Do You Know Where You Should Be Online?

In the digital space is that there are essentially three main players, that every business owner will deal with depending upon their target market. The first one is Facebook. Facebook is renown for trying to be all things to all people, and owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Mark Zuckerberg recently did a live broadcast talking about the changes that are coming to Facebook and what they’re doing to innovate thanks to COVID-19. Due to the huge increase in demand for Zoom and other video conferencing technologies, Facebook are now starting to roll out meeting rooms and have launched live events where you can start charging people money for hosting your own live events. They have also announced rolling out shopping directly from your Facebook Business page and Facebook Catalogue with a small fee with each purchase (once approved by Facebook). The final area they are moving into is dating – it will be interesting to see how that one goes with all the personal information they have on each person.

The benefit of a Google My Business Page, is that it allows you to upload posts exactly the same as you would on Facebook with links back to your website and products or services. It also goes without saying that it improves your SEO and page ranking. If someone is searching for your business, and you have a Google My Business Page setup, it will display on the right-hand side of the screen if they’re using a desktop. Like Facebook Google My Business are also rolling out the ability for your customers to shop directly from your page.

The third big player is Microsoft. Microsoft owns LinkedIn, Skype, and Bing. LinkedIn has a great subscription service model where you can buy LinkedIn Premium, so they are not as focused on advertising as their main revenue model. It’s only about $70 Australian a month, but there are some great insights, such as who is checking your profile, you can direct message people and do very advanced searches based on industry and job role, which can be a very good lead management tool when it comes to business. One of the things with LinkedIn is that a lot of people start connecting with all sorts of random people when they first start because ‘that’s what you’re supposed to do’. When it comes to anything online, you need to be strategic, check who it is you are connecting with and whether you can add value to them or vice versa.

The three big players, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, are continually competing against one another, for your time. All they’re interested in is you spending the maximum amount of time you possibly can on their platform, because the more time you spend on their platform, the more they can charge business owners to advertise to you.

Both LinkedIn and Facebook have groups dedicated to different industries, job roles, interests and learning. This is also a great way to connect and target your ideal client. Just be mindful that business groups are often set up by other business owners as a way to grow their base and authority so make sure if you reach out you stick to the rules laid out for each group. Of course the other option is to create your own group.

Something that is very exciting with LinkedIn being owned by Microsoft, is that they’re constantly looking at what Google and Facebook are doing and try to innovate quicker than them. They’ve already started changing the way their algorithm works, the way that you can connect with people and they’re now allowing you to do live video. You have to apply and be accepted to go live and it really depends on the engagement that you have and the way that you interact with people.

Consistent posts that speak directly to your ideal client ensure that when they do see your posts, they start to recognise you, get to know you, and when people know, like and trust you, they become more comfortable in working with you and paying you as they trust you and know what you’re capable of. Regardless of whether it is Facebook or LinkedIn, when managed strategically you can set up some strong relationships that will help you grow your business.

One of the best things that I’ve heard when it comes to connecting, from Andrew McWhirter (who has a fantastic LinkedIn course) is that if you constantly have people connecting with you, and you’re not actually doing the outreach, then you’re literally being sold to. This means that all these people are looking for someone to sell to, which is you, that’s why they’re connecting with you. Whereas if you flip the coin and start actively looking for your ideal client and you start reaching out to them, you start looking at the way that you’re showing up on LinkedIn and Facebook differently.

From a business perspective, you need to set Facebook and LinkedIn up so that you are connecting with people in the right way. A question I often get asked is “Is once a week enough to post on LinkedIn?”. The answer is – no it’s not enough because the feed is getting busier, there are a lot of people out there teaching LinkedIn now and there are a lot more people being more proactive on this platform, so I’d recommend posting on LinkedIn, two or three times a week. Also be mindful that LinkedIn is about building relationships as opposed to just posting on your timeline, or into the newsfeed. It’s actually about connecting with and private messaging people and starting conversations.

The biggest thing when it comes to these social media platforms is that it’s not about selling. Think about every time you go onto Facebook or LinkedIn, you don’t go there to be sold directly to. You’re there for interaction, you’re there to learn and or even just to be entertained. When you see something that is of interest and of value, that person starts becoming recognisable to you and when I did my degree, a few years ago, it used to be that there were seven touchpoints in the purchase pathway.  People needed to see and hear you seven times before they started recognizing who you were, so it’s not about getting out there and sell, sell, sell. It’s about getting out there and giving value and actually showing people what you’re about. These days because of social media, people now need to see and hear you 22 times before they start recognizing who you are.

For you, showing up on a regular basis, regularly giving value and making sure you’re getting back to your ideal client is critical. Also, make sure the messaging and language with what you’re saying resonates with them. Generally, for most of our clients, the main core platform that we concentrate on is Facebook because regardless of what industry you’re in, you do need to have a presence on Facebook as it’s the first place people will go to check you out. If you do have a business offering or a service or product, making sure that you’ve got reviews is extremely important.

Whether you have any questions or simply want to chat, drop a comment below! Otherwise connect with me on your favourite Social media platform, as I am on nearly every one! If you don’t know how to pull this all together, I am holding Virtual  Digital Success workshops focusing on different marketing elements. You can learn all about those here. Each month these workshops move online as self-paced courses so you don’t miss out on the learning!

Do You Know Where You Should Be Online?