Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 3: How to customize your social media pages
• Method 2 of 3: How to work with clients
• Method 3 of 3: How to get business value from social media
• Similar articles

If you're a small business owner, you can save money by using some of your off-web advertising resources to promote your business on social media. Setting up social media pages is easy and you don't have to pay for it. Social media will help improve brand awareness. If you learn how to use social media to promote your business, you can not only increase the attractiveness of your company among existing customers, but also attract new ones.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: How to customize your social media pages

1. 1 Define your target audience. The target audience is divided into several parts: there are existing customers (that is, those who need to be retained) and potential customers (those that you need to attract). An online marketing campaign should create the feeling that you are listening to your customers' needs and appreciating them, but also strive to attract new customers.
   • First, determine who your customers are. How old is your audience?
   • Consider what social media tools your existing customers can use. You can conduct a survey and ask customers what they usually use and how they shop.
   • You may have your own assumptions, but researching customer preferences is also worthwhile. Analyze your competitors' social media data to understand the nature of their audience.
2. 2 Create social media accounts. Once you've identified your target audience, create social media accounts. It's free and managing accounts is usually straightforward, however you should still read the corporate user agreement as it may be different from the individual user agreement. The most common sites include:
   • Facebook. One of the most popular social networks used by people of all ages (including seniors over 65). It is suitable if you want to reach a wide audience.
   • Twitter. This social network is popular among young people. Its reach is not that wide, but it encourages the formation of small communities that can be useful to your business.
   • Google+. Since this platform is associated with Google, it is suitable for search engine optimization. Many people who search Google will find your page, especially if you have a young company looking to attract local customers.
   • Instagram. This image-based social network is popular with teens and adults under 35. In it you can share photos of the product, company and the results of your work.
   • Tumblr.Many people are confused by the interface of this social network, however, Tumblr can be used to work with an audience of 13 to 25 years old. Vkontakte is suitable for the same purposes.
   • LinkedIn. It is one of the most effective career development sites, but it also allows you to publish content that can be useful to a wide range of people. This platform is suitable for working with educated and wealthy clients, and also helps to build connections between companies.
   • Pinterest. This platform is suitable for those with a lot of images. This social network primarily targets women between the ages of 30 and 50, especially those with an upper middle income.
   • Classmates. This resource is traditionally used by the older generation, although in recent years it has been actively attracting young users.
3. 3 Try working with dedicated social media management apps. Many people think that working with social media requires hiring a separate employee, but you can do it yourself without sacrificing quality. These apps are usually free. They are used to regularly publish content and track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
   • Sites like HootSuite and Ping.fm allow you to work with all sites from one place.
   • You will be able to schedule posting, measure the success of posts and analyze all mentions of your business on social networks.
   • These resources are free, but there are also paid services.
   • Paid services like SproutSocial allow you to create contacts from your page subscribers and track how well you work with them. You can also view the number of customers who check in at your venues using FourSquare and similar apps.

Method 2 of 3: How to work with clients

1. 1 Let your customers know you have social media pages. Perhaps someone will find your page if they search for it on purpose, but it is better to provide links to your social media accounts yourself. Inform customers that you are on social media or display homepage icons at the checkout. You can also print links on business cards.
   • Let your customers know that you are starting to actively work on the Internet.
   • Subscribe to your regular customers.
2. 2 Find friends / followers on the internet. When you have your pages, you will need to start attracting subscribers who will follow your publications. Start with existing customers and gradually grow your audience.
   • The first step is to work with existing clients. They need to know that you value their commitment to your company.
   • You should also partner with local distributors, that is, companies that sell or promote your product. For example, if you have a bakery and you sell baked goods in bulk to coffee shops, start partnering with coffee shops on the Internet to attract their followers.
   • To expand your audience, try searching for keywords and topics discussed, then reposting or liking any posts or following the people who posted them.
3. 3 Start posting on social media. These publications should be more than just advertising. You can post information about your company, about the industry in which you work, and share photos of regular customers who like your product or service.
   • Post photos of your product. If you offer services, take photos of employees at work or clients who like the result of your work.
   • You can do closed promotions only for subscribers or arrange sweepstakes with the condition of reposting your record or photo.
   • Write about special offers and share company news. If you have a bakery, advertise dessert of the day, special offer terms, and opening hours on your pages.
   • Remember your target audience.If you are targeting older people, they most likely will not know what a hashtag is and what the common phrases and acronyms mean on the Internet.
   • Don't forget that social media pages are a reflection of your company's work. You can post something fun, but you should be professional. Do not post posts related to politics, religion, or your personal beliefs.

Method 3 of 3: How to get business value from social media

1. 1 Listen to your customers. For your social media page to be popular, it's important to listen to your customers. Read customer reviews and take them seriously. If you do not respond to complaints, the client, who could have become a regular, will leave and share the negative experience with his friends and family.
   • Treat all reviews positively, including negative ones. Respond politely to all reviews. For example, "We're sorry there was a problem. Please try our services again, and if you mention this entry, I will personally make sure everything goes well."
   • Thank your customers for their feedback and concern. If many customers say the same thing, chances are you should make the appropriate changes if possible.
   • Like or comment on customer posts on your page. You can also find people who checked in at your establishments and like the photos of the establishment or your company records.
2. 2 Make sure your social media work is targeted to a specific group of people. Of course, you would like your page to be liked by everyone who visits you, but this is impossible. In this case, you should consider whether your page should reach a wide audience or is it better to focus only on the target audience.
   • Don't disown certain people, even if they're not your customers, but remember that not all people will like your company.
   • Remember that if you have a narrow target audience (for example, you have a vegan bakery), you will not be able to attract many people (for example, those who do not like vegan food).
   • If you have a narrow audience, post photos and posts that people will love. Going back to the vegan bakery example, in this case, you can post about the benefits of veganism.
3. 3 Be consistent in your online activities. You may be hoping that your online presence will help you increase sales dramatically, and this happens, but rarely, so you should be patient and act consistently.
   • Accept that it takes time to promote your pages. How long it takes will depend on your customers, your target audience, and how much time and effort you're willing to devote to social media.
   • Act consistently. Post something every day, reply to people, or repost.
   • Be patient. Social media pages will help your business, but the effect will depend entirely on your efforts.
4. 4 Get involved in search engine optimization. Search engine optimization (SEO) allows you to change the content of the site and pages in social networks so that it helps to promote your business. With competent work with search queries, you can raise the company higher in the search results in any search engine.
   • First, identify the keywords that the client might be looking for. Many combinations can be used, but try to avoid repetition (the fewer keywords the better, so aim to fit within 1000 characters).
   • Include any known spelling mistakes in your business name in your keywords so that everyone looking for you can find the information they need.
   • Create meta tags on every page of your site that has keywords. You need to know the basics of HTML to do this, so find a knowledgeable person or learn how to do it yourself.
   • Check your search performance regularly. You can use special tools for this (for example, DeepCrawl or Search Console). They will help you understand if your efforts have been beneficial.

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