What you nurture is what you grow

'What you nurture is what you grow' is a phrase which I would definitely apply to social media. If you put enough time and effort in then you will start to see the results. If we don't nurture LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for example with strategic thought, time and energy, they will inevitably slowly begin to disappear and fade into the background.

For a small business with a limited marketing budget available, social media platforms are a great way of growing your customer base and increasing your chance of potential leads, without the costly expense of the more traditional printed material or advertising in magazines or trade publications.

Before you start investing time and effort on any social media activity, I would strongly advise being very clear on who your target audience is, what products or services you can offer them and how you differentiate yourselves from your competition. LinkedIn has a search function allowing you to really hone in on your target audience via searching by location, job function and industry. Likewise with Facebook and Twitter you can select your friends and followers depending on who you would like to target.

With LinkedIn there are lots of opportunity to show you are an expert in your field, whether that be starting your own group, setting up a company page, sharing updates of case studies or writing articles. Articles can provide information that can really help your connections, whether you are writing about your key products and services, a topic you have a particular interest in or feel strongly about, topics trending in the news or information concerning yourself, e.g. how you encountered a problem and dealt with it, or an example of how you have applied your advice. I would recommend sending messages to your new connections focused on giving your new connections something interesting or adding value to their lives, e.g. sending them an article or resource that would be useful for them in their position or letting them know about a particularly interesting discussion in your group.

With Facebook posts and Twitter tweets there is a more of a broad scope to be both informative and imaginative. Try different posts and tweets to monitor what the engagements you are receiving from your selected connections, friends or followers, e.g. likes, comments or re-tweets. Facebook posts can showcase your case studies, completed projects or your products/services. Twitter gives you more leverage to be more imaginative under headings such as #Tuesdaytreats or #Fridayfun. Live tweets can also be run at specific events or an interview can be scheduled with a leading option leader in your field where you can invite followers. This means that your audience can actually participate in the interview as it’s happening. In addition Facebook and Twitter have useful analytics where you can see which post or tweet is performing the best.

Another important point to remember is that if you do decide to invest time and effort into social media, whatever the channels, they must work in tandem using the same company design and similar complementary content. Social media calendars are useful tools to plan monthly content across all platforms, that way you know exactly what you are doing and when. If you are considering linking content from social media channels to your website, also ensure your website looks as professional, is up to date and as easy to navigate as possible. This is your company's 24/7 business card, your round the clock Sales Representative continually promoting your company.

In conclusion, social media platforms are great channels to make new contacts and build relationships, however in my experience, it is not the right environment to sell products or services. Therefore, I would recommend taking a long-term approach of building a relationship with each connection, friend and follower.

It would be great to discuss this article in more detail and help you nurture your business to grow. Therefore, if you are a business looking for marketing support on any of the above elements, to have more free time to work on other areas of your business, then please get in touch.

Tel: 07557 040 830 or e-mail: [email protected]

Many thanks for reading.

Clare Mitchell