5 Ways to Promote your business without tagging 99 people
There is no greater feeling of annoyance in this day and age than seeing multiple notifications on your Facebook timeline only to discover that someone you know or many times barely know has tagged you and 99 other people in a post. These post can vary, sometimes its a compliment, a call to action or a community event that is worth using the God awful spam feature; but more times than not its someone trying to market their product, music or service and it drives me crazy!!! I really can not put my finger on what about these post bother me so much, but I can tell you I untag myself almost immediately. There are exceptions to this, events that I am actually involved in, friends that have called or messaged me and or events that I have sponsored as a business owner. Other than that tagging me will undoubtedly get you an eye roll from me.
Lets leave tagging 99 people to promote your business in 2018. For 2019 lets look at more meaningful and engaging ways to market yourself that do not involve pissing off your FB friends.
1) Tag people that want to be tagged or are somewhat involved in what you have going on. There should always be a strategy behind what you are doing. Do not take this blog to mean that you should not tag anyone. When posting you want to tag the people you are working with, the location you are at, the businesses that are sponsoring you and others along those lines. Many people just tag 99 random people not knowing if those people have a desire to support or be apart of what you have going on. It may seem silly but if you have an adult centered business and are tagging a pastor he may not feel comfortable with your content on his page. I have deleted many tags simply because I did not like the lyrics, products, event or the images displayed. Save yourself time and energy by tagging those people and groups that will have the most impact. Remember 4 quarters and 100 pennies equal the same, its about quality not quantity.
2) Take advantage of Facebook groups. There are millions of groups on Facebook segmented in every possible niche, demographic and city you can think of. If you have a product geared towards a certain sub group of people find a group that caters to them and post there. These groups have a specific focus and if your product fits that focus it makes a lot of sense to get your product in front of these people. Tailor your message to fit them and post away. An example of this would be if you are a photographer, you can join a lot of wedding and bridal groups, create flyers and promotions catering to brides and post them there. Not saying this has to change your business model, just cater your message to your audience. If you were in new parent or pregnancy groups you would post newborn or pregnancy photoshoots.
3) Take some time to create great content. The only thing worse than being tagged in a group post, is being tagged in a group post with a horrible flyer or content. Ensure that the content you are creating for your brand, business, or music group are hitting the mark you are reaching for. Do you have the information people need to know? Are you answering the who, what, when and how much questions? Can the information be read? Are things spelled correctly? Think of the people that will see this flyer without having the benefit of asking you questions. Are you answering more questions than you are creating? Take a moment to add a link that will allow people to purchase or listen more. Make things easy from them, if they have to search or do too much work most people will become uninterested and move on. People are more likely to share things that are visually appealing and complete so take an extra step to make sure your brand is represented properly.
4) Spread your efforts out. There are many, many, ways that you can market your business, event and or music. Do not let the recent explosion of social media take your mind away from many of the other ways that have been successful over the years.
Events: Community calendars are a wonderful way to get your event in front of a lot of people. Google the community calendars in your city and start there. Most are free, so get your event on as many calendars as possible. Find organizations that align with your mission, invite them and or ask if you can share your event with their members.
Business: List your business in community listings, attend networking events, use other social media platforms and interact with other business owners. Partner with businesses that offer services that compliment your services and refer business with each other. Who does your product or service benefit? Put yourself in front of these people
Music: Find sites that will let you upload and promote your business ( such as The Slumpzone) , Find music centered groups and people that share and promote music. Ensure that the people you are collaborating with are sharing the links as well. Shout out all the studios, engineers and rappers you have worked with; this creates content and gives them something to share. Create a website and have a central location where you can send people to listen to your music ( a lot of people do not want to download anything, make it easy for them)
5) Sometimes you have to pay to play. Understanding that it truly takes money to make money is a valuable lesson in business. There are somethings you can do for free, but depending on the results you seek investing in yourself and or your brand is the best way to get results. Facebook ads are inexpensive and you can get a decent return on your investment. Most large businesses invest a lot of money and time towards their marketing efforts. There are many methods and each business has to find what method is best for their goals. The difference in many businesses has little to do with their actual products and have more to do with the way the businesses market their products and services. Hoping that the 99 friends you tag will like, share or even leave the tag up is a gamble of your time and energy. Knowing who specifically your target audience is, is the first step in knowing the best way to reach and market to them. If your target audience are people under 30, Instagram, snapchat or Tik Tok might be a better option than FB for your marketing efforts. If you are targeting business owners, Linkedin might make more sense. You want to be strategic with your marketing efforts and ensure you get the most bang for your buck.
Starting a business and marketing your music is difficult enough, you don't need the uphill battle that comes with irritating 99 of your potential customers by tagging them in flyers or music on a consistent basis. Identify your ideal customer, and create a strategic marketing plan to reach them on all angles. Be bold, be creative, be you!