stephsandyconsulting, Author at Stephsandy Consulting

I remember when social media was (or should I say felt?) completely free. Even for businesses that wanted to join in on the action, it was the unpaid medium of the future!

Speaking of future, a lot has changed since 2004.. And, it’s funny because I still have clients that don’t want to spend money on social media marketing. I’m here to say that it is time. You can no longer afford to NOT spend money on social media. This is my advice:

PAY TO PLAY

Just because things have changed, doesn’t mean that social media is no longer the way to go… it just means that you must “pay to play.” And trust me, you want to be in this ballgame. Social media companies today have targetable mass audiences that you can easily reach if you make the investment to do so.

EXPERIMENT

If you’ve never done any type of social media advertising before, how do you know what works for your target audience? You may have an idea – and that’s great! Start there. Social media platforms have built-in analytics that show you the likes, comments, shares, favorites, mentions, retweets, etc. so that you can see how well your ad is performing in real time. Find out which ads work best and then put more money into either, those ads or ads with similar qualities. It’s all about tweaking until you find the best mix of placement, content and copy for your specific target audience.

STAY TRUE TO YOU

Just because you’re experimenting with content, doesn’t mean that you should completely diverge from what your company or brand is all about. Videos and memes of kittens are great, but what do they say about your company? Stick to relevant, valuable content that is close to your company’s heart. This forces you to get creative, and that’s a good thing! If you stay true to you, you’ll find that the interaction you receive is quality interaction from people that support your business. That’s the kind of engagement you’re looking for in a social media marketing campaign.

DO THE MATH

Know what your marketing goals are before you start your ad campaigns so that you can really calculate your return on investment. Social media has the potential to help you in so many areas of the sales funnel, but which ones are you focusing on? Being able to measure the impact of your ads will reassure you that you’re putting your money in the right place.

It’s really not that scary, I promise. Good luck!

–Stephanie Amy

Today I am making a presentation about “How To Write A Blog Post,” which is kind of ironic, because I hardly write blog posts myself…

Yet, I am very capable of writing them, as are you! I think we all just “get a little busy” and take the easy route of posting articles or subject matters on our social media outlets that we want to share. I am 100% guilty of this. But just because a blog post should be longer than 140 characters, doesn’t mean it has to be boring!

So how do we find the time to sit down and write about what we know and what we think others would want to know in a way that, shall I say, “gets people going?”

Get Organized

Step #1: Organize your brain thoughts. When you are able to pick ONE good thing to write about; a blog post becomes so much less daunting.

Step #2: Know your audience. Who are you talking to? What are their interests? Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself if what you’re writing about is at all interesting… Be honest!

Step #3: Write an introduction that connects with the people you’re talking to. Grab their attention with a story, a joke, a relatable scenario, a SUPER surprising fact or statistic. Make the connection and then, keep going! You have more to say and they’ve followed you this far.

Step #4: Create an outline. What are the most important things that you want to say and how are you going to say them in a way that is not too overwhelming to the reader? Create sections, lists, bullet points – do something to break up the information in a way that is easy on the eye. We all really appreciate that, right?

Step #5: “Fill in the blanks” of your outline. Just start writing – you can always go back and edit. (And did I mention, you should? We’ll get to that.)

Step #6: PROOFREAD. Go back and actually read what you wrote. I know this seems like common sense, but you have no idea how many people do not go back and put their eyeballs on the things that they’ve written. This isn’t Gmail, there is no undo button – so before you publish a post with a TON of typos, do yourself a favor and re-read the whole thing. In fact, if you have a buddy or coworker that wouldn’t mind taking a glance at it; even better! This will save you time (and embarrassment?) in going back and correcting things that you or one of your readers found after the fact.

Step #7: Seven is my lucky number, so I had to include one more step! Add more information at the end of your blog post… Give the reader something else to look at or something to do. Again, they’ve stayed with this you this long, it’s only fair that you give them something even more beneficial to top it all off.

And there you have it, a formula for a blog post that is sure to impress the masses.

P.S. Don’t do as I do, do as I suggest. Or take someone else’s word for it, like Michael Stelzner. Here is his post about “Blogging Basics: How To Write Blog Posts People Love To Read.”

Happy Blogging!