Small business success requires solid marketing. As you work to market and promote your small business, it’s important to use a combination of tradition and social media marketing methods. You don’t have to be an internet guru to use social media marketing to your advantage. In addition to working under the guidance of an internet marketing agency, you can also set the stage for marketing success with these social media tips.
Create a Plan
Flying by the seat of your pants is seldom the best strategy in business. To get the most out of your social media marketing, you should start out by creating a plan. Determine the goals you wish to accomplish with your marketing efforts, choose two to three social media venues to use and research how best to use them.
Interact with Followers
Social media marketing is about connecting and interacting with followers. These venues give you an opportunity to interact with the people who are subscribing to your blog and Tweets, or following you on Facebook and Pinterest. When you receive comments or questions, take the time to respond. Interacting with followers and subscribers helps build loyalty, while also letting people know there’s actually a person behind the business.
Choose Quality Over Quantity
As a small-business owner, it’s likely you have more tasks to accomplish in a day than you have time for. Don’t add pressure by worrying about posting, Tweeting and pinning every single day. Social media users who follow your posts will be more appreciative of content that adds value than excessive, useless posts. Employ your marketing strategies two to three times per week, using informative and interesting posts that encourage followers to interact with you.
Be Professional
Individuals using the various social media venues often use slang and casual language. This might be acceptable on a personal level, but never as a business professional. Avoid the temptation to use text language, profanity or slang when using social media. Know what the etiquette is for each venue you use and follow its rules. You’ll build a great deal more credibility for your business by always presenting yourself and your company in a professional manner.
Do More Than Promote
Although the point of social media marketing is to grow your business and expand your reach, you don’t want to promote incessantly or your efforts will be perceived as spam-like. In addition to letting followers know about your new product or service, provide them with informative how-to’s, community information or tidbits on subjects related to your business.
Starting off with productive, effective social media marketing strategies will set you on a course toward business growth and expansion. It’s more cost-effective and efficient to get started with social media marketing in this manner than to make mistakes and try to back-track. Use these tips as you add to your small business marketing plan. As you track the methods that work best for you, you’ll learn more about social media marketing and how to make it work for you.
Guest article by Mary Ylisela, who writes for Touchpoint Digital, a digital advertising agency that provides services in Social Media, Paid Search and Search Engine Optimisation.
I’d add that before creating plan and performing further steps, you should make an analysis of your competitors and your target audience. Second is a must.