2013 has arrived and, as might be expected, resolutions abound nonstop. Click over to your Facebook’s news feed and I’ll bet that at least two or three status updates are related to typical goals for the New Year – lose weight, exercise more, be a nicer person, etc. You may have even listed out a few of the things you’d like to achieve in 2013 in your status. But have you given any thought about the goals your business has? Granted we all fall back on the old familiar of wanting to make more money, but our resolutions are the perfect way to think outside of the box when it comes to bettering your business especially when it comes to the social media portion. So what can you resolve to do (and easily keep that resolution) that will better both your online presence and business as a whole?
1. Tailor Your Social Media Outlets to Your Needs
Do you still have a MySpace account? Do you keep looking to see if people checked in on Foursquare, even though your business doesn’t have a public storefront? Your social media presence might have a few cobwebs that you need to shake off. Look into what social sites your business has a presence on and figure out which ones deserve the most attention and which ones you’re better off leaving behind. If you find yourself with an abundance of extra time after shedding your presence on sites that no longer work for you, look into creating an account with some of the newer ones – everyone is still waiting to see how businesses wind up using sites like Instagram and Pinterest to their advantage. Be the business that blazes the trail there first in 2013!
2. Become a Better Writer (Or Hire a Good One)
Sometimes our inability to write is simply the result of being out of practice. How many business owners continue to write on a regular basis after graduating from school? But if you’re contributing to other outlets or running your own blog, you need to work on being a better writer. No one will read your articles if they are a chore to get through or sound too self-promotional. Of course there are plenty of people out there who, despite their best efforts, wind up staring at a blinking cursor in a blank word document every time they try to write. If that sounds like you, look into either hiring an in-house writer, or contracting an outside writing service, to help you generate engaging, readable content.
3. Snap Photos of the Inner Workings of Your Business
People love to glimpse into the lives they aren’t living – that’s why photo apps like Instagram are so popular. A great way to let your employees know they are appreciated while simultaneously letting your followers and customers peek into the inner workings of your business is to take pictures of in-office events or work related get-togethers. Most of your employees will like seeing that they aren’t just some cog in the company machine, and it is always fun peek behind the curtain of your favorite businesses.
4. Expand Your Network
Networking is something you should be doing already, but it is far too easy to get comfortable sticking with the network you’ve already built. You get a few contacts, talk to a couple of industry insiders, and slowly slip into complacency. The trouble is that you wind up missing the chance to make important contacts – networking can be time consuming, but you need to continue to build your own. Some of your closest contacts might end up leaving, and if you don’t continue to talk to people you won’t have anyone to replace them with. The last thing you want to see in 2013 is a shrinking professional network.
5. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!
I harp on this point a lot, but it is so vital to a business’s success. You need to communicate to your employees, your business needs to communicate to its customers, and the departments in your office need to communicate with each other. It is more than just being able to communicate – it is beingwilling to make the effort to create that initial contact and keep the conversation going. Keep the lines of communication open, and make sure that everyone, from your customers to your executives, knows that communicating is a two-way street. Listen and discuss.
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