How To Strengthen Your Social Media Presence

Kristina Stubblefield  00:01

Thank you for tuning in to WedPro Business Solutions. I'm your host, Kristina Stubblefield, I sure hope that you were able to catch the three part series that dropped last week, my special guest was a marketer, who's also engaged. And I know it was jam packed with great information, not only for wedding professionals, but for really any businesses out there. And I wanted to do an episode that gives you actionable steps that you can take to work on your online presence, since there was so many great tidbits of information that we touched on last week. And what am I talking about? That would be a social media self audit, working with businesses for as many years as I have, I have found that a lot of times people have things lingering out there on the internet, about their business that they forgot about, or some social media channels are more popular than others. So you use one more than the other. And you potentially forget about the information that's out there on those platforms. So as part of this episode, you're going to be able to get a self audit social media checklist. So you can get the information, whether you're watching this video or listening on the podcast, there will be a link for you to be able to get that checklist. So let's talk through a little bit of this. Technology is great social media is wonderful, especially for small businesses. However those platforms change, they update the fields that are available for you to put information in. And I've seen, especially Facebook over the years, used to only offer where you can put just a little bit in about your business. Now there's so much more, it goes well beyond a cover photo or your profile picture, you need to make sure your contact information is up to date, some people listening may change their website address or their email address. Or you may have started out using your cell phone. But now you have a business line. Whatever the case may be, it's so important to have a checklist to review this information, I'll throw in something that we covered in that three part series, your online presence. People are reading about you researching your business, before they ever have a conversation with you, whether that's at a wedding show over the phone, a zoom and email. So you're really doing their research could be from the moment they get engaged. So they're doing research before you ever even know they are. That's what makes it imperative that the information you have available on the worldwide web is up to date. So beyond contact information, what about the about of your business, you know, your business has probably evolved over the years. In addition, you probably have added services or removed services, making sure that you're getting accurate information out there, as people are researching you is imperative. In addition, you want to make sure that your pictures, especially your cover photo, I see a lot of times people just leave the same photo up there for years. That is something that you can update that shows something fresh in your business. And I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole of the type of posts you put out or anything like that. But I wanted to mention Facebook has added a lot of different fields. That wasn't available when you probably set up your business page on Facebook. That's one of the ones that's made, maybe the biggest changes when it comes to business presence. And believe it or not even just recently, I've seen a business didn't even think about going into their about section. It was the same as when they set up their page years ago. I don't even remember how many years. They just hadn't thought about it. And that's the thing with marketing and advertising. You know, you're a specialist in your field of business. You don't know what you don't know. Or maybe you know, hey, I should update my information every once in a while. But if someone doesn't point that out, if someone doesn't share with you how important it is, or shed light on it. It's not At the forefront, it's not at the top of your mind. And that's why we tackle these topics. There are solutions out there, that some of which are very, very small in the grand scheme of things. So setting aside some time, whether that be quarterly once a year, I probably would recommend more than that. Whatever you have in your business schedule, I would make sure you go through all of the different platforms. Now, let's talk about Instagram, for example, not as many options available with your contact information, and your bio, you're only allowed so many characters. So make sure you review what's out there. Does your bio share with the world, what you offer, the solution you provide in your business? And there's all kinds of tips and tricks and special Instagram strategist out there. But if someone is seeing your information for the first time, what do they need to know? To consider you. And it can be difficult to keep it short and sweet. A lot of times when I'm teaching workshops, I share with people use a character counter, you can do a Google search, there are several out there. And what that does is it tells you how many characters you're using. So you can copy and paste and put it in Instagram. And here's another reason why I can't tell you how many times I have went to upgrade or update my Instagram bio, or Tik Tok for that matter. And guess what, I'm over the character count. And instead of it saving what I had there, everything I wrote is gone. I hate to admit how many times that's happened to me. So that's another reason to use a character counter is because it tells you and you'll know right then and there, you're three over five over or in my case, 20 over, and you really need to fine tune your wording. So as I mentioned, Instagram doesn't have as many options with about contact information. But what's really important with Instagram, making sure your link what that call to action link that's in your Instagram profile. Where does that take them to your website, I most of the time encourage clients to use a linking software. And what that means is someone goes to a link, where there's three or four links that they can get to the exact place they want to go. And that could be a whole nother episode on its own. So where are you want to direct your traffic or your audience what action you want them to take your calls to action on all social media platforms that allow that is really important. As you heard me mentioned, a quick tidbit about tick tock. And yes, I believe it's 80 characters that you can have in your bio there, it can be hard for a lot of people to really shorten your bio. And that's where a character counter comes into place. It's vital for me. But making sure your information even on a newer platform like tick tock is important. And here's the thing. Even if you're not using Tik Tok right now, or any of the other platforms, making sure you have that username, or that business set up on those platforms can be important. And here's why. What if it becomes more popular, or maybe you don't use Twitter right now, but it becomes more popular. So if you're one of those people that went in, got a listing on all the different social media platforms, but just got your username, I encourage you to take the time to fill out your bio, even if you're not using that platform on a regular basis, because you might not be using it. But your target audience may be using that platform to do their research. So that is really important.

Kristina Stubblefield  09:15

And I know it may sound like okay, you want me to do this and this and this. But that's why I put together a checklist for you. So you have in front of you some of the actionable steps, you can go and do a self audit on by platform. So you'll want to make sure that you download a copy of that checklist. And always heading into a new year is a great time to audit not only your social media channels, but also the other things that are out there on the World Wide Web. So I just wanted to make sure you had actionable steps to take, especially coming off that episode that I referenced If you haven't had a chance to listen to it, I encourage you to do so. It's broken down into three parts to make it easier to digest because it was a lot of information. Some have referred to it as a gold mined for wedding professionals, so take time to make sure you check out each of those episodes. At any time, you need more one on one assistance, or you want to get strategic and have a plan in place for your business. You can always schedule a discovery call with me and see what needs to happen to map out a specific plan for your business. If you're not already part of the Facebook group, I encourage you to join there will be a link that you can get or you can always go to the website and there is a link to the Facebook group. Thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time, take care