5 More SMM Tips

Standing out on social media isn't easy for a small business. Naturally, small businesses don't have the capital nor the brand awareness that a Fortune 500 company has. However, there are several steps that you can take to ensure that you're conveying a professional and credible tone across all of your social media channels.

Back in June, we shared five key tips for social media marketing. For those just starting to up their social media game, here are five more tips to get you going.

RESPOND TO MESSAGES

Every social media platform out there has some sort of messaging system. While platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google PLUS treat messaging like two individuals communicating, Facebook implemented a unique messaging system for its business pages.

When starting out, most of the comments that you'll receive won't be high-quality prospects wanting to buy from you today. On the contrary, most of the messages that you'll see will be from other users trying to do the same thing as you: Build their brand. But this is usually an ineffective tactic, and leads to the messenger only coming across as spam. So, page and profile admins tend to ignore them.

But every once and a while, you'll find that legitimate customers or highly qualified prospects will contact you through your social media channels. And that's where you can present top-notch customer service. By replying to customers and prospects on their terms, you're demonstrating that you care about their needs and you value their business. This has become such an effective strategy that one of our clients relies on Facebook as one of their primary avenues for customer interaction.

AIM FOR CONSISTENT USERNAMES

While this may not always be possible, it's highly advisable that you aim for having the same username across all of your social media channels. People who are interested in finding your business will have a much easier time doing so if they can remember one name, instead of three or four.

For simplicity's sake, when creating a username, ensure that it's representative of your brand's name. Some social media users will try to think of something clever, but in doing so, they're decreasing their odds of being found by those who are directly looking for their business. As an example, it makes more sense for our business to use a name like @RizzoYoungMarketing than @DigitalMarketingExperts. People are more likely to search for our company name over a descriptor.

As a bonus tip, keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. When possible, I advise clients to choose the same name as their domain. For example, if you're website is AwesomeClient.com, then you're username should be @AwesomeClient. This is usually the easiest way to ensure consistency across digital properties.

SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE

Here's the meta moment of the article. I'm writing a blog post, showcasing that I understand digital marketing. Regardless of whether or not you like my writing style, in a matter of minutes, my voice will reach far more people than it would if I were explaining this face-to-face.

And there's no excuse for any business owner to not being doing something similar. In recent years, social media platforms, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, have incorporated their own blog posting functionality. These articles remain on your business page and profile till the end of time, allowing friends, family, and colleagues to review past content.

Not only is this a great to highlight your growth as a writer, it permits you to share bits of your expertise with the rest of the world. For those who are researching consultants and businesses, you want to feel confident that they know what they're talking about, right?

But there's another benefit, too. Similar to selecting a username, this is a fantastic strategy for building your brand's SEO. Search engines love content that is relevant, timely, and effective at enticing users to continue browsing. Give the people what they want!

BURN YOUR LOGO INTO THEIR MINDS

In recent months, I've become a huge proponent of pushing your logo as much as humanly possible? Why?

With all of the content in front of our faces at any moment in time, it's never been easier to find yourself lost in the shuffle. As creative as your logo may be, there are a thousand more just as creative. Including your logo with social media posts is a great way to say, "Don't forget about me."

Don't worry too much about the actual design of the logo. The important thing is that it is YOUR logo, and no one else's. Ultimately, you want your target audience to associate your logo with your brand, so that when the time comes for them to look for experts in your field, your name will always be on the tip of their tongue.

TREAT EACH PLATFORM DIFFERENTLY

This isn't necessarily about using different content on each social media platform. It's more so about falling in line with the various cultures and unspoken rules that each platform has established.

For instance, Twitter is known for its character limit. This means that a post written on Instagram, may not fit into a single Twitter post. So, you have some options. One solution could be to thread a second tweet to the first. Another could be to completely rework the copy, so it does fall within that character limit.

Another example is LinkedIn's "Read More" button that appears after the third line of copy. Hashtags aren't as widely accepted on LinkedIn (yet) as they are on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. But they are almost a necessity when broadening your reach. This makes the fourth line onward a great location for burying a mountain of hashtags.

These are just two samples of the numerous ways that each platform is unique. It's crucial that you embrace platform culture over time so you can expand your reach, engage with more followers, and drive others towards your brand.

SUMMARY

Many business owners completely underestimate how complex social media is and only scratch the surface when utilizing them as a powerful tool to building their business. Doing so is a huge mistake because for every individual who doesn't see the value in social media, there are 100 more who have applied it appropriately and quickly grown their organization as a result.

For help with social media marketing, send us a message at RizzoYoungMarketing.com.