Social media should be the source of more customer interactions and engagements—not frustrations. This list of social media tips gets business owner and managers the improved social media presence that gets the results they want.
Those results should mirror the benefits of a solid business social media presence:
- Raising brand awareness,
- Driving more traffic to a business location,
- Generating more business leads,
- Driving more traffic to a business website,
- Increasing interactions with current and potential customers,
- Generating more messages to the business
Tip #1: Make a clear (but flexible) social media plan.
The good news about this social media tip is that it’s never too late to draft a plan. The plan should be flexible and open to improvisation when needed, but provide a clear foundation for getting results. It should be important to note that the social media marketing plan should cater to what the target audience wants to know, not what businesses want to tell them. This post details the process that gets businesses up and selling on social media.
Step by Step: How to Get Your Business Up & Selling on Social Media
Tip #2: Choose a social media site that your target audience is actually on.
The long-and-short of the process should include documenting the target audience (who the business is trying to reach) and selecting the social media platform that the target audience is on. This part of the process is outlined in this post.
Tip #3: Take the two R’s of social media to heart.
While there are many parts of building and maintaining a results-driven presence on social media, the basis is the same for every social media platform:
Tip #4: Build a social media following that wants to engage with the brand.
Businesses should never pass up on an opportunity to attract followers that are interested in the brand. These social media followers are not randomly bought and paid for. Instead, they are “recruited” at meetings, at check-out (in-person or online), and through off-line marketing materials.
10 Offline & Online Tips to Build Your Social Media Following
Tip #5: Never stop testing social media ideas.
The age old question, “what should be posted to social media?” is answered in this post. In addition to these lists (the second is more specific to local businesses targeting local customers), ideas can also be found by reviewing competitor pages. The exact formula for a business social media page is different for every business and should be continually tested to ensure that it fits customers’ preferences and updated social media trends.
What should I post to social media? What do people want to see?
Tip #6: Focus on goals.
There is no doubt that online bantering and entertainment is part of the customer experience (when appropriate). However, these social media strategies do not always achieve goals the business set out to achieve.
Tip #7: For local results, use social media to connect with local customers.
For local businesses with local social media marketing goals, world-wide recognition is nice—but it does nothing to help get local customers and sales. Local businesses need to use different tactics to showcase their part in the community and the value they can provide to anyone who stops in (or contacts them). This approach does not always mean using a “sell, sell, sell!” approach, as discussed in this post for local businesses.
Tip #8: Make the WHOLE customer experience favorable—especially customer service!
Customers appreciate businesses that make their life easier. Businesses can meet (and surpass) those expectations by providing helpful information, entertaining them, and answering their questions. The latter effort is more important than ever because customers expect quick, helpful, and complete answers. This post discusses how businesses can respond to customers and earn their business.
6 Rules for Delivering Excellent Customer Service on Social Media
Tip #9: Only the best and most relevant images work on social media.
Statistics have repeatedly shown that marketing with images get better results. The exact nature of those images is different for every business, but there are some guidelines businesses can use when choosing images for social media. Depending on the social media platform, the images don’t have to be high-quality but they do have to be highly relevant to the target audience.
Tip #10: Don’t put all those proverbial eggs in one basket.
As beneficial as social media is, a business social media presence should never be a stand-alone marketing tool. Not every customer or potential customer is going to find a business or want to interact on social media. Instead, a social media plan should be part of a bigger marketing plan that includes SEO, email, and other marketing tactics. This post details the process.
Step by step: Make SEO, Content, Social Media & Email Work Together for You
