You have more to say than you realize

Show me what you've got to say - I bet it's really good!

There's a common piece of advice given by big name marketers that says you should only write when you have something to say. It's meant to be applied everywhere - your blog, your newsletter, and social networks. In theory, it makes sense: Don't overload/bore/waste your audience's time with content that you share just to have content to share.

For a small business, with a small audience, that's trying to build up engagement, this is not good advice. Here's why:

1) It requires a critical mass of engaged followers/subscribers.

The marketers who say this have all done their time, building up a good sized audience that trusts their expertise. They have loyal followings that look for their content and interact with it when it comes. As a small business owner, it takes time to build that kind of relationship with your audience. To remain successful with a "write when you have something to say" strategy, you need a critical mass following you. Can your business grow if 50% of your followers convert to paying customers? Depending on the size of your audience and what you do, many can say yes to that. The reality is that most businesses won't convert nearly that many people. So, how many people would it take to build your business to the level you want to reach? Now, you'll likely have to grow an audience that is at least 20 times that size (or more!). That's why it's important that you know that when content isn't delivered regularly, your audience will not grow consistently or as fast.

2) Credibility starts with visibility.

The point of posting content regularly is to keep your business and expert content top of mind with your audience. If they don't see or hear from you on a regular basis, they can't learn to trust what you have to say. Whether you're sending a newsletter, writing a blog post, or posting to social media, each of those touch points is an opportunity to provide value that builds your credibility as an expert in your field. As your audience sees the information you share, they will respond in various ways: by filtering it out or ignoring it, reading it, taking some kind of action - like, comment, share, tweet, or apply it to their work. Each of these responses is important - some can be measured and give valuable insight to you for future content. Stay visible with your content by delivering consistent 

3) You have more to say than you realize.

Has anyone ever said, "There's a reason we have two ears and one mouth," to you? Human nature is that we like to talk and some people need a gentle reminder that listening is important too. It's a rare person who truly doesn't like or want to talk. Posting content without thought or for the sake of putting something out there isn't valuable to you or anyone else. But if you think about the interactions you have with your customers and clients each day, how many times did you find you had nothing to say to them? What about associates? 

On January 13, 2015, Lara and I are leading a Content Mindset Workshop that will help you see how much content you truly have. Whether you've been creating content for many years or you're just starting out, we have some exciting plans for this day that will help you look at the creation of content from a different angle. We're going to spend time teaching about various types of content, and tools and tactics that can help you create more effective content. You'll walk away at the end of day with content to use for your business. We strongly believe that you have more to say and this workshop is designed to draw those things out of you - for the benefit of your audience and your business.

Join us - I promise you won't regret it!

How to schedule posts on Facebook

To be successful on Facebook you need to be posting content on a consistent basis. We recommend that you post something at least one or two times a day. The best way to take the stress out of posting regular content online is to have a plan, create a lot of content at once and schedule it. This means that on a daily basis all you need to do is monitor how things are going on your Facebook page instead of wasting time trying to figure out what to say.

But how do you do that?

Good question. Facebook keeps changing the "how" part and they don't make it obvious, so today I'm going to walk you through how to schedule posts and how to update them or edit them if you need to change anything later.

Schedule

Start by creating your content. Then select the "Post" button from the bottom right and then select "Schedule Post" from the drop down menu.

Once you've selected "Schedule Post" a window will pop up. You then select the date by clicking on the calendar icon and then typing in the time. This is a great way to experiment with what time works best for your audience by trying different times of day, from early morning to later into the evening.

Hit "Schedule" and you're done - it's that simple.

What if I need to change my post?

Sometimes things change and we need to be able to edit our content. If that happens it's easy to go into your scheduled content and either change the time it will go live, edit the text or delete it entirely.

To find your scheduled content you will see the following right under the status update box. Click on "See posts" to open up the content.

From here, you select what you want to change by selecting the arrow in the top right corner of the post in question.

And that's it.  Try it out and let us know in the comments if you schedule posts.

Invite your customers to tell your story

There is little more powerful than someone else telling people what you do, or that you’re good at it. That’s why testimonials are so important. But there are many other ways that you can get your customers to help tell your story, both to their friends, and to yours. Today I’ll run through three ways that you can get your audience talking about you, creating powerful content, and taking some of the pressure of creating content off of you!

1) Create opportunity and reason to check in

Whether people are using Foursquare, Facebook, or Instagram, you want them to check in to your location and let their friends know they’re there, and you want to make it as easy as possible for them.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you’re set up on all of the different apps so that when they try to check in, you appear. If I’m out and want to share my location with a picture, and the location pops up for me to tag, I do it. If the location doesn’t show up, I don’t. This is easy to do on Facebook (by putting in your address and making sure your page is listed as a place), and adding your location to Foursquare makes it available both there and on Instagram as well. On top of making it easy for people to check in, be sure to encourage them to do so - either by asking them to check in, or…

2) Have contests

Contests are a great way to get people to share content for you. Put up signs in your location or promote them online to get people to share photos, stories or quotes that have to do with your business. Create a hashtag that then ties all the entries together and that leads people back to your site or business.

Here are examples of the types of contests you can run:

Ask people to Tweet or Facebook their favourite thing that you sell. Let them know to tag you or use a specific hashtag, like this company did:

The contest will encourage people to post photos like this:

or this one:

Ask a social media question for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card with a hashtag that corresponds to your business (i.e., #AskWellmanWilson)

3) Ask for their story

People like sharing their story and are often willing to do it as long as you ask. There are many ways to do this:

• Ask them to write a sentence or two describing what they like about your company or your product.
• Ask for a guest post that details their experience with you or your product.
• Send them a questionnaire they can fill out and then post their answers as an interview.

Being the voice of your business and telling the story of your brand is made easier when you invite your clients and customers to join in. Our next blog post will give you some of the benefits that encouraging your customers to tell your story can bring.

What are some other creative ways you’ve seen businesses invite their customers and clients to tell their story?

Is your content inclusive?

The language you use to communicate with your audience says a lot about your business. If you’re using language your audience is unfamiliar with then you are less likely to have your message heard, or if it is heard it may be misunderstood. Your online content is sometimes your audience’s first impression of who you are as a business and the last thing you want to do is leave them feeling excluded or confused.

So, how do you make sure that you are creating inclusive content?

Use plain language

When you use plain language more people understand what you’re saying. This means your message will not only be heard more often, but that it is more easily sharable between your current and potential audience.  Think about some of the greatest brand slogans, such as Nike’s “Just Do It” – it’s easy to remember, easy to type and easily associated with the brand. 

Use conversational language

Whether you’re creating content for your website, blog or social networks, keep the language conversational. This means avoiding convoluted terminology and using words that you would hear in every day conversation. If it isn’t a word you would feel comfortable using all the time, don’t use it, and the same goes for a word that you don’t know the definition of – if you have to look up the definition, don’t use it in your content.

The best thing about conversational language is that it is more likely to generate a conversation between you and your audience, which could result in great things for you and your business!

Write more like you would speak than in what would be considered a “professional” way. A great way to practice doing this is to draft your post orally and record it and then listen to it and transcribe it. This will give you a great starting point for conversational sounding content.

Don’t think of it as “dumbing down”

The following video from the Government of Digital Service in the UK explains it best:

The term “dumbing down” is offensive and just because your audience doesn’t necessarily want to read complex content doesn’t make them dumb (as the term implies). It simply means that your wording is confusing or it takes more effort to read when people want to be able to skim.

Using complicated language excludes people from learning about what it is you have to offer, which could result in loss of sales or revenue.

Think of your content as an extension of yourself.  If you were in a room surrounded by your ideal audience would you want them to feel welcome or excluded? Use language everyone can understand and relate to and you will better the chances of one-time visitors becoming a part of your loyal audience.

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.  Do you prefer content written simply and in a conversational tone or does it feel too simplified for you?

Social media means being social?

As business owners, you probably know there is a ton of value that can be gained by going to networking events. Going to your local chamber of commerce meetings, joining a small, but consistent weekly networking group, or going to conferences lets you meet all kinds of new people and learn new things.

Social media is meant to be social (shocking, I know!) and to REALLY get the most value out of it you need to have conversations, you need to share information, and you need to get beyond your own channels. You need to do what you do at in-person networking events, online.

Join groups

Join some groups that have your target audience in them. There are groups of every type and size on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.  Where is your audience spending their time? Are they in groups talking about local issues; are they in groups talking about certain industries?  Join some groups and be a helpful resource, be friendly, and then share interesting information from people in the groups with your audience.

Comment on what other people are saying

People love comments. I love comments (feel free to leave one here to make my day:-) ), and I bet you probably like getting comments too. Leaving comments on blog posts and social media updates from businesses run by your target audience or that your audience would follow, or by your target audience on their personal channels or responding to something someone said on Twitter is a great way to build relationships. The more you talk to someone, respond to things they say, and are friendly, the more they’ll pay attention to you and what you’re saying and want to share your message with their audience.

Share other people’s knowledge

People pay attention to those that are helping them spread their message. When you share content created by someone else you are doing two things at once. You’re sharing valuable content with your audience that you didn’t have to create (yay!) and you’re creating opportunity to be noticed by the person whose content you’re sharing (unless the content is from a really big site, then it may not be AS noticed). Share articles and posts (making sure to tag the original author) on all the different channels and see if the person who’s content you’re sharing doesn’t start noticing you more.

A free resource for you

If you’re wondering how to keep it all straight in your head, check out our newest free resource: our Daily Social Media Checklist. It will help keep you on track with what you should be doing on your own channels, as well as breaking out and spending time outside your own Facebook page and blog.