OWAHL 007: Developing a Social Media Strategy for Growth

Some of the most common questions I get are about social media. Which social media you should be using, how this fits into the larger picture in your business, etc. 

Social media is constantly changing and so is my strategy. But in today's episode I am going to briefly share my own personal social media strategy for our full time business over at Young Wife's Guide. 

My Social Media Strategy

Facebook

Facebook has over 1.8 billion monthly active users. If you are looking for an audience to reach, they are on Facebook! Yes, Facebook organic reach has been down but if you are strategic with it, you can still reach your ideal customer or reader through Facebook.

Difference between your Facebook profile and a Facebook page

This is one question I've received several times. Your Facebook profile is your personal Facebook account that you set up. My personal profile is just for my friends and family that I know in person. I don't add anyone else to this account.

This way, I still have privacy online. I can share posts about my kids, local places we are going, etc. It's where I personally keep up with my friends and family. It's personal, it's for me! I rarely, if ever, post my blogging stuff to this profile. (Not that it's wrong to do so, but I don't want to spam my friends and family. That's not the purpose of that Facebook profile.)

But my Facebook page is where I do all my business stuff. This is at: Facebook.com/YoungWifesGuide. This is where I post all my blogging stuff and where my "fans" can follow me. You want to set up a Facebook page.

 Our Facebook strategy:

My strategy on Facebook is to build community and generate new leads. I want my Facebook page to be a bright spot on Facebook for my readers and I want to provide quality content and things I'm sharing.

So I follow the 80/20 rule (for the most part). 80% of the things I post on my Facebook page are other people's content. Blog posts and articles that I find interesting and that I know will be helpful to my readers that someone else wrote. These are NOT links back to my own blog. 20% of what I post are blog links back to my blog or a product I'm selling.

We tend to follow a schedule of posting 6-10 times a day. Typically about every 2-4 hours throughout the day. I know this might sound like a lot, so if that takes way too much time right now, then just start out with posting 2-3 times a day.

The key is, Facebook rewards consistency. So post consistently. Don't post 10 times today and then not again for a week. Post just once a day if that's all you have the capacity for, but try and keep it consistent.

Another helpful tip: We schedule all of our Facebook posts inside of Facebook. We do not use a third party scheduler (like Meet Edgar, Buffer, or Hoostuite). Facebook wants you to stay inside Facebook so they reward you with more views if you schedule directly inside Facebook (and hey, it's FREE)!

Pinterest

Pinterest has 110 million monthly active users and is growing daily. As a woman (and especially as someone who blogs about homemaking related topics), Pinterest is the place to be! Side note: Yes, Pinterest organic traffic has heavily reduced the last two years or so and I no longer believe it to be the best or more reliable source of traffic. 

It is consistently our #1 source of traffic and has been for years. Pinterest is not a platform however where I am trying to build up it's own community. It's more of an extension of how I can serve my community.

I think of my Pinterest account as a place where I can curate and collect all the very best Gospel-centered homemaking tips, t