5 Social Media Hacks for Small Business Owners
If you’re reading this blog, we probably don’t need to convince you that social media is important. You get it. However, there’s a big difference between “getting it” and “doing it”, and if there’s a gap between the two, it’s usually for some variation of the following reason:
You feel overwhelmed by the ever-expanding social media landscape and don’t know where to focus your time, dollars, and attention.
If that’s the case, you’re in luck. I’ve assembled 5 of my favorite hacks for making social media more effective, manageable, and wallet-friendly.
1) Create Twitter lists
If opening up your Twitter feed feels overwhelming, you’re not alone. Especially if you follow back people that follow you it can be an overwhelming amount of information. We recommend organizing your experience by segmenting the people you follow into Twitter Lists.
Create a list of customers, personal friends, competitors, industry leaders you’d like to collaborate with, and journalists and media outlets specific to your industry. Consider making these lists private so people don’t necessarily know they are being added. Then, instead of just logging in and scrolling through your main newsfeed, pick whatever list is most relevant to you.
2) Invest time in Facebook groups and Facebook advertising
Last year Facebook tore the rug out from everyone’s feet when significantly fewer Facebook page posts began showing on a people’s newsfeeds. This frustrated a lot of companies who were unaccustomed to having to pay to get their updates in front of people who had already opted to “Like” their page.
The solution?
A) Facebook Groups. In addition to having a company page, we recommend companies and organizations alike create a Facebook group for their community to encourage communication. Not only do updates from Facebook Groups show up with much higher frequency on newsfeeds than page posts, they also inspire more open communication and a community like atmosphere among customers and fans.
And don’t just stop with your own Facebook Group. Join other groups in your industry that your target audience is already in and join the conversation. Offer help, ask questions and provide special discounts/offers to group members.
B) Facebook Ads. Promoting your page using a “Like” campaign or sponsored posts is a great way to get your content in front of your ideal users. Be sure to use Facebook’s robust targeting options and start with a small budget to test results when you first begin.
3) Get on Google+
Google+ is a hidden gem in the social media world. While it doesn’t have the amount of traffic as the other social media giants, it does have one extremely valuable quality: Google, which means it is great for SEO purposes, backs it. Though Google doesn’t say so in any official capacity, Google+ posts tend to skyrocket to the top of Google search engine results which is worth its weight in gold.
4) Create + share branded images
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and nowhere is this truer than on social media. People are much more likely to click a link that is accompanied by a captivating image. A great idea is to create images with quotes or statistics that relate to your brand, product, or services, and share them on visual-driven sites like Pinterest and Instagram. This adds a fun visual element and solidifies your brand recognition. And since pictures are much more likely to be shared than other types of content it’s a great way to get your brand in front of new potential customers.
It is best if you are able to hire a designer to create images on your behalf, but you can also use sites such as PicMonkey and Canva to create images on your own.
5) Get listed
Listing sites are a great way to get your products and services in front of people who are actively looking for what you have to offer. As a bonus, they tend to be more highly ranked in search engines. Yelp and Google’s My Business are a must for all businesses with a local component, but there are also tons of great listing sites that are targeted to particular industries (such as Open Table for restaurants, Thumbtack and Angie’s List for service-based professionals, etc.).
If this list still feels a bit overwhelming, or you’d just plain rather work “in” rather than “on” your business, it makes sense to outsource your social media and marketing management. At Blue Water, our marketing team partners with your team to seamlessly create campaigns, which strategically make the most of your resources. To learn more about how our social media marketing services can help your business, contact us here.
