Social media is arguably one of the easiest ways to market your coworking space online.

Notice how I said “market” and not “sell”?

This is where a lot of people go wrong. Especially business centres and shared office space providers, for some reason.

Typical open-plan coworking spaces tend to be a bit better at this. They tend to understand the B2C mindset a bit better (remember the difference between customers and consumers from my earlier email?).

Social media is not a sales tool. It’s not a lead generation tool (unless you’re advertising). It’s a relationship tool. It’s a brand-building tool.

When you try to hard sell your space to prospects on social media, you’re really turning them off instead of making them more interested.

Nobody likes the hard sell on social media. It feels desperate.

And if turning off your prospects isn’t bad enough, you’ll definitely be turning off your current members who also follow you.

So, what’s the right plan? The mindset, when it comes to social media for coworking spaces, is simple:

Create content that appeals to your current members, and it will do the work of attracting “like” members to your coworking space in the process.

Simple right?

What are your current members interested in that you can focus on?

For one thing, they are interested in the same thing that everybody is: themselves.

One common tactic is to publish “member spotlights” on your blog and social media. This means featuring one member per week or per month (whatever works for you) and highlight their business or achievements. Make them the stars of the show.

This makes them more likely to share the post, but it also builds up their loyalty. It shows your prospective members that “people like me choose places like this.” That’s the social proof factor.

Another tactic is to share content that relates to your members’ personal and professional interests. If you target freelancers, share tips, ideas, links, quotes, and relatable memes all about succeeding as a freelancer.

If you target corporate professionals or employees of satellite offices in your space, make your content a bit more professional but keep it lighthearted and fun (we are all human, after all).

The main thing to remember is to make your content all about your members’ interests and their experiences.

By making your social media posts “member-centric”, you’ll grow your following and your target market will stick around.

That’s how you grow a following and build a brand with social media.

Social media is a branding channel. It’s a relationship channel. Build an emotional relationship with your target market. Don’t sell.

And if you have to sell, do it sparingly, but only after you’ve done the other things well or it just won’t work.