Practical Tips for Using Social Media in a Small Business Anita Campbell Editor, Small Business Trends http://smallbiztrends.com Twitter: @smallbiztrends
Jan 14, 2015
Practical Tips for Using Social Media in
a Small Business
Anita CampbellEditor, Small Business Trends
http://smallbiztrends.com
Twitter: @smallbiztrends
How to Use These Tips
Not a hard and fast formula Not every tip fits every situation – not
everything will be right for you and your business
My goal: trigger ideas
Align with Biz Strategy
Your “marketing needs” tell you which social activity to do. Goals: Generate leads? Increase brand awareness? Drive website traffic? Listen to your markets and customers? Develop expert status and authority? Reputation management? Other?
Yelp
Very important for retail, hospitality, consumer services Respond to customer complaints Monitor quality issues Reputation management Use Business Owner’s Guide at
www.yelp.com/business
Yelp –Business Owner’s Guide
Unique mixture of personal & biz Beyond the Personal Profile:
Use Groups as a microcommunity; publicize events; discussions
Use Fan Pages to establish microcommunity – some say overtaking Groups
Advertising available App craze fading See www.facebook.com/advertising
Facebook – Business Pages
Combination of broadcasting & 1-to-1 Fast intimate way to connect with customers
and public – relationship builder! Customer support channel – “listen” Develop brand visibility Announce specials Drive traffic to a blog
Twitter – Personalize, Engage!
Great for corporate market and job hunters Go beyond the profile Ask and answer questions to display
expert status, drive traffic Start or join a Group See www.linkedin.com/answers
LinkedIn – Groups
LinkedIn – Answers
Voting Sites – Digg, Tip’d
Build traffic to your website Great if you have blog content Submit your content Be a good social citizen and vote for
others’ content Discover content for newsletters and
your own blog See www.bizsugar.com for SMB site
Voting Sites - bizSugar
Bonus Tip
Be Authentic!Distinguish yourself from the bots
and fake accounts and spammersBe YOU! There’s only one YOU
What else would you like to know?
Thank you!
Anita Campbellhttp://smallbiztrends.com
Twitter: @smallbiztrends