Social Media Tips for Small Businesses.
How to become a social media pro and drive traffic to your website and store with these little to no cost tools.
So, you have a small business but have no idea how to drive traffic to your store or your website. You know social media may be the answer, but have no idea where to start or how to use it. Well, my friends, I’m here to help. By the time you have finished reading this blog, you will have some knowledge of why social media is the answer and some links to essential tools and helpful apps (along with some links to YouTube tutorials) to help you get started.
First things first, download Google Chrome.
In my opinion, Chrome is the fastest, most secure web browser, to date. It also safely and securely remembers all your passwords.
“Ok, so why is social media the answer?”
Having a small business can be costly. Many small business owners just don’t have the budget for traditional modes of advertising in local magazines, newspapers, on the radio, or television. Social media is free and full of captive individuals, waiting to guzzle down fresh content, delivered directly to their desktop or mobile device, by you. Social media is an excellent way to generate interest in your business by supplying exciting stories, images, videos and even music to your perfect, like-minded, ideal customer. Once you hook followers who subscribe to your social media channels because of all the exciting and entertaining content you share, you can simultaneously showcase your company’s products, services, sales, in-store/online promotions, and events.
If you have not already done so, create a Facebook page, Twitter account, and Instagram account specifically for your small business. You can also create a LinkedIn, Google+, and a Snapchat account if you feel these platforms attract your ideal customer. This blog post by Awario breaks down the difference between the various social media platforms.
Next, download ContentCal.
My favorite social media content management tool is ContentCal. With one user account, ContentCal helps you schedule and publish content for up to four social media platform, for free. Another helpful feature is its integration of Bitley, a URL shortening service that streamlines long links, useful for Twitters 280 character limit. If you decide to post specific content on different days of the week, ContentCal also allows you to color code categories, making it easy to see what categories need more content, at a glance.
Here is the link to ContentCals blog that explains more about the program, the setup, and an in-depth walkthrough of its features. Lastly, here is a link that walks you through setting up posts.
“All of this is cool, but what do I post and where do I find good content?”
Let me tell you about Feedly, the best thing since sliced bread. "Why?", you ask. Because just like pre-sliced bread, all the hard work is already done for you, delivering you fresh content form the web. Feedly is an aggregated web browser news application that allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds from a variety of websites. Upon setup, you can assign different sites to different categories enabling you to search specific content assigned to particular groups. My current position focuses on funneling high schoolers into STEM fields in the Silicon Valley. For this reason, I subscribe to news from sites like NASA, TechCrunch, and Science Daily, as well local community colleges, universities, technical education schools, and science-related content aimed at a young audience, like NPR’s Skunk Bear.
To be perfectly honest, it does take a significant amount of time to set up, about two or three hours. However, this initial time investment will guarantee a smooth, steady flow of easy to access content, delivered to you in one location. This tool alone will save you hundreds of hours. No one wants to visit 45 websites one by one, scraping for usable content. Here is the link to Feedly as well as a tutorial by Boise State University’s EdTech program, that explain how Feedly works and a tutorial by Live and Social’s Content and Community Manager Ollie Whitefield on setting up and using Feedly.
Some Last minute words of wisdom.
Remember to respond to your followers if they ask questions, make a comment, or to thank them for following you. Social media is a garden that needs to be fed, watered, and nurtured if it’s expected to grow. Protect yourself and others by blocking rude trolls, and always apologize and handle complaints immediately, so that your followers know you have integrity and take responsibility for any possible offense.
If you have any questions about any of the tools I introduced today, please feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email, and I’d be happy to help out.