If you’re a small business you know that you need a Social Media presence… but you already have a LOT on your plate, so where are you supposed to start?
There are 6 Social Media Best Practices for Small Business that are easy to follow – and will end up saving you a lot of time and headaches down the road.
Social Media Best Practice #1
Wherever you have a social media presence, make sure you maintain it.
[clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”#socialmedia” related=”” layout=”” position=””]A social media “Ghost Town” will hurt your business – especially if you haven’t updated a post since 2013…[/clickandtweet]Not all visitors come to your site through Google – sometimes they will just search you out on social media – so make sure that the social media platforms that have a page for your business are regularly updated.
Updates don’t have to be time-consuming and in-depth, but you should update at least twice per month.
Social Media Best Practice #2
Yes, social media is about being social, but keep the following off of your professional pages (unless, of course, it’s part of your brand).
- No political rants / posts
- No religious rants / posts
- Don’t get overly personal
- Don’t over-share
Of course if your brand is all about you being personal and over-sharing, then continue what has been successful for you. But for the most part, when a small business is using social media to grow their business, you should keep things “strictly business”.
That’s not to say you can’t have fun – just [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”#socialmedia” related=”” layout=”” position=””]try to avoid posts that will create drama when there doesn’t need to be drama[/clickandtweet].
Social Media Best Practice #3
Have a plan.
Like any successful marketing, it’s important to have a plan. So make sure you create your Social Media plan in advance – figure out what you’re going to say, the “voice” of your social media presence, when you’re going do post, the platforms to post, etc.
Social Media Best Practice #4
Speak the language of the specific social media platform.
Each platform has a different “language” – Twitter and Instagram use hashtags, Facebook has Likes – if you’re new to a platform, hang out for a little while and see how the users interact with each other.
Social Media Best Practice #5
Don’t publicly get into it with a customer.
We’ve all heard the infamous tales of companies getting into online tussles with customers on social media.
You need to remember that social media is…well…social. If you have a customer that calls you out online, reach out to them privately and try to resolve the issue quickly.
[clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”#customerservice” related=”” layout=”” position=””]If the customer is just trying to target you unfairly, and you’ve done what you could to make it right, let it go.[/clickandtweet] If you’re doing a great job with your other customers, they will come to your defense, and it will eventually drown out the negative conversation.Social Media Best Practice #6
Monitor the content that gets the best engagement – and do more of it.
Just because you’re on the ball and you have your Social Media Plan, that doesn’t mean it can’t be flexible. If you post an inspirational quote one day and suddenly get 50 shares, then start searching for more quotes and doing more of what works.
Just make sure your modify your plan so that you still add and test a variety of post-types to continue to enhance your engagement.
Yes, social media is important for your business – but it doesn’t have to be difficult when you follow these best practices.
