It's Your Race
April 14, 2015
It’s Your Race
I ran my last 8k six years ago. My finish time was so miserable that I didn’t have the heart (or health) to get out there and give it another try until this past weekend—my husband and I ran our first 5k together. It was his first time ever, and it was a first for me also as I was the first-ranked female runner age 40-49. My initial thought was that there’s a big difference between 40 and 49—ginormous, in fact. I'm 47 years old. How could I outrun an ambitious 40-year-old woman? But then I realized something. My time at the gym day in and day out, and my regular sessions with a personal trainer paid off. If you apply frequency and consistency to any effort, it becomes a little easier and a lot less stressful.
With social media, this is so true, in more ways than one.
Post on Purpose
Content is king in the social media world. According to Content Management Institute, 61 percent of people feel better about a company that delivers custom content and are more likely to buy from that company. Another recent Nielsen survey of 25,000 consumers from 50 countries found that 70 percent of people believe what they read on the internet. When you post, post with intention and purpose. Post information that is relevant and valuable to your followers and they will continue to be fans. You can achieve the online credibility you crave, if you focus on posting content that is highly relevant and targeted to your followers. Random and useless posts just for the sake of posting something do more harm than good and could ruin your online brand.
Manage Your Time
There are only 24 hours in a day and most of us are asleep for at least six of them. Then, it takes time to get dressed for the day, eat (yes, even on the run), and commute to and from work. If you have children, these numbers multiply drastically. So, where else does the time go? Americans aged 18-64 spend an average of 3.2 hours per day social networking according to new research released by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (OTX). As a business owner, if you don’t schedule your social media, it might not happen. In today's social media race, take a load off your feet (and mind) by utilizing one of the many social media management tools like HootSuite to manage multiple networks and profiles and measure your campaign results. Just like running early in the morning helps you maintain discipline, wake up early to develop, plan, and manage your social media. Don't worry, you can always post spontaneously throughout the day—if you have time and something else important to communicate.
Share the Love
Don’t know what to post? Share someone else’s post that you enjoyed reading or found interesting. Remember, you can also post photos or share a link to a web site or social network page that you manage. According to Ipsos, among the top 10 activities on Facebook for Q2 2013, uploading and sharing photos has been the top activity on desktop, mobile and tablet. If you’re not into pictures, share a motivational quote or customer testimonial. If you share a question, be sure to close the loop at the end of the day—share stats about how your followers answered.
Like running a successful 5k, frequency and consistency make social media marketing easier without the stress—and it doesn’t matter if your business is a startup or mature, social media is here to stay. It’s your race, so stop pussyfooting around and get on with it. On your mark, get set, go!
