Social Media For Small Business

Social media has been around for quite sometime and big business has learned how to work in into a major marketing asset. However, many small business owners are still out of the loop when it comes to the latest and greatest of marketing tools. Building your business through social media platforms can give you a major advantage over your competitors and can be done with minimal cost. Making the most of it takes time and effort. Here some information that might help demystify it for those that are clueless and some tips to help you get started and assist with any efforts you may already be incorporating into your marketing mix.

Why social media marketing?

Some people may be under the impression that social media creates buzz. But rather than creating anything it uncovers what already exist. Having social media pages creates a platform to engage with your existing customer base and gives them a way to share their experiences and their enthusiasm for your brand.

Social media marketing can build awareness, sales and loyalty. However, depending on your particular goal you will probably incorporate different strategies.

If you are working on search engine marketing, a social media campaign can help strengthen it. The two forms of marketing pretty much go together and can help complement each other. Engaging in both will give you a marked advantage in today’s competitive marketplace.

Best practices.

Using your blog URL in your social media profile instead of your website is a good idea. Visitors are more likely to share content from a blog than a website. Their interest is on sharing content based on newsworthiness or it’s entertainment value. Usually your website content will be more focused generating sales and up selling your business.

Ensure that your content is worthy of being shared. The best social media marketing relies on engaging content that will ensure your messages are passed around. Mix it up by including infographics, video, and photographs. Also make sure to provide a variety of links for the content to be shared and for visitors to connect with you.

A proven social media marketing strategy is to use your blog as a home base that other sites can be used to drive traffic to. Choosing a site that you know your customers are likely to be heavily involved in and using it to drive customers back to your blog can be very successful.

Do some keyword research and then optimize your social media profiles for the keyword phrases you want to target. This will work in your favor because of the search tools used within sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn that rely on keyword phrases to help users find what they’re looking for.

Before starting a social media marketing campaign create a clearly defined strategy that states your goals and objectives. Be sure to outline a way to measure your success and be flexible to make adjustments.

Potential pitfalls.

Some expect social media campaigns to give you an immediate boost and only plan for the short-term. However, social media marketing is a long term effort. The goal is to create relationships based on mutual interest and to become a trust source of information in your industry. More often than not these relationships and the trust that you have gained will lead to a larger market and more customer loyalty.

Do not oversell yourself on social media sites. Users usually frown upon posters that constantly solicit them and may label them as spammers. As a result people may unfollow you or even report you as spam. To avoid this try to consistently promote content other than your own. Some experts suggest a ratio as high of 12:1, but determining the right amount depends on how varied your own content is and individual experience.

Focus on your clients and the experience of doing business with you. That will come through in your social media marketing and will become magnetic over time.