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Three out of five small businesses say they’ve earned new customers because of using social media. It’s no surprise why: 73-percent of adults online use social networking. As a small business, you simply can’t afford to skip having a social presence. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more are where consumers are hanging out.
There’s no time like the holiday season to get your social marketing strategy up and running. As a part of our continuing “12 Business Days of Salesforce” series, we’ve gathered advice on how you can leverage social media to establish new relationships, increase visibility, and create opportunities for growth. Without further ado (and zero French hens), here are three social media tips for small businesses:
First up, choose your goals. Do you want to increase sales? Retain more customers? Keep in mind that increasing your number of followers should not be a main focus. Next, know your audience. They are likely very similar to your customers. Once this is established, choose your platforms. If your audience is on Facebook, don’t put all of your eggs (okay, one sort of French hen mention…) in the Twitter basket.
Whichever channels you pick, try to get the same handle for all of them. Once it’s time to start posting, keep in mind that you should be a helpful resource, don’t only talk about your business, and limit the length of posts.
This section serves to further drive home the significance of being a helpful resource to your social audience. If you can create and share content that is useful, your community will more than likely freely and gladly bookmark it, download it, and pass it along to others. If you decide to blog, be sure to write content that people want, such as common challenges for your customers.
Include keywords that they are likely to search for on the Internet. Doing this will also help improve your Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a way to increase online visibility for a website. Make your blog appealing. You can check out other blogs that resonate with you for layout inspiration. And be sure to blog on a regular basis. This will help show your readers when to expect a new post and also helps you plan ahead, so you always have fresh content to share on social channels.
It’s not called “social” media for nothing. Don’t just blast out information to your audience. You also need to listen to them and engage with them. A great way to do this is by implementing a social listening technology that will help you monitor keywords related to your business. Get started by monitoring the SEO keywords mentioned in the above section.
Once you’re listening to what’s being said about you, your industry, and your competitors, it’s time to participate. Engage with your community by being transparent, building trust, and staying relevant. Don’t overshare. Respond to feedback in a timely manner, whether it’s positive or negative, even if it’s just to say, “We’re working on a solution.” And show your personality. You are just talking to people, not putting out a press release. Responding like a normal human being goes a long way.
If you missed day one and two of the “12 Days of Salesforce,” you can read them here and here.
Get the complete download on Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses by checking out this free e-book.
