A Beginner’s 3 Step Guide to Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Social media marketing has taken the world by storm. It is everywhere; all experts are saying that it is vital to the success of your business. However, many small business owners are intimidated by it. You don’t need to be. Here’s a small guide to social media marketing for your small business.

Social Media Websites

With the sheer number of options available to you, you might wonder which site is more suited for your purpose. When you’re marketing on social media, especially during the early stages, you need to engage your audience personally. That being said, you need to have a Facebook page and a website with your own blog. These are 2 things you can’t have a successful marketing campaign without.

1) Set Up Your Social Media Profile and Pages

Every social media website has different steps for setting up a profile. Here’s how you can properly set up your profile on Facebook.

• Before setting up a page, do a little bit of research and look at successful Facebook pages such as Porche, Problogger etc., and especially companies related to your niche.
• Note that a Facebook page is different from a Facebook profile. You will need a Facebook profile first in order to create a Facebook business page.
• Have a great profile photograph and add some interesting pictures related to your business.
• Once your page is set up, invite all your friends in order to start spreading the word around.

2) It’s All About Branding

Social media platforms are perfect for reinforcing branding; this is how you can achieve this:

• Post regular content that’s interesting and interact with your followers
• Use your own voice and opinions in your content
• Conduct surveys on Facebook or Twitter to get feedback, whether positive or negative
• Address complaints promptly
• Offer discounts & freebies – a little goes a long way here
• Share photos, hold contests and engage your audience regularly but within reason. (to find out how often you should post, click here)

3) Generate Followers

Your blog will always be your main source of marketing. In fact, all your social media efforts would concentrate on bringing traffic to your website and blog. With its 850 million users, Facebook is the largest social media platform. It’ll help spread the word about your business to a very wide audience. People can like your business and everyone who’s on their friend’s list is going to know that there’s something to like about it.

Aside from this major social media platform, you have Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Google+, Instagram, Foursquare, Pinterest and more.

It is vital to research and observe constantly. Create a solid online presence. Keep an eye on successful media campaigns and learn from them. Never stop learning and evolving and your social media marketing campaign will continue to be successful.

If you need help managing your social media accounts, contact a professional today!

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]