Communication must be HOT. That’s Honest, Open, and Two-way.” ~ Dan Oswald Let us perform a basic sanity check. If you are an MSME, is there a possibility that you DON’T have Social Media presence across all or few social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and more?
If not, it might be that your competitor – who has a social media presence and brand visibility – will soon be taking away your clients. Go ahead and create one. Right away. At least on one platform. The more, the merrier. Now, Marshall Goldsmith says, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.” To be able to sustain growth, and achieve stability, if you really want to grow your business and ROI, you need to try a different approach. Going Digital is what will help.
Now, if I say that my ID is #iamitkapoor on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter, what do you observe? Do you notice that I have the same ID for all platforms? Having the same ID creates a consistent brand image for your business and organization. Search for the HASHTAGIFYME site and find hashtags relevant for your domain and use them in your posts to generate more traffic. Now, even if you don’t have social media accounts, I hope you at least have a decent website to showcase your products and services, an identified buyers’ persona (target audience), a Content Calendar (what will you publish and when), and an upcoming SocialMedia Plan. Having a clearly defined Buyers Persona is a must for creating the best posts and getting more visitors to your profile. Buyers persona refers to your Target Audience and can be specified based on location, interests, age, gender, and many more variable factors. If for some reason, you have been caught unawares by COVID and do not have an online presence, you can buy a not so highly-priced domain, and create a simple website page, say using WordPress, and promote your products and services. Then, start promoting your business digitally.
BUT WHY GO DIGITAL?
Because, if you are not visible online, you don’t exist. I repeat. If you are not visible online, you don’t exist. And that doesn’t mean doing a social post in a week or 15 days. You must be there – posting DAILY. Remember, if a mobile user doesn’t like an app, they uninstall it within seconds.Smartphones provide your consumers (- and your competitors) all information they need, when they need. To appear at the top in a Google search when they look for someone providing services that you do, guess what you need? You Need To Be Visible Online! These are difficult times.As entrepreneurs, businessmen, & professionals, we all need to learn to become more resilient, adaptable, & flexible in our plans, strategies, & approach to life in general. There’s a tectonic shift required to survive. And thrive. As a businessman, you need to make a shift in your: Messaging/Outreach – to your Clients & Employees Mindset – flexibility and readiness to change! Beliefs – shaken, and some uprooted! Vision and mission – may be! Leadership and decision-making styles Market understanding, strategies, & practices – especially Social Media! You need to be very clear in how you treat your 5 Digital Wives: Why, What, Who, Where, and When. And of course, as the Husband, How are you planning to stay, and scale? Let’s try to understand these Digital Wives a bit.
WHY?
Why are you performing a specific digital activity? Why aren’t you performing a specific digital activity? Why are you saying what you are in terms of content?
WHAT?
What type of content are you writing? What is the frequency of publishing? Have you researched what are the best days and time for publishing? What are the digital platforms you are using? What will yield better results in these uncertain times? What platforms are available? – There are multiple platforms, each of which helps you reach a specific type of audience that is consuming a specific type of content.You need to create Videos. A lot of relevant Videos.
WHO?
Who is your target audience? Have you defined/created the buyers’ persona of your prospects? What are their likes/dislikes, modes of content consumption, day and time they are more active digitally?
WHERE?
Where are your prospects located? Can you provide them services? If you can’t reach them, what are the possible options to keep them engaged and warm so that they remember you when things get back to normal? The socio-political condition of that area – more so, health in these times
WHEN?
Is it time to change that website you built? Check your rankings & rewrite content? Change the look and feel and maybe shuffle, add and modify the menu? What time suits best for publishing that post? Sending that mail? Sharing that video? Are the posts you are writing relevant to todays’ conditions? I know a lot of Chefs have come up in homes as we work from home – and they are sharing their culinary skills like never before.
I believe if there was a time to make a difference, it is now. Don’t just sell your products and services. Show empathy. Show that you are there and will continue to be. HOW? Research. Read about the industry best practices. Read about what people are looking for, their needs. As much as you can. Analyze & Summarize your readings and say, Google analytics. Follow PDCA = Plan + Do + Check + Act. Identify the exact steps that need to be taken.
Prioritize them and perform them. Check the results. Redo. If you can’t, hire expert freelancers – be it for designing, support in digital marketing, creating more relevant content, and more. You need to write down the answers to the questions in terms of how you are currently running your business digitally & think if continuing to do what and how you were doing things will make you or break you.