It’s a tale as old as time.
You finally have the chance to sit down at your computer, after a long day of running your business, following-up on invoices, responding to customers, figuring out what the hell is going on with your cash flow, and now here you are. You know that social media is a great place to market your business.
But then you’re hit by a roadblock: social media for personal use and social media for business use are totally different things. Where do you even start?
There are a million ways to slice and dice it. Here are some easy tips for how to use social media marketing for your business.
Get your name out there with Google My Business
When people Google something, they want to find a solution. Fast. Google calls these "micro-moments. "We call these "gotta be there in those moments," and there are ways to ensure you are using social media.
Enter Google My Business.
Because Google owns Google My Business, it wants people and companies to use it.
You can set up your business with Google Maps and Google Search all at once. Just go to google.com/business and follow the instructions.
Once your account is set up, you can post content, add your website, or add photos. When you post— both your own blog/video/graphic/slideshow content and articles from other websites — you’re positively impacting your ranking in search results.
Posting about once every three days tells Google that you’re active and putting fresh information and news out there. In short: Using Google My Business = better search rankings for your business.
Interact with partners - propose a social media collaboration
Do you have a friend who owns a business? A school you went to? Know someone who runs a social media account for a larger organization?
Get in touch and see if they want to cross promote! Identify something they would benefit from and see if there's room for a win-win situation.
Test the waters with a new product or service
If you have a robust following of fans and admirers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and the like, then get their feedback on your business. While you can monitor reviews on Google and Yelp, this type of feedback may pull out some of the middle-of-the-road opinions about your business. You know, people who don't hate you but also don't love you.
You could find a golden nugget of information or inspiration that leads to another means for providing value for your customers.
Collect email addresses
Ah, the email. Still holding on as one of the best marketing tactics for lead generations and sales funnels.
Research continues to support this. According to McKinsey, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter.
The only problem? You have to build your email list first; you need to get people to opt-in before you can send them emails. And what better place to start than your social media channels? Those people are already your fans — see if they want to take it a step further.
Find user-generated content for your blog
Basically, this is asking your followers to post their interaction with your product or service, usually filed together across social media channels using a hashtag.
Exhibit A: Ikea
Your fans/followers/customers take photos or post their thoughts, and essentially promote your brand – for free – their own networks. Plus, it makes it easy to find authentic, real-life examples of the value your business brings to the table, and you can curate it into a slide show or blog post on your website.
This type of content is popular and easy to share because they’re relatable. They're authentic, written from the heart, and usually a little unpolished, a little rough, and a little real. And we can all relate to that.