Let’s face it, you just cannot get away from social media these days. There are many useful applications for social media in finding a work-at-home job or building a home based or freelance business. We asked these experts what they do and how they utilize social media in their home based career. If you have any tips and suggestions on how to use social media (or even if you found one of these tips helpful!) feel free to add them in the comments below!
Fiona Adler
*Develop Themes*
In order to get create enough content to create engagement, think about themes for your content. For example, these could be; inspirational quote, celebrity inspiration, outdoor shot, personal life insight, useful tips, etc. Clearly these will depend on your actual business, but if you brainstorm some categories, it becomes easier to continuously produce engaging content. You can then decide to have a different theme for each day of the week, or a time-of-day schedule – one type in the morning, a different one during the day, and another in the evening.
*Batch Production*
If you’ve decided to create a certain type of content, instead of creating one a day, block out some time to produce a much larger quantity of content of that type. Once you get into a task, you become a lot more productive so this saves you valuable time. For example, create two weeks worth of daily tip images at once.
*Use a Scheduler*
Once you’ve created the content, then you can use a scheduler like Buffer or MeetEdgar to actual post your content. This frees you up to do other work on your business while your social media accounts are kept full. You still need to allocate some time to engage with users but the time-consuming part is done.
Alina Adams
NYC School Secrets
@NYSchoolSecrets
1) Running a business that helps NYC parents find the best schools for their kids means that my target demographic is parents of kids ages 0-15. I’ve found the best way to reach them is via Facebook groups specifically focused on parenting, education, or life in a given NYC neighborhood. Also groups for immigrant parents, as many are new to NYC and are completely overwhelmed by the bizarre school application process. Yes, you need to apply even to Kindergarten!
2) I also write an education column for NY School Talk. For more newsy articles, Twittter is good for getting the headlines out, as well as for engaging with other thought leaders. I can comment on other people’s articles, often linking to my own that either confirm or contradict their thesis. It’s also good for reaching out directly to people who ask a
specific question in my area of expert knowledge.
3) With Twitter, search for key words and phrases that will allow you to jump into conversations on specific topics. With Facebook, be helpful, answer people’s questions. Giving away a little bit of your product frequently leads to customers who want to know more!
Michelle Kubot
Ambrosia Treatment Center
@Kubot12
Because WAH businesses may not want to promote their location, they are at a disadvantage when it comes to local search. This makes social media even more important. For starters, be selective with your social media platform(s). Trying to build up Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Flickr, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube is going to leave no time to do any of those right. Instead, understand where your customers are most and focus. While Facebook boasts the most users in general, Linkedin is better for a B2B and Instagram is better if your audience is under 30.
To gain exposure, you need to create content that people want to comment on and share. While that may seem vague, it eliminates the regurgitating of generic content that is prevalent in so many strategies now. Focus on quality and tell a unique story. People share things that touch them emotionally, make them laugh or help them think. Our most successful campaign was a video called what is addiction. The language was simple and the visuals were quick clips that kept your attention – including a Looney Toons cartoon and before/after drug use photos. It answered a question that people cared about in a way that kept the topic interesting.
Amma Marfo
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– For LinkedIn, take time out of each week to write a recommendation. To be able to speak highly of the work of people you interact with can be tremendously powerful, and will help solidify bonds that sometimes drop in the solitary world of working from home. If you’re an independent contractor who is diligent about this, these overtures on your part could serve as a reminder of the working relationship you once shared- and perhaps lead to recurring or repeat engagements.
– On Twitter, take part in chats that may be organized around elements of your industry. It gives you an opportunity to see what others in the field
are talking about, weigh in with your own expertise or pose your own questions, and meet others doing the same work as you. Working from home can sometimes feel lonely; these chats can be a scheduled opportunity to chat with coworkers.
Crissy Bogusz
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1 – Make sure any media or imagery you upload to share on social media is designed (if it is graphics based) or edited (if video) professionally. For
video I would suggest a professional intro, outro, including your logo. Avoid working with design, video or animation templates and work with a professional designer or editor to put this together for you.
2 – Bear in mind how you appear to others on social media. For view your instagram content as it appears in your page, do the images and videos complement each other, or are there colour clashes? Does the style remain consistent throughout? As a designer I’ve worked on building many brands, and the visuals are the first point of contact your audience will experience, so make sure it has the impact on them that you desire.
3 – I create British Vogue and Vogue Paris’ Snapchat Discover videos. I’ve come to learn that Snapchat is the way forward in advertising, marketing, and reaching younger audiences. Even if your consumer is not of the cenntinials generation, that generation will be your consumer in the future so you have to integrate the medium they prefer to use over all others, which we’re seeing in our analytics that Snapchat is winning this race. It’s much easier to create a following using other social media outlets (facebook, instagram, youtube), a Snapchat account isn’t necessary for all businesses, but advertising on there to reach a huge audience is.
Trisha Trixie Hunter-Merrill
Trisha Trixie and Company: Sprinkler of Fabulousness
@TrishaTrixie
How to gain the most exposure? I join groups that allow me to promote. Some are on specific days and I have those on my calendar. Others allow promotion at any time. Denver Networking group lost their admin and so I took over thus allowing me to post whenever I want and allow others to do the same. This generates at least $500 a month in sales profit. Since this
method works well for me, I continue to do this for other business I have as well.
Micala Quinn
1. Show up in Facebook groups and build relationships by providing value to your ideal clients for free.
2. Create your own engaged Facebook group filled with your ideal clients, and to gain the most exposure and build know, like, and trust with your audience create a consistent Facebook live presence.
3. Pinterest (if done correctly by utilizing the right keywords and optimized images) is really effective at drawing traffic to your website. Just make sure when potential clients get to your website there is an easy and enticing call to action.
Adam Heymann
Babierge Baby Gear Service Marketplace
@babierge
1) Cut through the clutter – provide valuable information to your audience in the form of insider tips, relevant retweets and re-shares, and personal photos and content that stands out in the minutia of the average person’s newsfeed.
2) Lay out a plan for your social media voice – Audiences will pick up on inconsistent messaging, so before you get very far in your posting, make sure to draft up a plan for what buzz words you will use, what subjects you will discuss or comment on, and the influencers and other voices in your area that you will interact with and use for inspiration.
Note from Leslie:
I have a confession to make…I don’t do social media as well as I’d like. Yes, I share what’s going on at WAHS, but I could do so much more. I think many people struggle, as I do, with managing so many platforms, as well as putting together things to share, especially since social media has also gotten so visual, which means creating graphics. But, the tips I have based on what I do and what I’d like to do include:
- Be selective about what platforms you use. You don’t have to be on them all. Focus on the ones your target market uses.
- Use tools. I use CoSchedule to schedule blog posts from right within my blog post.
- Have a posting schedule. I like the idea of themes, such as Tip Tuesday. You can get ideas for daily themes by check out the hashtags used on Twitter.
- Take time to interact. Social media is social, so you need to spend a few minutes each day seeing what your friends and followers are doing. Like, comment or share their stuff (this is an area I need to improve in myself).
