Highly Effective Social Media for Small Business

Prep your website.

All promotional products, including your website, should promote your social media accounts with links, buttons, or social media handles. Your website and social media accounts should be consistent and cohesive when it comes to logo, colors, cover image, business name and other branding elements.

Make some SMART GOALS

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time Bound

Apply this to your social media strategy. Check on your measurable goals often. Take advantage of analytics: Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Instagram Insight, etc.

What does Social Media for Small Business accomplish? It helps you:

• Drive traffic to your website
• Generate leads
• Create brand awareness
• Create a platform to communicate with clients

So adjust your expectations because although social media allows you to do these things, it is not the answer to all of your small business problems. Be realistic about your social media strategy.

• Pick a logo that makes your brand distinctive
• Pick a name that defines your company and preferably, carries your main keywords
• Smiling and happiness catches peoples attention all the time so let your brand and posts be positive
• Be the best solution for a problem. This is called “The Ability To Identify A True Market Need & Filling It.” Your brand should run parallel to this need becoming synonymous with it. Think Kleenex. The word Kleenex is used often to say tissue, when in reality it is the brand.

• Build relationships first and make money later. In other words, spend more time building relationships and less time promoting.
• Take time to get to know your target audience.
• Be consistent in branding, message, and efforts.
• Tap into your audience’s interests and be an inspiration to them.
• Don’t be afraid to get personal. Let your audience get to know you.
• Be in it for the long haul. Persistence pays off in Social Media for Small Business.

It’s good for everyone!

• Be honest for your brand to be considered trustworthy and likable. Honesty builds up audience loyalty.
• Practice full disclosure: All things eventually come to light.
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes as long as you take responsibility for them.
• Be consistent and respond quickly and honestly.
• Don’t lie, say things people want to hear, or make promises you can’t keep.

Respond to bad comments or reviews quickly. Do the same for good comments and reviews and show gratitude. How to handle bad comments and reviews:

• Give a brief public answer and then contact them privately
• Admit & take responsibility for mistakes and show how you will fix the problem.
• Never try to delete bad reviews and comments, unless they are racist, sexually explicit, violent, profane, etc.

A dedicated Google account for your small business is a must.

• Google Business Profile or Business Listing: Keep your business listing updated and accurate.
• Webmaster: Make sure your website is being crawled correctly by Google and make sure your sitemap is uploaded.
• Analytics: Track all traffic to your site. See demographics and behavior. This allows you to analyze and adjust your goals and strategy.

• Take advantage of social media trends and events. Google Trends is also a good place to look to see what people are searching for so you can create relevant content.
• Pay attention to what people are liking. Work these into your posting calendar.
• For Facebook and Instagram post 1-2x a day. Twitter, post 20x a day.
• Experiment with posting times to see when you get more exposure and interactions.
• Post consistently and frequently but don’t be annoying.

• Identify your audience.
• Give them a name and personality.
• Change your tone and topic to help them.
• Write in a conversational tone because social media is a conversation.
• If it’s a topic that tends to divide people it’s not going to help your brand.
• If you wouldn’t say it to your mother don’t say it on social media.
• Stay away from industry jargon and cliche words and phrases.

• • Your content should be a contribution to the social media community.
  • It should be appealing, informative, useful and interactive.
  • 80/20 Content Rule
    • 80% of posts should be useful content. Tips, advice, videos, links, etc.
    • 20% of posts should be direct advertising for your business

• Images are the most widely shared so pick good ones.
• Your images should be eye catching, entertaining, and have an emotional quality.
• Take it easy on stock photos. Stock doesn’t have that cozy feeling.

• Keep them short, 1-2 minutes.
• Invest in quality production.
• Make them informative & entertaining.
• Get to know Youtube.

• Use quality images
• Add a link to your website
• Include a SHORT benefit statement
• Use #HASHTAGS
• Check-In & Tag (if possible)