The Internet is full of invaluable tools that can help you build a world class blog or a thriving eCommerce website. While the majority of your success will be derived from your dedication, motivation and tenacity, apps like Buffer can help engage your target audience from a single location. While you can pay for the “Awesome!” version of this app, the free version can be just as valuable especially to the new developer. How do you maximize the free version of the Buffer app in order to build your influence?
1. Social Media – The free plan for Buffer will allow you to connect one Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, App.net and Google+ account. For the small business, these are the five major social networks you want to keep updating for your target audience. If you don’t have any of these profiles, you should make them immediately. The profiles are free to create and usually don’t take more than a few minutes.
2. Posting Content – Any time you develop a new blog post or list a new hot item to sell on your eCommerce store, share the link across all of your social media profiles. Since some of these social media services only allow a certain number of characters, don’t be too detailed about the material. However, you do want to create a short blurb about what the topic or item is in order to grab the reader’s attention. When pasting the link to your blog oreCommerce site, Buffer will automatically shrink the URL in order to help it fit. This is especially valuable since Twitter only allows 140 characters.
3. Scheduling – One of the most important features of Buffer is the ability to schedule posts to your social media profiles ahead of time. For instance, you could wish everyone a happy new year without being at your computer. By setting the date and time of the post, you can share material now or a year in the future. This can be helpful when organizing grand openings, date-specific reveals and much more. Many people will use this aspect in order to make it seem like there is a live and continuous feed of information over the span of a week although the material was all created in a single day.
4. Hashtags – Even though you may not have followers or fans, hashtags will allow you to engage a wide range of people that are involved in a specific topic. Popularized by Twitter, Google+ incorporates these tags in the same manner. However, Google+ may develop tags that you may not think of. This process is automatic, but the system will still honor your own hashtags in order to reach a specific audience. Don’t be afraid to include them into your post.
5. Saturation – When placing material in Buffer to share with others, you want to be careful about saturating your readers. Many people can feel overwhelmed if you start posting more than 10 updates in a single day across all of your social media profiles. From the business perspective keeping the posts limited to three to five times per day can help keep your target audience from feeling like they need to sift through the material in order to find what they’re looking for.
Growing your target audience won’t happen overnight, but Buffer can help you keep things rolling without logging into each profile one-by-one. Keep a close eye on your free analytics as the “Clicks” on your posts can show you what the majority of your audience is interested in.
Ken Myers is a father, husband, and entrepreneur. He has combined his passion for helping families find in-home care with his experience to build a business. Learn more about him by visiting @KenneyMyers on Twitter.
