Following on from last week’s blog that gave you tips to help improve your Google ranking, we are going to take a look at and give some tips on social media for your business. Getting your social media right can help increase engagement with your audience and also contribute towards your Google ranking.
It’s all about the details
Regardless of which or how many social media platforms you choose to use for your Martial Arts business, the most important thing to do is fill out all of your details. It is good to fill in just the basics when setting your page up, but be sure to go back and fill out every last bit of detail you can as soon as you are able. Remember to focus on the main selling points of your business such as a link to your website, contact number, what you offer and location.
Having more information on your profile makes it more likely someone can find your business while searching. These details also go towards building trust with both people visiting your page and also search engines, just make sure they are consistent with your websites details. In the case of a Google My Business (Google Plus+ Business) page, these details go towards populating information in your Google Maps listing and local search results.
Quality over quantity
As much as quantity plays a part in social media, quality is the real driving force behind engagement from your audience. Sure, it’s a good idea to generate new and fresh content on a regular basis but if that content is not interesting to your audience, they are not going to engage with it. Take time writing your content and make it your own, that’s the whole reason they are following you to begin with, to see what you have to say.
Don’t worry too much about getting an update out every day either; it is perfectly OK to have a few days between each update. This approach will give you time to focus on that ever-important quality without the stress of time and feeling like you have to keep posting for the sake of quantity.
Did you recently attend a Martial Arts tournament but didn’t get the opportunity to mention it on social media beforehand? Don’t worry! Speak about your experience of the event when your back; if you took some pictures while you were there be sure to share them too.
Focus on the community and building relationships
One of the fundamentals of social media is being, well… social! Do your best to engage and interact with your audience. If you post something that then gets a response, engage with that comment with a response of your own.
Encourage people to engage with you as well by asking questions and promoting discussions about topics relating to Martial Arts. You could consider asking people to leave a review on your Facebook or Google Plus+ page when they come to lessons, as these reviews help build a trusting and positive image towards your business while promoting engagement.
People can contact you publicly or privately via social media, so it is important to make sure you are aware which method they are using, as this will help dictate how you structure your response. Certain social media networks, such as Facebook, will add an icon to your profile icon for responding quickly (within 24 hours) to any messages; this lets visitors see you monitor the page and will respond in a reasonable timeframe, so try to find time to respond to messages where possible.
It is worth noting that Twitter will not allow people to contact you privately unless they follow you and you in return follow them. People that message/mention ‘@YourBusiness’ on twitter are doing so publicly and any response to the original message will also be public. It is worth taking your time with messages like this and thinking about how you will respond, as anything you say will be seen by others.
Don’t entertain the trolls
Some of you may be asking ‘What is a troll?’ well; a troll in terms of the internet, is someone who is intent on trying to start arguments, upset people and generally provoke as many people as possible. It can be a difficult thing to ignore someone who has gone out of their way to purposefully provoke you, especially after a hard day working or training.
Thankfully social media networks such have systems in place to help you deal with things like this! In terms of Facebook, you can simply ‘hide’ the comment and block others from seeing it. Twitter allows you to mute, block and report any forms of harassment you feel you are being subjected to, an overview of which method to use can be found HERE
Google Plus+ gives you similar options to Facebook and Twitter combined, with the additional bonus of Google Plus+ offering an explanation under each option, telling you exactly what will happen and what that person will no longer be able to do or see when you block them.
If you find yourself with the opportunity to have a positive and constructive discussion with someone, it is always a good idea to attempt this first, as it shows you care and other visitors to your page can see how you handle situations like this as a business. However, if it is someone clearly ‘trolling’, then hiding or removing the comment is the best option.
In most cases when you hide/mute a comment or visitor, the visitor are unaware you have done so, so don’t be afraid to use this options if you have to.
Analyse the situation
Google analytics is a great way of tracking exactly what’s going off in terms of your website, but how do you know what is going off on your social media network? Thankfully, social media networks are beginning to include their own analytic tools, with Facebook and Twitter having some of the most detailed analytical tools available.
These analytical tools can take some getting used to and understand but it is worth spending some time getting to know the basics of the analytic toolkit, as they help you to see how your content is performing and how users are engaging with it. It is a good idea to keep track of the engagement where possible, as this will help shape your content as you progress.
Don’t re-invent the wheel
When you have had some success with engagement on one of your posts, it is a good idea to replicate the kind of post you made. If you have a positive engagement with something such as a motivational Martial Arts image or phrase, why not have a different image or phrase every week?
If you have a good response with a particular campaign, be sure to utilise all the analytic tools available to you to find out the reasons of why it worked. These are the strengths you will want to try to include in your future campaigns or articles.
