Are you content with where you are as a business? Most people don’t need social media to live, but business owners everywhere would thrash about aimlessly without some form of representation.
If you’re struggling to boost your brand visibility and not sure where to start when it comes to social media: This is the article for you. As experts in digital marketing, we’ve seen countless clients try one form of media management after another. And while we’re certainly happy to offer our services, not everybody wants to pay for an expert until they’ve tried the bulk of the foundational work on their own.
According to one of the leading minds in digital marketing and What’s Next culture: “If you really want to earn the love and respect of your audience, you need to DO THE WORK.”
ASK YOURSELF:
Does social media make you uncomfortable? Just don’t have the time or the energy to do it yourself?
As much as we’d love to offer you a quick and easy fix, there is no such thing in professional marketing. If you want to conquer those fears and dive head first into leveling up for the digital age, there really is only one way around this.
DO IT ANYWAY.
We’ll even show you how to get started.
Table of Contents
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When it comes to setting up your social media accounts, the key lies in Consistency and Accessibility. New business owners don’t need to stress about posting “every day” to create a look that elicits feelings of trust and reliability. However, it is just as essential to note that every image you select, and every word that you choose, has mere seconds to draw in the type of audience that you seek.
If you’re overwhelmed with options, don’t want to invest in a marketing team, but can’t wait to hire pay your business partner’s cousin an hourly rate to manage all that content for you… please keep reading.
NOW is the time to ensure that your personal brand is easily recognized. NOW is the time to let the world know who you are.
Are you ready for that?
. . .
According to Forbes, and other credible sources, major business owners make a point to host professional accounts on each of the following platforms:
Small business owners and freelancers do not “need” have an account on every one of these, but we do personally recommend taking full advantage of “free advertising” whenever possible.
And while we completely understand how exhausting it can be to create new content every… single… day… do don’t need to do that to get started.
For now, we’ll keep it simple.
. . .
This might sound insane to those of you who aren’t quite so tech savvy, but my purpose in this suggestion is far simpler than it looks: Create “official accounts” and use them as Landing Pages.
When you’re brand new to social media, with NO active posts to engage with… the people who stumble upon your profile will have NO real-life incentive with which to check out your work.
Unless… you use it as a Landing Page.
Think of each new form of social media as a type of search engine. Like the almighty Google!
When you produce new content to post on the web, Google’s SEO will NOT work in your favor unless you already have an established audience of your own. You can fix this on your website by publishing new content and applying seasonal edits to past content. Pretty simple, right?
Do be afraid to jump right in. New accounts don’t have to be perfect or popular to get started.
If the answer is “No” to either of these questions: This is your chance to FIX IT.
NOW.
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Before you go about publishing your new account, you’ll want to make the process as easy to manage on your own as it will be for future users to find your business. So before you get started, please be sure to check off the following:
YOU WILL NEED:
❏ A professional email address. _____________________________________________
❏ The password for that email address. _____________________________________________
❏ A finished logo (or an image you can use as a professional profile photo).
❏ Mission statement. _____________________________________________
❏ Bio and/or tagline. _____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
❏ Website URL. _____________________________________________
❏ 5-10 professional promo photos, or other acceptable imagery.
❏ An acceptable color scheme! You can start with 2-3 colors if you’re unsure of where to begin.
The whole point behind gathering this information is to create a sense of “trust” through consistently similar aesthetic choices.
EXAMPLE:
“Working to create everything your art desires.”
www.example-awesomesite.com
Same logo, same profile pic, similar banners, color schemes, everything. Keep it simple, and include you Bio/Tagline/Website on every page. REMEMBER: Familiarity feels safe.
Consistency helps new viewers know what to expect when they visit your page.
Which is precisely what you want as you prepare to pull the trigger.
. . .
Use the professional email address you selected, copy/paste all that info, and choose a unique custom URL that will stand out just enough to be seen as official.
EXAMPLE:
If your brand is named Awesome Biz, and the URL you wanted just happens to have been taken… quickly check on all those platforms for an alternate handle you might use.
If @awesomebiz.official just happens to be available, then go with that! Do your best to keep it simple and easy to remember, and the rest will follow suit.
Open an account on NO LESS THAN THREE of the following social media profiles. Do the work, check them off as you go, and don’t forget to WRITE DOWN THOSE PASSWORDS. Save them to your computer’s built-in password manager if you can. I guarantee you will thank yourself for that later.
❏ Facebook.com/_____________________________________________
❏ Instagram.com/_____________________________________________
❏ Twitter.com/_____________________________________________
❏ LinkedIn.com/_____________________________________________
❏ YouTube.com/_____________________________________________
❏ TikTok.com/_____________________________________________
IMPORTANT: While it is possible to view all of these accounts desktop and mobile devices, there are a few that you can ONLY set up using a cell phone. For apps like Instagram and TikTok, you will need to download the app directly to your mobile device FIRST and create and account from there
Follow the instructions on the app carefully, and copy/paste the information you collected.
It really is as simple as that.
Don’t worry. While we absolutely recommend that every business owner should have and manage their own website, there is a temporary way around this that will still keep your new account looking official and professional.
Create a custom “Links Page.”
We personally like to recommend LinkTree, since we have used this application ourselves, and anyone can create a FREE Links Page for themselves. You can include a link to connect directly to your online shop, email address, virtual TipJar, etc.
The choice is yours.
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One thing tip we like to offer our less tech savvy clients is to skip all requests to “merge contacts” until AFTER each individual account has been setup. This will save you the headache of backtracking if icorrect email addresses were used, personal contact accidentally dragged over, etc.
Instead, simply finish each account setup individually, log into the account you know you will likely use the most often (usually Facebook or Instagram), and sync all the other new accounts with THAT ONE.
And after that, you’re ready to go!
Take a breath.
You did it! YOU DID THE THING!
REMEMBER: The key lies in establishing TRUST through consistent, and clean-looking content.
You don’t have to post all the time to build trust with your audience. Posting content is about furthering customer engagement and establishing deeper, more fulfilling connections with the people you already know.
Having professional profiles on multiple social media platforms is all about helping others to find YOU.
And once they’ve found you, only then will they have an opportunity to get to know you better.
That much, is all up to you.