Giving The Stop and Go to Social Media Behaviors for Small Businesses.
Today’s marketplace is competitive, and the world of social media is ever changing. When you own a small business, you must make sure you stay on your toes in both! Social media, once an optional side-marketing fling, is now a must-have when it comes to operating and advertising your business. Unfortunately, as it evolves faster than bugs and viruses (oops…to soon?), it can be hard to stay on top of proper etiquette and effective uses of your business’s social platforms. Fortunately, a good old fashion Do's and Don'ts list (with a twist🚦) is a good place to start, and we’ve got you covered!
Give Me the GREEN LIGHT! 🟢Complete Your Profile! Please, oh please, take the time to thoughtfully fill out your entire profile on your business social media pages. This is going to be the first impression visitors to your page receive and how many opportunities do you get to make a first impression on someone? Correct…one. So, make it count! Also, take this opportunity to be selective about what you use as your profile picture, whether that’s an appealing brand logo or a high-quality photo highlighting what you have to offer. 🟢Post Regularly and Consistently Limit long stretches of time without posting anything, as these gaps leave you open to missing opportunities for building awareness, stirring up discussion and generating revenue. Create a flexible schedule for posting and plan ahead so you don’t miss a beat. Avoid posting too often and becoming an aggressive over-informer or spam account. Aim to post 2-3 times a week with valuable, engaging content. 🟢Interact With Your Audience When we say interact, of course we mean that you need to respond to comments and messages in a timely and appropriate manner. With that said, it’s also important to initiate interactions by tagging people, liking posts, commenting on stories, sharing customer content about your business, and drawing engagement like asking your audience for recommendations or opinions. 🟢Handle Criticism with Respect and Grace How you respond to criticisms, regardless of their validity, is a reflection of you and your business and the level of professionalism you maintain. Be mindful. Instead of complaining or retaliating publicly, politely settle the dispute one-on-one and block the disorderly customer if necessary. Keep in mind how easy it is for negative reactions to go viral in the most unpleasant ways. 🟢Spell Check! Fact Check! Grammar Check! Check, check, double check. While there may be room for more slang and slack in the verbiage you use on social media, you still want to maintain an air of professionalism by ensuring your copywriting and captioning are clear and concise, your spelling is correct, and you don’t provide or share false information (to the best of your ability). 🟢Credit Where Credit Is Due If you share photos or information, follow tips or trends, or use products and services from other brands or influencers, make sure that you tag and give credit for the content they provided. If you visit another local business, tag them in your stories or include them in a post you created on location for collaboration content. When you SHOW support, you are more likely to GAIN support. Roxanne, Please Put On the RED LIGHT. 🛑Do NOT Constantly Request Shares Sure, you can strategically and intermittently prompt your audience to share your content or business. BUT, the most valuable interest will come from shared information that is EARNED because the content is authentic, relevant and helpful, and a trust has been established between your brand and the consumer. 🛑Do NOT Go Rogue! Think Before You Share. Your content is a representation of your business. You can be unique and self-expressive, but stay aware of the image you’re presenting with each post. Be mindful of who your audience is, the platform you’re using (content format), the value within the post, the time you share, and whether or not the post gives an impression of expertise and professionalism. 🛑#Don't #Overuse #Hashtags Excess hashtags often make posts appear needy and they tend to look like spam. Check out THIS POST on the importance of focusing on KEYWORDS over HASHTAGS for increased awareness and effectiveness. The same philosophy goes for tagging people. Tagging can be incredibly beneficial when you can use it intentionally to create dialogue and positive interactions. Don’t lose followers or friends because of mindless tagging in a weak attempt to gain your brand views or attention. 🛑Do NOT Become Count Hackula Don’t focus too heavily on your general numbers and followers. Quality over quantity is key when it comes to the success of your business itself and maintaining an authentic customer base. Avoid using follower generating scams or other shady techniques. This establishes an inauthentic following, will decrease quality engagement, and will ultimately be ineffective at increasing revenue.
In the end, one of the most important pieces of the success puzzle is to make sure you ENJOY THE RIDE! Yes, you’re using social media as marketing to run and promote your small business…but the more you are can enjoy how and what you post about YOUR brand, the more authentic you and your business will come off to your audience.
We'd love to stay connected! Don't forget to find us on Instagram . You can also join our email list to be the first to receive exclusive growth tips info and stay ahead of rapidly changing social media trends!
Brand|Uncommon
O U R M O T T O "We take the stress out of social media by creating effective and targeted strategies for small businesses and personal brands to help you level up your online presence. Your vision and voice are unique, and our job is to leverage the power of social media to bring both to life by combining creativity and strategy."
Comments