Monetize your Social Media today!

I had to share before the weekend, so you have a chance to start. Just start.

I couldn’t wait, I wanted you to have this today!!!

I say this all the time, I know, however, social media is used for business. In today’s world, no business can be left behind. This couldn’t wait a week, I wanted to get this to you today so if you have some time over the weekend, you can start moving into today's world of business with social media.

 I want to apologize in the beginning because I’m going to be boring and detailed, step-by-step on how to sign up and use Twitter(X) and TikTok. Let’s begin.

Before you start, there are a few things to remember.

1.    Are you selling a product or service?

Do you have a brand, what’s it known for?

2.    Do you have a target audience?

3.    Do you have a quasi-plan of what to post? How to post?

Some say it’s good to have a niche, relatable stories about you and your business, product posts (you aren’t on camera), and time to record, and edit. I say choose 3-5 things as set content you want to share whether it’s professionally or personally.

 I was consistent with what I posted.  I personally did a good morning video daily for over a year as my first post, followers engaged and commented good morning. Later in the day, I posted a relevant relatable story that solved a problem with a tip on how to solve it – called it “What’s my lesson?”. I posted educational content throughout since my project was an outreach for senior citizens to stay up to date with all the new things happening in the world of business.  I eventually veered into lip-syncing, I know, long story.

Target audience? Does your product or service solve a problem? Who would be ideal customers? Meet them where they are, be relatable and provide information that is useful for them.

It is said you have 3-5 seconds to capture someone’s attention in a video. The hook is your first 3-5 second sentence, an attention grabber. I know someone who started a viral hashtag with “there’s something you didn’t know about me” with people doing many videos related to the hashtag. There are plenty of hooks available that are freely shared on TikTok and many helpful business ideas on Twitter (X).

If you want a list of hooks, there are a few floating around. One creator who is all about expanding your business and monetizing your media, Lauren Turton, has @HotTakesForCreators TikTok and a group on Facebook called Pop Off to help business owners and entrepreneurs. She posts a lot of helpful information that I used to develop my TikTok. I joined her Pop Off Group too. I took her challenge called The TikTok Tracker and started a new TikTok account just to help restaurant servers make more tips. I have over 11k followers on that account. They are very engaged with comments and likes. I have a Stan Store ( online like an Etsy but not an Etsy) in my TikTok bio with eBooks for purchase.  

Once you are on TikTok and Twitter (X), you will see and find people to support and support you along the way, some become fabulous friends.

First things first. Downloading the sites and apps and signing up and creating an account.

I will go step by step on how to sign up and post for TikTok and Twitter(x).

Let’s talk TikTok

To create your account on TikTok, you will need to enter the information of email or phone number and create a password. You will then hit “sign up” and create your username. I recommend having a profile picture, it can be your product, you, or even your dog, but it’s useful to have one. Easy & free advertisement.

Your next step is to create a profile. You can add a “bio” to say who you are, what your product is, and what you do. Be authentic, showcase you!!! If you have links to a website, there’s a place to add it in your “bio”.

You are ready! You have a TIKTOK ACCOUNT!!!!! Now it’s time to find like minded or similar categories to you. Go to the search bar up top and put in your product or service. You will be directed to plenty of examples of videos that you can see how it’s done. You can also find some good people to follow.

If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know, I only posted videos of the ocean at first, without my face, added TikTok music or just let the ocean roar. I did not post my face initially until I had watched quite a few others. Think about the kind of content you want to produce and have fun doing it.

TikTok has many editing features within their app. They have a plethora of music to choose from if you want to use music and filters to alter your videos if you so choose. Hashtags and captions are a factor to guide your TikTok to the right audience. Choose who you want to see your TikTok by hashtags. I used senior citizens, of course, or women over 50. TikTok calls it discoverability. You can even download your videos and put them on LinkedIn or other sites.

The key is being consistent, not constant. No one wants to see 50 TikToks from you daily but 3-5 or 1-3 a day will have your videos consistently rotating on a 24 hour basis. Your videos will reach more people the more consistent you are in posting.

 Once you have established yourself, a routine, it is time to check your analytics within TikTok to see what’s working, the ideal times people (your followers) are watching TikTok.

Engagement is huge. Like and comment on people you want to see in your timeline, your feed. Follow people’s who content you want to see. The more you are engaged, the more people will respond and start forming a relationship with you and more likely buy from you.

TikTok does have a TikTok Shop where you can sell a product. Your account can be classified as a business if you want which could help reach a wider audience for you.

Start your account this weekend and follow me @sababalens on TikTok.

I will admit I was awful and still have difficulties sometimes recording a video but I’m getting better. Being consistent only helps in improving your skills. It also gives you the confidence to continue and eventually, you see how you’ve improved. Once on TikTok, you will see the key is just being yourself.

Let’s talk Twitter (X)

Fist things first, download the website on your computer and or the app on your phone. Twitter (X) has “sign up” first, provide the information, create a username and password. My username was Onboard60, the name of my project. There’s an area for you to choose interests, what you want to see on Twitter (X).

Once you have an account it will ask you to create your profile. As on TikTok it is useful to have a profile picture and a blurb in your “bio” of what the account is for and who you are. There’s a place to add links to your website and a header picture(great free advertisement).

Before you tweet or post as it’s called, think about what you want to post, and what type of content you want to share. If it’s coinciding with TikTok, keep it similar so customers have consistent ways of finding you and you get discovered easier. Some on TikTok are also on Twitter (X) and will follow you there too.

I have been on Twitter 15 years and one thing I did was created Lists for myself of different categories. I have one that’s all about the ocean with accounts about the ocean. I have another that’s Women in Crypto and a few others. I was able to go to people that I liked (their accounts and content) and started following them. I created my timeline by liking certain posts and commenting on others. Twitter (X) is social but widely a business platform.

 You will see people asking for sign-ups to their newsletters, selling their services and products mixed in with personal and funny posts. If you have a newsletter, post about it.

It is useful to start with an introduction post. Share your service or product, ask a question, share a link to your website or link.

Twitter (X) has a search bar for you to find interests, people who are interested  in similar topics as you. I found Lauren Turton from TikTok by putting her name in the search bar. You may have people you already know so search.

There are many tools that can help you. You can save keywords and hashtags to keep track of what people say about your industry, yeah.  You can schedule your posts with other tools. Bookmarks are for when you found a fabulous post and want to keep it, or it’s TLDR and you go back to it later. Twitter (X) has Spaces, similar to LinkedIn, audio live meet-ups on the platform.

These are steps that you can take to get your product or service on another platform to build a following for your business, to sell your product or service. TikTok and Twitter are two established platforms that are useful to help you expand or start your business.

I almost forgot! I want to mention retweets (reposts). That is a useful way to engage and show your support for others.

Have a fabulous weekend and follow me on Twitter @sababalens

Sandra Abrams

@sababalens on TikTok and Twitter (X)

\