Social media for small business 101

Social media is easily one of the biggest and most important mediums for reaching your customers. If you’re new to the game or just feeling a little overwhelmed, these 10 tips will help you take your social media interactions to the next level.

Engage your audience One of the most important aspects of social media is actually being social. It’s important to devote the time to track and respond to as many comments as possible, even the negative ones. Keyboard warriors are out there, as are people who may have had a genuine bad experience, and they present a unique opportunity to publicly address complaints in a professional yet informal manner.

Be proactive Get active and join the conversations around your content. If you find someone asking a question that you can answer, answer it. Start conversations about topics you know and can help people with. If it's something your business can help with, put your name and your brand forward, there's nothing wrong with that! It’s the people that you help that will likely follow you, check out your page, or think about you next time they need something.

Vary it Good social media interactions involve variety of content. Have a think about:

• Direct Promotion

• Special offers

• Informative and educational content

• Entertainment

• Inspirational content

• Humorous content

• Polls and other content that requests audience feedback

Do your research Make sure you:

• know who your audience i.e. age, demographic, geography, likes and dislikes, interests, hobbies, beliefs, etc.

• know what your audience responds to, or at least learn as you go along so you can tailor your interactions accordingly.

But also remember to check out your competitors, how are they doing it and what lessons can you learn for your own business?

Calls to action

The main purpose of social media is indirect marketing. But remember its not always about selling something. Creating brand awareness, building customer loyalty, and conducting research is just as important. Calls to action are a great way to do this, i.e. check out our blog, visit our website, share this post, etc.).