If you missed our social media seminar here are some notes and a short video.  Social media is changing so fast and adding more clutter every day, some great, some helpful, a lot just there. How to post, what is meaningful, when and how much?

How many times have we heard:

• I’ll never get to a million fans!
• I don’t know what to say!
• I do not have a dedicated staff to run it!
• I can’t keep up with latest networks, trends, or technology!

While in 2008, only 10% of the businesses made use of social media, now 87% are engaging socially one way or another.  According to Fedelta, 74% of respondents are relying on social networks to guide purchase decisions and 55% share purchases on social networks.

What are the best tools for interior designers, furniture designers, architects and contractors?

Social media is a great visual outlet to show off your design skills, feature your design projects and become a trend setter and inspire other people.  Every designer’s dream of sharing the beautiful interiors and furniture they create with the world is now easy on Houzz, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+.

Do you have to be on every single platform and post every day? No.  Does every post in design have to be visual? No. Uploading your most recent interiors on Houzz and the pieces that inspired you this week on Pinterest can provide more than enough visual.  However, like every industry, designers have to keep up with the trends, new products and companies, learn and share.

Following other professionals or companies on twitter can bring to you news tailored for your specific interests, connecting with other designers and specialized design groups on linked-in can be invaluable learning and create new business relationships.

A simple 50/30/20 rule can be really helpful:

• 50% to get likes, shares, comments – entertain, invite conversation, ask questions, images & video
• 30% to be useful & informative, – industry info, hints and tips, curate content
• 20% to talk about your business, include calls to action like Check Out My Latest Project, but avoid “buy now”

Get to know your clients better, find what inspires them and chose two or three platforms that you are comfortable using and have available at different times during the week.

What shall I post? Content ideas

Think about what is interesting to your audience.

• What’s new at your business?
• What did you do recently to help someone achieve success?
• What advice have people been asking you for lately?

Keep in mind the Content Tricks 4 C’s:

• Comment on others’ posts!
• Curate others’ content
• Congratulate others!
• Community interest ≠ commercial interest

How do I get more followers?

Everyone wants to get more followers, but it is important to build an audience that is interested and willing to build a relationship with you and your company. Just buying 1000 Twitter followers for $15 from a dubious person who just followed you will not get you anywhere.

But here are some ways to get an interested audience started:

• Follow your best customers & engage them in conversations
• Add social links to everything
• Include links to your social media profiles into your email signature
• All marketing campaigns should include your social media profiles
• Deals & Special Offers
• Again, make it easy to share
• Run a Social Campaign
• Like-Gated Content
• Free Download
• Discount / Offer
• Don’t offer it anywhere else
• Use email to get more traffic, visits and likes
• Make it easy to share

In a nutshell, the best social media practices for designers are

• Quality, not quantity: focus on following up & developing real relationships with those who ‘like,’ comment & share your posts
  Involve others: comment on, like & share others’ posts; photos with clients, vendors, staff; co-author posts
  Be consistent & be found: deepen your memorable presence by repeating a #standard hashtag; Widen your presence with a #special one
• Send email newsletters: More people check more email inboxes more times throughout the day, than any social media
  Schedule a content calendar: Make it easy for yourself and use repetitive days, for each week, mapping out the month; follow seasonal, holidays, industry events, etc

Thank you Vikram Rajam and Constant Contact! 

Stay tuned for a series of hands-on workshops on each social media platform, this fall at the Cliff Young showroom.