The Best Ways to Stay in Front of Your Subscribers Part 3: Social Media

There’s no shortage of social media outlets available to business owners and consumers these days.

In fact, there are more than 60 of them where providers and consumers can connect with each other on a regular basis.

That said, there is a much smaller number of social networking sites where the majority of people spend most of their time.

Fifteen to be exact.

And it’s on these sites where you should invest your time, energy and money staying in front of your subscribers.

Yes, there may be a random social media outlet that works well for you in certain situations, but the important thing is to go where the “fish are biting” so you can connect and stay in touch with your subscribers.

Now that you know which social media outlets are the top places to reach your subscribers, here are the best ways to use them to stay in front of your subscribers.

Use what you have first

In the blogs we shared in the first two parts of this series, we talked about using blog posts, written content and videos to stay in front of your subscribers to build massive credibility and authority.

Once you’ve created this variety of content, you can then share it on the top social media sites where you connect with your subscribers.

Not only is sharing your written and video content an effective strategy to build and strengthen relationships initially, but it’s also a great long-term strategy as your content will remain on the Internet - on these sites - for future prospects and subscribers to consume.

It’s hard to reach out to new people every time and tell them your story, but by having your content remain available for consumption for years to come, anyone who meets you, even today, can go back in time to learn about you, your company, your brand and what you stand for.

It’s like having a salesperson on staff, 24/7 to nurture new prospects and help them get to know you.

Community means power in social media

As you can see in the graphic I shared above, Facebook is far and above the most utilized and popular social media site available today.

In addition to having personal and business pages on Facebook, you can also build your online presence and connect with your subscribers by creating a Facebook community for your social media followers and customers.

It’s a free service offered by Facebook groups you can set them up to be secret, private, or public.

Once you create your Facebook group and start building your community, the key to growing a successful community is by being active. Be sure to consistently post news, content and updates.

More importantly, you’ll want to invite members of the group to not only ask questions, but also start communicating - professionally - with other members of the group.

You want your members to feel that they are part of something important and have a sense of community...of belonging if you will. The more engagement you have, the stronger your community will be.

Keep the discussion flowing

Any time you post an update or make a comment on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, you put yourself in position to get  responses from your subscribers.

This is a good thing.

It not only allows you to get new insights on your subscribers, current clients, and prospects, it gives you the unique opportunity for you to have a dialogue with them.

No, it’s not realistic that you’re going to be able to respond to every single comment you receive on social media, you do have the ability to respond to the most pressing or engaging ones.

If you want to stay in front of your subscribers on social media, you need to look at communication as a two-way street where you can establish a healthy, meaningful relationships with the people you care about and who care about you.

Have some fun

At the end of the day, you run a business and to that end, you are going to use your social media platforms to share updates about things happening within the business, details on the programs and services you offer, testimonials, market updates and anything newsworthy related to your subscribers.

No doubt, talking business - about your business - is an integral part of growing your social media presence.

That said, you should branch out from time to time and let your subscribers see the human side of you and your company. Share a funny meme or video, a heart-warming story or even an inspirational article. Or, if you find an interesting or informative blog post from another industry that is share-worthy, forward it along.

To ensure that you provide content regularly, take the time to map out a calendar of what you’ll share with your subscribers on each social media outlet.

Show me is better than tell me

It’s important that you do more than just tell your subscribers on social media what you do and how you do it.

Share videos of how you market homes, provide amazing customer service, manage open houses, etc. You don’t need to give the recipe to the “secret sauce”, but you should give them an insider’s look at how you excel at doing what you do.

Video content keeps social media users far more engaged versus reading something you wrote.

Make your videos exciting, interesting and entertaining so that you and what you offer will be memorable to your social media subscribers.

Be in two places (or more) at one time

Phone calls, emails and texts still have their place in today’s business environment, but you can’t rely on these three staples, alone, to get in contact, and stay in contact, with your subscribers.

More importantly, there not the only ways that your clients and prospects are going to want to stay in touch with you, either.

Today, social media users and customers often turn to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms to get answers to their questions and in touch with you. In an effort to keep multiple lines of communication open, it’s crucial that you provide several ways customers can contact you through social media.

Once you do that, you need to make sure you can respond quickly and efficiently to the communication that comes in. Otherwise, you’ll be doing yourself more harm than good.

There’s really no magic to using social media to stay in front of your subscribers. You simply need to be professional, consistent and interesting when you do put something on the variety of social media platforms you choose to use for your business.

Most importantly, you should definitely schedule your social media content dissemination strategy so you can get the best results from your efforts.

Whatever you do, don’t wait as you competition is already trying to beat you out on social media right now.