Making Social Media Work for Your Small Business

As a business owner, you understand how important social media is for the success of your business. You have made it your business to learn what you need to know in order to make social media work for you. However, you find that it isn’t enough. What do you need to do?

Leveraging social media properly for your business

There are some differences in the approach that you need to take with social media if you have a small business. Social media channels and the way that you work them are not a “one size fits all” situation. The social media channels that you choose and the way that you leverage those channels for the desired impact are bound to be different in your case than in other business owner’s experiences. One thing that you should always remember is that social media will work for you. You just need to figure out how to make it work in the most effective way possible.

In theory, you may believe that social media is an important marketing tool and that you should take advantage of it in the best way possible. However, without any deep understanding of how to make it work for you and your business, you won’t get very far. If you don’t get very far, you won’t be able to achieve the results that you are looking for.

Before you can get involved with social media in any way, you must make sure that your social media marketing strategy is solid and that you understand exactly where you are going with it. Once you have done that, you can look at what you are doing and identify what you are doing right and what you need to adjust in order to achieve more favorable results.

You may be doing (or not doing) certain things and not be aware of what those are. If you haven’t identified them, you can’t fix them.

• Quality versus quantity: The concept of quality over quantity is a very important one. If you collect 10,000 fans and followers but you only interact with 50 of those fans and followers, what are you actually gaining by having 10,000? You wouldn’t know the remaining fans and followers if they passed you on the street. So, what value do they actually hold for you? You are much better off concentrating on the quality of your connections and by ensuring that those interactions cause your relationships to advance.

  It is very important for you to bear in mind that if you truly want your relationships to progress, you must make the effort to interact with those people. You can comment on what they are saying, ask questions, ask for their opinions, ask them to suggest topics for your content, etc. Another thing that is very important is to tell your story. That is how you will be able to connect with the other person on a personal/emotional level. If you appeal to their feelings, they will react to you and will want to continue to interact with you on a deeper level. 

• Don’t forget about the analytics: Gathering metrics from your social media interactions may seem like a mundane, waste of time; however, it may be more important than you realize. If you pay attention to metrics, you will learn about what you are doing correctly and what just isn’t working for you. If you can identify what isn’t working, you can fix those particular aspects of your social media marketing efforts.

  Knowledge certainly is power in this case. One of the most important aspects of your social media marketing efforts is not only that you interact but also the way that you interact. You will want to interact as effectively as you can and your will need to commit to dedicating a consistent amount of time and effort to your social media marketing strategy each week. You will see that it will pay off. However, remember that it may take a little time for you to see results. Just don’t forget that you will achieve those results. You need to have a little patience.

• Show other people what you and your business are worth: When it comes to interacting through social media online, you are building relationships with other people.

  [tweetthis]The basis of any meaningful relationship must be trust, credibility, and expertise.[/tweetthis]

  Without those qualities, you will not be able to truly connect with the other person. Part of that is the idea that the other person needs to understand why it is worth their while to interact with you. If you can’t show them (prove to them) why they should connect with you (and continue to connect with you), the relationship will not go any further. This all goes back to the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) concept. In other words, the only thing that the other person is interested in is if you have the ability to solve his or her problems. Also, remember to keep your communications clear, concise, and to the point. The other person will appreciate it tremendously.

• Don’t squelch your uniqueness: Periodically, it is important for you to examine your chosen social media channels. What may have made sense in the beginning may not make sense anymore. If you come to that conclusion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with removing some channels and replacing them with others that work better for you and your business.

  As you are scrutinizing your social media profiles, you must make sure to look at every single aspect of those profiles. The chances are great that you will find something to tweak that will ultimately make a difference. Refreshing what you have is generally an effective thing to do.

• Recognizing that your social media marketing strategy is yours alone: It is never a good idea to assume that your social media marketing strategy is a round peg that fits in a round hole. That will never be the case. Your social media marketing strategy is unique to your business and it is your uniqueness that will ultimately want people to buy what you are selling. If you offer products and/or services that other people can obtain anywhere at any time, what do they need you for? Chances are great that another person can sell what seems like the same thing that you are offering for less money. Remember, though, that it only seems like that on the surface. It is your job to make them understand why your offerings are better.

Conclusion

You may not realize that you are missing out on some amazing social media marketing opportunities. It is important to become acutely aware of what you are doing and to make sure that you identify and fix what is not working. When it comes to working social media for your small business, you can make an equal impact as larger businesses. You just need to figure out how to do that effectively. It is also important to remember that just because you may have limited resources, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make a big splash! You certainly can. That is the only way that you are going to allow your business to go forward. Standing still is the same as going backward.

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