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7 actionable social media tips for small businesses

In the past, the majority of businesses had a bricks and mortar presence on their local high street, meaning that it was easy for existing customers and potential customers alike to see the company in the flesh and get an idea of who they were and what they were all about.

Times are now very different, with a great deal of trade being done over the Internet, and horror stories about customer service prevalent.

Social media - although a daunting minefield for many - is a reliable and relatively easy way for businesses to not only promote themselves to a wider audience, but to handle customer service queries and issues in a real-time public environment, where the evidence of great customer service can be seen not only by the customer, but by other members of the public to whom the company in question’s reputation will, hopefully, be improved.

However, social media is not all plain sailing, as the number of high profile cases of business social media “fails” demonstrates. Such issues can be easily avoided, though - here are seven top social media tips to help any small business.

1. Plan your strategy

To use social media successfully, you will need to come up with a strategy and stick to it. Think about what you are aiming to achieve by using social media as part of your marketing mix: are you aiming to attract new business, speak with existing customers, raise awareness of your business or use social media to resolve customer service issues? You will also need to determine who in your organisation will be managing the account(s), decide on a tone of voice and think about social analytics tools that can help you to measure the success of your campaigns.

2. Choose your social media site(s) wisely

There is a vast range of social media sites out there, all with different aims, interfaces and audiences. The good news for businesses is that you don’t need to have a presence on all of them: you just need to find the ones that attract your target audience. Facebook should not be ignored because of its size, but services like Foursquare are more suitable for mobile businesses. Instagram and Pinterest work if you have a very visual brand or eye-catching products, while Twitter is becoming more and more popular as an alternative customer service route. Restaurants, cafes and hotels should be using sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor to monitor customer feedback and respond to queries. Make sure you research all options thoroughly to understand where your business should appear.

3. Encourage interaction

Think about posting elements that require some degree of user interaction. Don’t just use social media to state facts: use it to ask questions, gain feedback and get people talking. The more people that interact with you, the greater your audience will become.

4. Start conversations

Social media users are generally members of sites for one reason: to be sociable. If they feel as though they are being sold to, you may well find your brand’s page or feed being blocked or unfollowed.

Instead of a pure sales approach, start and join in conversations. Get people talking about things that matter to them: it need not be your brand, but tends to work better if it is linked. If you’re a restaurant, for example, share interesting stories or food-related jokes. As the conversation builds, so will other members’ opinions of you and your brand.

5. Keep it interesting

Starting conversations is all very well, but do people want to listen to what you have to say? Do some research to find out how your competitors and businesses in other markets are using social media, and take note of what sorts of posts and topics gain the most interactions from other users. If you have something interesting to say, people will listen.

6. Monitor mentions of your business

With social media, consumers may talk about your business but without you even knowing. With tools such as Twitter, you can search for mentions of your brand, understand how people are talking about you and join in conversations where appropriate.

7. Stick with it.

Creating and maintaining a social media presence may seem like hard work at first, and when you take your first steps into this world, it may take a little time to build up a following and regular conversation. This is normal. The more effort you put into your social media strategy, the more you will get from it - and if planning on using social media as part of your marketing strategy, you’ll need to ensure that you use it regularly. By following these tips, you should start to see social media making a difference to your business’ online presence.

This article was written by Mark Potter of Namecheap.com, a leading ICANN accredited domain registrar and web host.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Potter .