With everyone extolling the virtues of getting your local business on the social media scene, how exactly should you go about it? You need a strategy- a game plan to win and to win big. Here are some pointers to a successful social media strategy.

Establish a resources budget

Know exactly how much of your finances, human resources and time you are going to dedicate to your social media plan. Consider such things as  how much you are willing to spend on ad campaigns; whether its better for you to hire a social media manager or assign an employee to the task ; and if you have to do it on your own decide which days and times are you going to dedicate to focusing on your campaigns.

Do market research

It pays to get your facts right before you dive into the social media world. Research will show you who your target market is, what products and services they want, their demographics, what appeals to their emotional psychology (since this is what drives buying decisions), which social media platform  they are more likely to use and the best platforms to engage with to deliver your  business message.

Choose what suits your business niche.

A big mistake businesses make in social media strategy is spreading themselves too thin by joining every social media bandwagon. Each business niche is unique and every target market is unique too and some social media platforms just won’t work for certain businesses. It’s always best to focus on the top 2 to 3 social media that work best for your kind of business. A professional consultant would wisely choose Linkedin and Facebook Groups, while an interior decorator would best profile their expertise through YouTube videos and an entertainer would certainly find Twitter and Facebook fan page a good fit.

Have a social media policy

When you first start interacting with social media it looks easy and manageable, but as your business gets more popular, you can easily find yourself avalanched with a mass of followers. A wrong comment by your employee on your company’s social media account or their own personal account can be damaging to the company’s reputation and open the door to legal problems. If you have employees, it’s therefore best to develop a policy from the get-go that governs their online communications. Have them read it and sign it.

I hope these pointers have opened your eyes to see the bigger picture of social media and how your local business can go about maximizing the potential of social networks by starting out with a plan before engaging in any action.

If your business doesn’t have a YouTube Channel, you need to read this article and head on over to YouTube and create one.

YouTube channels are like personal TV stations where you can broadcast to the world anything about your business that would interest them. It’s a great medium for product launches, demos, public relation communications, interviews, advertisements, tutorials and so much more. They also provide one place to store all your video files and provide backlinks from your website, blog and social media sites. This improves your business’s SEO ranking as you can also tag each of your videos with keywords. Finally you can get viewers to subscribe to your video channel increasing your base of your local fans.

Here is a step-by-step process how to create a YouTube channel.

1. Go to youtube.com
2. At the top right corner of the homepage, click on “Create Account”
3. You will arrive at a sign-up pages where you need to input the following details:

• Email address
• Username
• Location
• Date of Birth
• Gender
• The option to allow those who have your email address to find your YouTube channel
• The option to receive product-related emails from YouTube
• Your acceptance of YouTube’s term of service

4. Now check your email address for a confirmation email
5. Click on the link provide in the email to activate your registration
6. Go back to YouTube homepage at youtube.com
7. Click on the “sign in” link using your username
8. Note the url of your business YouTube channel as you will use this in your links
9. Upload your videos

After creating your channel and uploading videos, you can embed relevant videos on your website, blogs, Facebook pages and so on.

Only few industries have as much chaotic potential as the restaurant business. There is constant activity, personality clashes and your guests need to be served in a timely and friendly manner.

Seems like you will never be able to stop your worries because the bills will still come in, the day will always be 24 hours long, and your job and family responsibility will always follow you.

Right now you need to take control by understanding your responsibilities. So take control of your thoughts, emotions and how you deal with problems.

What you want is to manage your life well by doing what you like.

If you want more energy, stay calmer; to handle the restaurant industry lifestyle better and with success you should focus on.

• Mental.
• Physical.
• Spiritual.
• Health.

I would define stress management as being more like self management. To get it right you need to work on yourself to begin with:

• Find ways to feel good about yourself.
• Do everything in your power to take good care of your body.
• Have the right attitude. Do not react under pressure – for every problem there is an opportunity. Be positive no matter what.
• You have to create the right environment for you

Your body’s stress response

When there is a threat, your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones awaken your body for urgent action and are characterized by:

• Fast heart beat.
• Tightened muscles.
• Raised blood pressure.
• Fast breathing.
• Increase in your strength and stamina.
• Enhanced focus.

The result is that are you preparing to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.

Stress and anxiety go hand in hand. Stress accounts for 80% of all illnesses. Most of the time we underestimate stress, but you probably know what it can do to your body:

• Raise blood pressure.
• Potentially cause stroke.
• If chronic can interfere with the immune system.
• Stress drives people to an unhealthy diet, smoking, alcohol and being physically inactive.

One good way to improve your feelings of stress is to have a stress journal. When you feel stressed, get down on paper the time, place and consider the reasons why.

Once you know that you will have your own way to de-stress, which could involve one of the following four options:

• Avoid the stimulant that gives you stress.
• Modify the stimulant.
• Adapt.
• Accept.

The way you think has an intense affect on your emotional and physical well-being. Thinking negative thoughts about yourself makes your body tense.

Think first-class things about yourself. Feel excellent and tell yourself you are. Do not use these words:

• Always.
• Never.
• Should.
• Must.

These words can be self-defeating thoughts for you.

When in a stressful situation, you will react in three possible ways:

• Get angry and agitated.
• Feel depressed or spaced out.
• Feel frozen or traumatized.

Now there are plenty of inappropriate responses to stress, but only a few appropriate ones:

• Talk about it with people you trust.
• Do something that makes you feel better when you are stressed. Such as, thinking positive or distracting yourself. You need to bring yourself into balance.

You are to be part of your human and public relations strategy. If you have a wonderful team, you can delegate some tasks to them.

Remember loyal customers continue going to your restaurant because of the human side of it; many guests will go to a restaurant because they like a particular server.

Ensure that there are a great number of guests whom like you and want to be with you. Talk to them. Ask them questions about their life and what they like and dislike. Give them a sense of ownership, but always be honest and credible

When you are out at events, promote your restaurant. Tell people you will take care of them and how good your staff is. Don’t do as most managers/owners I meet nowadays do and complain about their staff too often and too much. Instead, praise them and be proud. You have to appear successful to eventually achieve success.

Hiring PR professionals is very expensive, however, advertising costs lots of money and will only have a fractional impact in raising your restaurant’s profile compared to what a good PR team can do.

Good PR works by bringing new diners to your restaurant. A PR strategy usually includes a grand opening and ongoing PR.

For a grand opening, a PR company will organise:

• Press releases and media alerts prior the opening.

• At the event they will have your biography, menu, promotional items, such as goody bags and press releases.

• Will share e-mail marketing lists.

• Work with with local chambers of commerce and associations.

Ongoing:

• They will create a plan of upcoming events.

• Team up with local organizations.

• Invite food editors from magazines and newspapers.

• Introduce a loyalty program to collect customers’ e-mail addresses for future marketing strategies.

You can do all of this yourself, but I strongly suggest investing in a PR expert within your budget, as it will generate publicity for your restaurant within your neighborhood, district and national media outlets.