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Social Media Marketing: The Do’s and Don’ts for Small Businesses

Are you a small business owner looking to maximize the benefits of social media for your business? It is essential to know that you cannot use social media for a business the same way you use it personally. Hence, you need to learn the dos and don’ts of social media marketing for small businesses to drive sales and take your brand to the next level. 

Many people know that they can drive sales and improve their business returns through social media, but they do not know how to approach the platform professionally and effectively. However, this guide talks about small businesses’ dos and don’ts of social media marketing. So sit back, relax and learn. 

Dos

Engage Your Audience

One of the main purposes of social media marketing is to interact with people, so you should do more than share nice content. You should engage your audience and get to know them a little more, so you will know how best to approach them and offer your services and products to them. 

You can engage your audience effectively by replying to comments and questions on your posts, liking and commenting on posts from other brands, especially those that mention or tag you. 

You do not have to be in sales mode all the time; try to build connections and relationships online just like you would in person to expose your brand to a wider audience and prove your legitimacy. 

Complete Your Profile

First, your social media profile must be filled out; for most platforms, you need a short bio,  profile picture, links, location, and so on. These are simple requirements that any business should have and will help you provide quick information about your business to your audience. 

Also, try not to copy and paste information from other platforms or brands; take your time and fill out your profile uniquely and exceptionally to suit your brand. 

Consider Using Automatic Software

You may have heard that you need to be consistent with your posts and engagement on social media, so what if you have been busy all day? Would you leave your accounts dormant and keep waiting till you are less busy? I guess not. 

So in such situations, what do you do? You can use automated social media marketing software to engage your audience. Some of these software include Hootsuite, CoSchedule, Buffer, Sprout Social, Hubspot, and others. They are affordable and have many free features, so using them won’t cost too much. 

Pay Attention to Trends

You do not have to leap on every viral meme on the internet, but it is good to follow up on social media trends to understand what people are looking for and know the appropriate content to share that will resonate over time. 

People use social media to fill up spare time, get fun and entertainment, stay up to date with news, stay in touch with friends, and share their lives and daily activities with others. So it would be best if you always kept your audience’s current needs in mind because what worked last month might not work again. 

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Feel Free to Share Other Relevant Contents

While it is important to stay professional on your social media accounts. You are also free to share relevant content that would be useful to your audience; it does not have to be about your business all the time. For example, you always take your time to share company news, blog posts,  promotions, discounts, etc. But what happens when you do not have anything business related to share? 

Tread Lightly on Popular Topics

Social media is always on about one thing or the other, and you may want to jump on a popular topic and share your opinion. This is not a bad idea, but for social media marketing, you need to be careful because topics and news like this always get the audience’s attention, and you do not want to offend your customers.

So it would be best to try not to share personal opinions on such topics and avoid discussing politics and national tragedies. Also, even when you discuss these things, do not take sides. 

Use Multimedia 

If all social media platforms were boring, they wouldn’t be so popular, and one of the things that can make them boring is seeing walls of text every day. 

The same applies to social media marketing; you should use the right tools to engage your audience and keep them interested in your page, from eye-catching pictures to intriguing videos and top-quality infographics. Then you can mix this media with your text to properly drive home the information you want to pass to your audience. 

Have Some Fun With it

If you have been using social media for personal stuff and just started social media marketing for your small business, you might be worried about changing your tone from a cheerful and friendly one to a professional one. 

Yes, this is important, but be careful not to become too serious and boring unknowingly. You can have fun with your social media accounts, shake things up occasionally, use interactive poles and live videos, and keep your messages conversational and friendly. 

Conduct an Audit

After using social media marketing for your business, it is also very good to conduct audits every once in a while. This would allow you to know the strategies that work best, the preferences of your audience and what you should generally improve on. You can also take time to read reviews and people’s opinions to make corrections to promote customer satisfaction and drive sales. 

Sell Your Business With Social Commerce 

Over the years, social media has evolved to allow business owners sell their products and services directly from their social media accounts. For example, Facebook has the Facebook marketplace and various trading groups you can join to showcase your products and services, get customers, and attend to them on social media. 

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Don’ts 

Don’t Spam Your Feeds

Social media marketing can be very helpful in informing your audience and showing your expertise. Still, you should carefully consider what is important before posting so you do not overwhelm your feeds with too much information. 

In addition,  it is important not to make the same post on your timelines or fields repeatedly; you can post relevant and informative content even though they are not focused on selling your business. You can recreate pictures, graphics and videos to look like new content, so they don’t seem repetitive. 

Avoid Grammatical Errors

Showing expertise in your business, whether big or small, will require proper composure, and your audience will not take you seriously if you can’t put together a simple correct sentence. So while sharing text and information about your business on social media, you must use proper grammar, spelling and easy-to-understand phrases. You can also take advantage of writing software to help you produce the best content. 

Don’t Spread Yourself too Thin

It is no use being on all social media platforms, yet you cannot operate and update them consistently. Do not open an account for your business on any social media platform if you know you won’t be able to use the account. 

It is better for your business not to be seen on certain platforms than to present it as an abandoned one. So figure out the social media platforms best for your business and stick with them. 

Don’t Abuse Hashtags

Social media hashtags help connect one post to others on the same topic and are also a convenient way to search content categorically. So you can now see the usefulness of hashtags for social media marketing, but it is essential not to abuse them. Do not use unrelated hashtags or use every word in your post as hashtags. Instead, use it wisely to increase your online visibility and followers. 

Don’t Write Like a Robot

Your writing tone on social media should be friendly, conversational and relaxed, and at the same time, professional and informative. So, writing for a business doesn’t mean you should make it dull and stiff. Before you post anything, especially content you got from automation software, proofread it to ensure it doesn’t sound robotic or unnatural.

Don’t Forget Your Links

The goal of social media marketing is brand awareness and to lead your customers to the right place where they can access your service and products. However, without appropriate links, you cannot achieve the latter goal. 

Yes, many social media platforms will let you add your link to your profile, but you can’t rely on that alone, so every opportunity you get to chip in your links, you should utilize it properly. 

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Don’t Gloss Over Negative Reviews and Comments

Your customers and audience would always have complaints and negative feedback; it is just inevitable. However, handling this type of review and comments appropriately matters a lot. 

First, remember that no matter how great your company is, someone will say something negative about your services or products at some point. Secondly, you need to filter the comments and reviews to find the relevant ones, like those that suggest improvements and complaints about defective products. 

Then, fix the issues and improve your services and products to enhance customer satisfaction and positive feedback. 

Don’t Complain

Yes, it is true everyone is free on social media to do and say whatever pleases them, and most businesses fail to realize that they are not in this category. While you can post about your business activities and other related content, you must build the right reputation and image for your audience. In this regard, whether your business is going well or not, that information is not meant for the media. 

Complaining about poor sales, low productivity, and staff inefficiency will not help you drive sales; instead, you will discourage prospective customers and make them feel you can’t handle your business operations efficiently. 

Don’t Mix up the Personal With Professional

To be successful in any business, you must learn to separate your personal life from business. Letting your audience get to know you a bit is okay, but do not make your business social media accounts about yourself. You can also refer people from your personal accounts to your business accounts and vice versa if necessary. 

Don’t Obsess Over the Numbers

Prioritizing quality over quantity is the way to go if you want to achieve effective social media marketing for your business. It would be best if you took the time to grow your followers and clients on social media and avoid rushing to gather a crowd. In addition, do not be tempted to buy followers, likes and so on to avoid account suspension and followers that would never turn into customers.

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As a small business owner, understanding social media marketing is like going through a minefield unscathed. Still, it is not impossible as long as you stay focused on your brand’s goals and values.

While social media can be vast and challenging to navigate at the end of the day, it will be all worth it because social media marketing is vital for your business’s growth, and the sooner you learn about it, the sooner you will unlock its benefits and potential.

 

 

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