6 Ways to Tell if Your Business is Social Media Ready

Okay, okay… we know how we might sound in this blog. We’re always touting that we live in an age where it’s sketchy for a business to not be on social media. But what we never preface that with is, your business should be on social media when it’s ready to be. Now, that might be different for different business owners, which we understand. 

When it comes to social media and being present on it, lots of factors come into play. You need to know that you’re going to have to grow a following both organically and paid. The longer you spend on it, the more likely you are to see results. The more often you engage in it, the more your content is going to be shown to more people. And the bigger your presence gets, the more it is to handle. So if you don’t know if your business is ready to take on the job (full-time job, might we add) of having a social media presence, we have a few questions for you. 

 

How much time do you have? 

Being a business owner is a lot – Lauren Bordelon over here can tell you that much. This is why we know if you’re a business owner that you don’t have all the time in the world to manage your social media well AND run your business. It’s why people like us have jobs, so we can do all the work for you hard-working CEO’s out there!  So you should ask yourself – do I have the time to help cultivate an online presence that is going to yield results? 

 

What’s in the budget? 

We’ve touched on this topic so much in other blogs. Social media is not free, and it’s not easy. So many factors that are expensive go into making sure you have a successful time on the web. First, make sure you have someone to run and schedule all the accounts that might cost you. Then the software used to schedule posts, if you aren’t planning and posting manually, will also cost you. Then the software used to analyze your metrics across all platforms will cost you too, and we could go on. Our point is, ask yourself if you have a good enough budget to start off on just one platform the right way – and then go from there. 

 

What does your strategy look like? 

Having a strategy is one of the most important things you can have before you even go on social media. Knowing what platforms you need to be on should be rooted in where your customer is probably going to be. Then you’re going to need to know what type of content you’re going to employ and when you’re going to employ it. And if you care about what your feed looks like, then you probably need to use third-party software like Planoly to plan out your posting schedule based on your feed aesthetic. 

 

What stage is your business In? 

Social Media is a great way to put yourself and your finished product or service out there. Notice we said, “finished.” We don’t suggest posting to the internet (*queue parental voice* where everything is permanent!) an unfinished product. It doesn’t look good, it doesn’t make your brand look good, and it overall reads bad.

 

Are you B2B or B2C?

Know this is big for social media. Inherently, some platforms are a better fit for B2C companies because of what they showcase. Instagram is a good B2C fit because of its image-sharing base, and LinkedIn is good for B2B because of its ability to share news and more business-oriented features. If you’re a B2B company, go check out our most recent blog on social media platforms for B2B companies. 

 

Are you prepared for organic or paid exposure? 

Getting purely organic and exposure and reach is becoming harder and harder these days because of how saturated social media is becoming. More and more companies are promoting their social with paid ad campaigns and highly targeted ads to reach the audience they think they’ll get the most return or engagement from. But it can become expensive fairly quickly. Since we’re all about brand awareness – if you want to break into ads (and you should, when you’re ready), you should start with a campaign with the sole purpose of building an audience. 

This means you’re not putting out ads immediately with the intention to just SELL someone on something (i.e. an offer). Seep into the minds of consumers with quality content that shows the BRAND you are conveying- all things that should be determined early on in your brand development. You should start with a small budget – $50-$100/mo for an ad like this. But trust us when we say if you are not versed in Facebook Business Manager, you have two options: start studying, or put it in the hands of professionals so your hard-earned dollars and capital are being put to good use the right way. 

 

So what do you do if you aren’t quite there for social media marketing? 

By all means, you can still be aware of how your brand is doing online without being online. You can set up google alerts or use mention to track what people are saying about your brand, or anything related to it. Make sure your contact page is up to date and you respond to people as soon as possible. 

Another alternative would be to seek out help from professionals who can help you get your brand to where it needs to be – so it’s READY for social media.