Do you own or work for a small business? Do you know that 75% of small businesses are intending to expand their social media budget as a crucial element of their marketing campaign for 2011 and 2012? Social media is the best way for corporations to reach out to the masses and expand their internet presence.
The biggest struggle for small businesses is to spread the word about their services and brands. Coca cola and Starbucks were not always the superstars that they are now. Starbucks particularly spread by word of mouth – and social media facilitates this spreading of information. (See which brands are best at creating the social media buzz.)
Nevertheless social media may also be a curse. It is hard to choose the flowers from all the weeds. As a small business you actually need to distinguish yourself as a legit company with room to grow and expand to new audiences. These social media platforms are the best for you to grow your brand online.
Facebook: You “Like” Me, You Really “Like” Me
Recently, a publication said that Audi (not a small business, but still not the biggest business in terms of loyal supporters) had the most interactive Facebook page. They averaged about 200 “likes” for each post that they created.
A genius selling scheme or sheer luck? This definitely was not due to luck 100% – Audi did come up with a way to have a good deal of followers on Facebook, but their articles was also very interactive. They posted photos, videos and insider facts.
Creating a Facebook page for your company and trying to get as many fans and “likes” on your posts as possible is a great way to grow your online presence. It is very important to post enough, but not too much (once or twice a day should do the job). You do not want to overmaster your fans, rather give them understanding about your company that they are certain to “like.” Plenty of tiny firms (like social media guru Ashton Kutcher’s company, Katalyst) use Facebook as their website (and nothing else).
Twitter: Tweet Your Way into People’s Hearts
Twitter is undoubtedly a good way for you to reach out to folk that you would not necessarily reach on Facebook. With twitter, people will be able to find your tweets more easily than your Facebook page. Tweet about important things to your company, but focus also on other things in your industry. You do not want your twitter page to portray an ego-centric company. Tweet once in awhile about applicable articles or things that you believe people in your niche will be interested in.
What is a niche market? On twitter you always want to build your audience or your niche before you start tweeting. You want to be well placed to maintain some kind of focus with your profile so that your fans will be better targeted and devoted. The sole issue with twitter is that sometimes follower numbers will change. Don’t be discouraged if you lose some supporters – spam accounts or accounts that are only looking to get proponents in exchange and do not care about what you are tweeting are out there. If they unfollow you, it is no sweat off of your back!
Blog: Keep Your Audience Updated
Does your company have a blog? Well it should. Keeping a blog is a way to get folks inquisitive about your company. Make your small business ‘ site easily accessed from your blog (to direct traffic) and establish yourself as a guru in your trade.
Any blog entry that you write should keep under consideration basic SEO rules and write articles about subjects that folks will stumble on in search engines as well as on your blog. It is vital to grow your presence in as many ways as practical. Creating an established blog that people subscribe to will undoubtedly expand your brand and drive traffic.
StumbleUpon: Stumble Yourself to a Larger Audience
I regard myself as a big believer in submitting all content to StumbleUpon. Not only is it another website that you can add your content and brand to, but also it is a great way to open up your site and blog entries to a totally new choice of people.
You tag your submissions to StumbleUpon so that folk can stumble their interests and hopefully come across your content. StumbleUpon can usually bring thousands of hits and thousands of loyal fans at a time! There’s not a complete science to getting thousands of hits yet, but if people like what they see, they are likely to share it! Get one power stumbler to share your content and you’re good to go.
Amy Turman writes about social media for Experts123.com. Her article “Most Helpful Social Networking Sites for Small Businesses” was inspired by another article she wrote for the site. She has 4 years experience in managing social media for small businesses and smaller clients.
