Introducing today’s guest blogger Prerna Malik of Social Media Direct and The Mom Writes…
Have you been struggling with a way to get much needed visibility for your business? Do you feel a limited budget means limited PR opportunities?
Well, let’s talk.
First of all, you don’t have to have a BIG budget to get visibility for your business.
Why?
Because we live in an age where social media rocks and learning to use social media can help you create a PR strategy that is simple, productive, effective and best of all, nearly free.
However, using social media to build, sustain and engage relationships can seem daunting to a mumpreneur who’s already juggling a LOT.
So, here are simple steps to take to create a social media PR strategy for your mom-owned business:
1. Know Your Goals
Begin by identifying what you’d expect to achieve from your social media efforts. You don’t want to spend your precious time and dedicated efforts faffing away on Facebook or Twitter. Do you want to build your email list, get media publicity, garner online reviews or land press mentions? Identify your goals and choose your social networks accordingly.
Twitter, for instance, is great for helping you connect with journalists via Muck Rack or creating your own Twitter Lists. The same is true for LinkedIn which can help you reach media professionals by doing a quick search and adding them to your network.
So, begin by writing down your goals for your social media PR strategy.
2. Know Your Audience
Once you know what you want your social media strategy to give you, take a good, hard look at where your target audience hangs out. You can do this by doing a quick survey of your customers if you have an existing mailing list, reviewing where your competition hangs out or monitoring the conversations on a few key social networks to begin with. Once you know where you’ll find your target audience, it is time for you to start creating a presence on those social networks as well.
3. Know Your Value Add
A strong social media strategy will include identifying how you would add value to your followers and network. What is your unique selling point or USP? Why should the media notice you? Why will reviewers want to test your products? Yes, this may take time but once you have it nailed, you’ll be able to cut to the chase and offer the media exactly what they want.
4. Know Your Resources
Finally, know your resources. If you’re a mumpreneur with a small baby and a growing business, you may not be able to schedule time on a regular basis for using social media. Could you hire a social media manager to help you do that? If blogging and guest posting is not your forte, do you really want to struggle with it? Outsource that and instead, focus on using Twitter and Facebook. Knowing your resources as a mom and business owner will help you trim the fat, avoid unnecessary overwhelm and create a targeted social media strategy that will bring you results.
Biography:
Want to chat about creating a strong and successful social media strategy for your business? Want to power up your home business while taking care of yourself, your home and family? Sign up for a FREE one-on-one session with Prerna or get her eBook, How to be a Work-at-Home Mom: The Happily Ever After Guide to Leading the WAHM Life and learn how to be a more productive, efficient and effective mumpreneur. Prerna Malik is the editor of The Mom Writes, a go-to, award-winning site for work-at-home mothers and the co-owner of Social Media Direct, a digital agency that offers affordable and effective social media and web content solutions.
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