Social Media Tips For Small Business Owners
How Not To Be Perceived As A Social Media Salesman – Using Social Media Wisely With Your Small Business Website
Using social media (YouTube, Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Pinterest) is obviously a great way to connect with and engage your customers. The overall success of your small business social media strategy depends largely on how and what you communicate. The most common mistake many small business owners make with their social media is using it to talk exclusively about their business, services, or products.
By using the pushy social media salesman tactic you’re simply applying an outdated, one-way communication model to a new medium. Effectively using social media is all about engaging your audience. Your primary dialogue on social media should be about and include your customers. You’ll need to utilize creative and unique ways of engaging your followers and fans on your social media channels and your website.
The rules for building an effective social media presence are similar to those for building a website audience. You’ll want to add new content/posts regularly. Your content should be unique, relevant, personable, and provide insights and comments on topics that appeal to your customers’ interests. While you don’t want to excessively mention your products and services, it’s perfectly acceptable to reference them in moderation. It’s even better if you can link your products and services into a genuine story about your customer(s).
Communicate your brand’s vision and personality in a way that reinforces existing brand affinity and you’ll attract new customers with whom your brand resonates.
Social Media Examiner recommends creating a point-based rating system for your social media interactions. Here’s an example of a tiered point system for Facebook:
- Likes: 1 point each
- Comments: 5 points each
- Shares: 10 points each
Using a system like the one mentioned above will help you measure how effective your social media marketing really is. You can then modify your tactics appropriately based on how your shares are being received by your community of followers. At Georgia Web Development we’ve spent years helping small businesses establish, maintain, and grow a powerful social media presence on the web. Follow these tips and you’ll be off to a great start in your small business social media journey.
Mark D. Hulett is the Senior eCommerce Website Developer & Designer at Georgia Web Development. His experience and working knowledge of eCommerce, website development and website design spans more than a decade.Mark responds personally to all inquiries and is more than happy to setup a quick phone call to discuss your project and answer questions.
