Why Social Media is the Modern Day Newspaper
Social media is everywhere. As a small business owner, social media needs to be a critical part of your marketing plan.
My tennis business, Scarborough Tennis Academy, uses Facebook, Instagram and to a lesser degree Twitter and Linkedin to promote what we do.
I treat social media like a newspaper. By engaging their readers with quality content, newspapers can include advertising. Too many social media accounts have the wrong strategy and their ‘newspapers’ have nothing but advertising. This strategy will result in a lack of engagement and a decline in followers.
Our social media strategy centres around the following 4 types of posts. This could apply to other industries but I have given specific examples to that of a tennis coaching business or club.
Community posts: This could be a player who has done well at a tournament, a group photo of a pennant team, club open day or anything that has a community feel to it.
Educational posts: This could be an instructional type article either created or shared from a different site online. This could be a tactical, technical, psychological, physical instructional or even choosing equipment.
Entertainment posts: This can be something light and fun and can include interesting articles about the pro tennis tour, funny tennis photos or stories. Recently we have posted a video of how tennis balls are made.
Advertising posts: This is a chance to promote your business. Tennis lessons, competitions, events and more. This needs to link to your website and have an easy path for your reader to take action and book in or purchase your product and service. Sponsoring these posts can also be a good idea to increase the engagement rate and reach.
Provide value…….
The key here is to provide VALUE to your readers. Modern day marketing is about providing value NOT spam. The days of pop up advertising, banner advertising and other traditional print advertising is all but blocked out from readers’ attention. Social media should be treated as a platform to add value to your current clients as well as picking up new clients. By providing a balance of community posts, entertainment posts, educational posts and advertising posts, you will grow your readership, improve your client retention and generate new leads.
Regards
Rick Willsmore
The Art of Tennis
