.

The equation here is simple; people want to be updated and learn about a new category and solution that is relevant for them. However, I always say that people love to buy but hate “to be sold to”.

 

The practical steps

Now, you should start producing content, to teach and educate your target audience

Examples for content creation:

• The story of the new category; how it has developed and what does it do.
• A strong presence on social networks.
• Consider creating a company podcast about the new market category you represent.
• Create a blog that focuses on and covers the market category.
• Create the formal home page for the category.
• Open groups in Facebook and LinkedIn, named after the new category.
• ”How To’s” tips for potential customers.

The second part of becoming the expert of your new field, after creating the content is the consistency.

When I talk about consistency, I refer to two elements – the first is the importance of creating some kind of similarity between the different content. If we want to create an impact, people need to be able to recognize you. 

The other kind of consistency is the kind Mark Schaefer talks about and this is the ability to keep going.

• “It was one of the most profound lessons I have learned; consistency is more important than genius. I never would have made it if I had quit. You have to find a way to keep going.”

 

Becoming the leading expert in your field is a great opportunity to multiply your chances to succeed.