Social Media - So What's YOUR Strategy?

So, you know what’s interesting.  When I ask most people what their strategy is for social media they look at me like I am crazy – or they are crazy.  “Well” they say “ I want more customers”.   That’s a desired outcome, not a strategy.

There are several parts to developing a strategy for social media and it starts with knowing who you are as a business and who your customers / potential customers are.  And – yes – I will give you that one – knowing what your desired outcome is.  The more specific you can be about all of those things the better your social media strategy can be.  And – like any strategy for your business – it needs to reflect your business goals, your personality as a business and it needs to understand and speak to your customers.

The first step – is understanding your own business.  If I ask most people to sum up in a couple of sentences what their business is all about (not what it does), but why it exists and where it is going – most people can’t do that.  But you see if you can’t do that – how can you ever hope to develop a social media strategy OR a recruitment strategy (2 businesses I know something about).

The next step is understanding who your ideal client is.

For me – my audience is owner managed businesses with up to maybe 30 staff.   This is a business where the owner is a solopreneur or has a small team working for them, but they are not large enough to have a strategic HR/Recruitment Director, or their own Marketing Department.  They are aged between 35 and 60, family is important to them, as is offering a quality product or service to their customers.  They like people and are great networkers (that is probably where you and I met). They care about people, family, the environment and self development, and they like to collaborate.

Now – will every single person reading my blogs/tweets/LinkedIn posts etc be the above spec?   No.  But most will and the important thing is when I am creating content, I am doing it with my ideal client in mind.  Because if you are not talking their language then you are wasting your time.

So – your ‘homework’  is to think about why your created your business – what problem were you trying to solve and what is the end goal.  And then – if you don’t already have it – create the picture of your ideal customer and write down as much as you can about them – the more detail the better.  And if you don’t know all this stuff about your customers – give them a ring and have a chat, or go have a coffee.

Because – the better you understand your customers and their needs, their fears, their values, their goals – the better you can tailor your service, your communications and your business – to meet their needs.   Only then can you start to develop a meaningful recruitment or social media strategy.

In the next blog we will look at developing your social media goals.

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Thank you for taking the time to read my post. Here, at LinkedIn, I regularly write about recruitment, management and running a business - which the odd post on my passion - IT and all new developments. If you would like to read my regular posts then please click 'Follow' and feel free to also connect viaTwitter or Facebook

Finally, here are some other recent posts I have written:

• The Top 5 Reasons your CV Gets Shredded - Number 1
• 3 Big Reasons Hiring Goes Wrong
• 3 Big Reasons Hiring Goes Wrong - Part 2
• 3 Big Reasons Hiring Goes Wrong - Part 3
• Graphene - THE Game Changer
• The Pace of Change

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 Carole Fossey is a bestselling business author and is recognized as an expert in recruitment, HR, Sales and Man Management, and Social Media. Her first book is ''The Book on Recruitment, From Hello to Hired. How to Find and Hire Great People and Grow Your Small Business"

You can read a free sample chapter here.