Experience with YouTube and other social media for business

[massiveCoRbyn]

Lots of clever people on here, so hopefully someone can give a bit of advice...

My missus (no) has started a business offering life/relationship coaching. She has been doing ok and has a few clients, but is now looking to make it a bit more serious with a view to hopefully making it something full-time in the future, as it's not quite at that level yet.

In terms of marketing and trying to engage with people, she does a lot of stuff through social media, so videos, lives, vlogging etc etc, mainly using Instagram and Snapchat. She is planning to expand to use YouTube too, but I have told her that, rather than thrashing about and doing bits here, there and everywhere, she should try and put a bit a plan/strategy together, so that she can focus her efforts around the products she wants to sell, but also try to use each platform in the best way possible.

She did try a social media management consultant for a while earlier this year and, while it did help a bit, he wasn't very organised and didn't do a lot of the things she asked for, so she jacked it in.

Does anyone have any experience with social media marketing/management? Or could offer advice on how best to study and improve engagement? The word "algorithm" obviously comes up relentlessly but, when we have looked at what other people are doing, and discussed our own experiences, it seems to be a mystery. There seems to be really good content out there that gets virtually no engagement, and then some real dross that gets unbelievable numbers, so it makes us wonder just how valuable some of the "guidance" is, and how much of it is just plain luck. A lot of research just brings up the usual "10 tips to gain followers" type articles, which inevitably turn out to be a waste of time, so we really want something a bit more in-depth.

Any advice or information sources would be welcomed.

 

[JAParker]

Not sure how much this totally relates to your post but I found this interesting, goes through the process of how to use the algorithm in your favour.

 

[ksixx]

Sure there are more qualified people. However, I used to dabble a bit in social media. I get a weekly newsletter for this company - https://later.com/

which seem very knowledgeable and break down all the different options and recent algorithms (which is where many people fall off these days due to it changing weekly by the sounds of it).

Basically, their platform covers most social media and is a content management tool. The weekly email in itself is probably handy for someone managing their social media without signing up for their services.

 

[cjgower]

Sounds interesting!

I work as part of a small marketing team and although I am more multimedia designer than I am marketer, I do get involved increasingly with 'strategy' and I am responsible for handling our social media.

You are 100% correct that what's posted online should be more strategic - focus on quality, targeted content rather than trying to play the system for more likes/followers. People will naturally engage with original, genuine content, but it does take time to build a following.

We target our customers by persona/demographic - and then adjust our messaging accordingly, dependant on what that persona's 'pressure points' are, and how we can help them e.g. product or service we offer.

This drives all of our content creation and messaging on YouTube or Instagram, Facebook etc.

 

[jonno_c]

Is she using LinkedIn? She should definitely be on there, building an audience, and shouting to the world about her expertise.

Video content mainly, as LI loves pushing video format across their channel.

Regurgitate video as well - drip feed it constantly into the social channels - cut bits out, make 10/20/30 sec videos - evergreen content ftw!

 

[Sir Nancy Flowers]

So, just a heads up, im writing this after having a beer. Yes, its not even 5pm yet, but thats been the kind of day ive had 🤣. Make of that what you will.

My advice to your OH (pics pls) would be quite simple: Find someone who does this for a profession, is reasonably priced and wont spank you and stick with them. Its the best thing ive ever done for my business. I took over a few years back (marketing side of things) and I immediately sacked the previous marketing company. They didnt even know what SEO was. Im not an expert, but I know what SEO is. Through word of mouth, I came across this little indie lady who has been absolutely top notch. She bills absolutely on the nose each month, never a penny over. Her experience and knowledge is worth its weight in gold. She has helped us go from a company that barely had a functioning website to helping me launch a 20k+ mail shot dropping next month. She does everything from our physical advertising (newspaper and mags) to our facebook, instagram and general social media. Google ads are a waste of time unless you have limitlessly deep pockets FYI. The thing is, lots of 'marketing' companies now just read a set of guidelines and then apply it to their clients as their own 'knowledge'. Its selling old rope imo.

So, theres my advice. By the time you've spent the years required to learn everything you need to make it properly good, you might aswell go into that area of work. Also, the companies (Google especially) are constantly changing the goal posts so there is that too.

I wish her the best of luck. Just remind her, the best kind of marketing and therefore expansion is word of mouth. Work hard on that and she wont go far wrong

 

[Yarp]

We pay a company to deal with google ads then another to do all the social media and general fluffy marketing promo stuff. They even respond to all the Facebook messages for us provided they aren’t anything mental which is worth the price alone. I will say that google ads are absolutely mental. We pay thousands a month to keep at the top of the searches. If you’re in something really competitive there’s a risk most of your campaigns will run at a decent loss. You’ve got to have huge balls and huge pockets to stick it out for long enough to see returns but they do come if you’re brave.

It’s a full time job in itself to constantly track the changes and keep ticking the right boxes. There’s all sorts with google where you have to change your website just enough to keep it relevant but not so much you lose your organic search results.

I think it’s worth paying for. The company we used covers loads of businesses and has a decent record. I’m sure much of it is cut and paste but it’s a damn sight better than I could/could be arsed to do myself!

 

[Rob]

My only feedback is I’d be concerned about your Mrs becoming a bellend, because everyone else I’ve ever seen that makes a living off of this s**t is insufferable.

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Thanks for the advice everyone, will pass it on.

My only feedback is I’d be concerned about your Mrs becoming a bellend, because everyone else I’ve ever seen that makes a living off of this s**t is insufferable.

There are definitely some pretty arrogant, nobbish people who do it, but some really good ones too. She follows one in particular, and I listened to a video he did (about learning to be a coach) and he relentlessly went on about how much money he made. It was bizarre.

 

[sburrell93]

I'll preface this by saying I've never run a social media account for business purposes and have precisely zero actual personal experience here, however...

One of the biggest things IMO is consistency. No one builds a following overnight. I've skimmed the replies above and someone mentioned drip feeding information which I'd agree with. Post every day. Don't saturate it but ensure she's always posting up something to maintain engagement.

Also, the social media she's using makes a big difference to how the content should be structured. You almost have to create a persona depending on the platform. You're lucky if you have a few seconds to capture someone's attention on something like Instagram and no one really wants to watch anything longer than about 30 seconds, whereas it's not uncommon to find 30 minute videos on YouTube because generally people have gone out of their way to watch it.

I think people place followers too highly on their priority list too. You could amass 50k followers but if you can't convert any of them to actual clients then you're not making money. If you've got 1k followers and 2% of them turn into clients though, that's a pretty good start.