Setting A Social Media Strategy
With how much social media is playing a roll not only in our businesses, but our lives, sometimes you just need to break it all down and start with a fresh look at at. Heres a few ways to reset your social mindset and set realistic goals.
Whats your why
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” —Mark Twain.
This is the bases for all things going forward. If you’re not clear on your why, your social media strategy will fall apart quickly as you will end up posting things that will take away from your end goal. Take out a piece of paper (or your notes app) and write the answers to these few questions. This will help make things more clear for your strategy.
What inspires or motivates me?
What is my contribution or where do I add the most value?
What are my strengths?
What is my end goal with social media? (More followers, more salon clients, fame or fortune? Please remember… theres no wrong answer here.)
Listen
How many times have you been at a hair show or education event talking with someone and another person interjects into the conversation without really knowing whats being discussed or just starts talking about themselves. Pretty annoying right?
Listening is a step in social media that is often looked over and forgotten about, but it is so important to listen to the social conversations before interjecting. This could even go for commenting on an image or quote picture without reading the caption below and responding out of context. It happens often and can make someone look pretty foolish. Make sure to listen strategically before engaging with your audience, then make sure to offer respect, empathy and content of value before asking anything of them.
Engage
This isn’t only for your own page, engaging can go a long way with where social currency is currently standing (but is changing everyday). Don’t be afraid to double tap a picture or comment something nice, or give constructive criticism when you feel its appropriate. Don’t be the mean kid behind the screen bullying others and tearing down self-esteems across the nation. We’re in an industry where we should be supporting one another and giving knowledge to the next wave of hairdressers coming in. DM someone offering advice if you feel it would be taken negatively in the comment section, or go back to the advice our moms gave us when we were young
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”
Give it time
“There’s no such thing as an overnight success.” – Tory Burch
Your end goal with social media isn’t going to happen overnight. It is also dependent on how much time and effort you put into it. You don’t want social to rule your life and you will need to work on finding a balance in creating space for social media and yourself. Just remember that social media is a tool, it’s not real life and you can’t compare your journey to others. No one tends to put their failures out there for the world to see, so make sure to have realistic expectations of the process. If you start to feel the overwhelm set in, go back to your why and remember what it’s being used for.
Your follower count doesn’t define you as a person and your number of likes on a post doesn’t mean you’re not successful in your why. Remember that.