Make Your Social Media Presence the Launchpad for a Life-Changing Business

7 important considerations for entrepreneurial rocketeers.

If you’re just on social media for funsies, that’s totally ok. Most people are.

It usually is fun, after all.

There was a time when I mainly visited Twitter just to argue with mates about football. It seemed vitally important at the time (the arguing part, that is — football always seems important).

And the majority of other social media users spend time on their platforms of choice for similar reasons:

• Entertainment
• Education
• Maintaining contact with friends and family
• Engaging in heated debates (that’s the polite way of putting it)
• Keeping up with the latest news
• Sharing funny photos of pets

You know, the kind of stuff we all do, or have done at one stage.

But if you want to use social media in general as a platform to grow your business or personal brand, you have to approach it with more intention.

Let’s talk about how to do just that.

Consistency

[Sigh] I know — “Give it a rest, Dave. We’ve heard it all before.”

But I’ll never stop banging my consistency drum.

I’ll talk about consistency with as much consistency as I can muster.

If you want to grow and develop your online platform (which you need if you want to build a business), you have to show up regularly. This goes for any social media website you’ve signed up to.

Hopping on once a day probably won’t cut it, unless you spend a decent chunk of time there in that single session, or you’ve scheduled posts in advance.

Show up for the people who like to follow your progress. They want to hear from you.

And do it *sound of banging drum* consistently.

Simplicity

Keep your message simple, as well as consistent.

If you’re talking about a book you’ve written, talk about it a lot, in as many ways as you can. But keep the core message clear: “Here’s my book and here’s why you should read it.”

If your audience is clear on what you do and what you’re offering them, they’ll happily stay on board. If they get confused, they’ll drift away.

Followers like a message that’s familiar and easy to grasp.

Optimisation

I’ll be honest here — I get bored reading this word online. Everyone’s always talking about how they optimise everything about their business.

Well, there’s a good reason for that.

If you use social media for business purposes, you have to optimise your profile.

People check your profile after reading your posts (assuming your content does enough to grab them). You need to be absolutely clear about what you do. You only have a matter of seconds to make an impression.

Keep your bio succinct and focused. Use your actual face or business logo as your profile picture. Have one clear call-to-action. Tweak it regularly but don’t make wholesale changes.

You’d be surprised at the difference an optimised social media profile can make to your business or personal brand.

Avoid conflict

This one’s pretty straightforward.

Arguing in public is super damaging for your platform. If you plan on engaging in those heated debates I mentioned earlier, you may as well delete your business profile now.

Reputation is crucial in the online space. Conflict will arise, but you don’t have to be part of it.

When the trolls come lumbering up to you, walk calmly in the other direction.

Engage

Another word you’ll read too often on social media, but also for good reason.

Engage your brains out. Leave relevant comments on as many posts as time allows for each day. Get stuck into the conversation. Drop your two cents everywhere you go.

Engaging is the best way to grow your platform on any social media website. It’s not enough to just post and ghost anymore.

Redirect

The primary purpose of social media is to grow your newsletter. Or it should be, anyway.

Plug your newsletter every day. Encourage followers to sign up as often as you can. Link to it in your bio. Add more links to it under your best-performing posts.

Your social media following is the community you rent.

Your newsletter mailing list is the audience you own.

Use visual cues

Finally, don’t forget to incorporate images into your posts as much as possible.

Make them big, bold and eye-catching. Force people to pause their doom-scroll and read your content.

A picture speaks a thousand words.

A picture (or video) of you adds a thousand more.

Why so serious?

If you want your message to be taken seriously on social media, treat your platform as such.

By doing so, you’ll automatically propel yourself far above the noisy, muddled crowd who’re just doing whatever comes to them in the moment.

But not you. You’re:

• Consistent
• Keeping it simple
• Optimising everything
• Avoiding conflict
• Engaging your brains out
• Redirecting people to your newsletter
• Using visual cues to draw attention

Grow your online platform in the right way.

It could well be the launchpad for your most audacious ambitions.

Need some help creating a strategy to manage your social media accounts? I’ve made a course that’s perfect for you.

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