A Social Media Approach Every Small Business Should Be Using

Are you a small business owner looking to expand your online presence? Would you like to know how to use social media to connect with your target market? While the effective use of social media continues to elude many small business owners, there are proven benefits to establishing a solid online presence.

Sure, you know that social media can create relationships, establish trust and earn a client for life. However, dominating your niche or market requires a strategic approach.

So, how can your small business benefit from social media? Below is a 7-step social media approach that every small business should be using. Put these pieces in place to increase reach and grow your business!

1. Build a credible reputation

If you want to build authority in your industry, social media can establish a name and reputation. From content to conversation, getting involved is a great way to get started.

For many, it's taking an established offline reputation and transitioning it into online currency. Sound overwhelming? It doesn't have to be. There are many ways you can do this.

• Pay attention to what your fans, followers, and clients are saying about you or your company. Now inject yourself into the conversation.
• Respond with helpful comments or timely information. Tools like Mention make it easy to track real-time conversation around your brand.

• Solve problems on a daily basis and always put your best foot forward. Be a giver first - give your knowledge, expertise, and experience.

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” ~ Samuel Johnson

How to make this work in your business

DAVIDsTEA has built a reputation through their social channels as lively, engaging, and always entertaining. One look at Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter and see why a consistent presence matters.

This fun and festive kit has everything you need to make the richest and creamiest Hot Chocolate ever!

A photo posted by DAVIDsTEA (@davidstea) on Nov 7, 2015 at 9:06am PST

Create an easy checklist that you can follow daily to maintain consistency. Spell out each step you’ll take, which social channels will support your goals, and what objectives you look to achieve.

I love to do this with mind-mapping software. It makes visualization so much easier, and all of a sudden, the task now becomes manageable.

Here’s an example of what this might look like.

2. Attract potential clients

In a fast-paced online world, the competition for attention is tremendous. In order to stand out and attract potential clients, you must combine strategy with creativity.

Social media marketing is a perfect tool to assist with that. Make use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram to share your company story. Tell it in a way that motivates and inspires potential clients to connect and engage. Where do you get started?

How to make this work in your business

To begin attracting your perfect client across various social networks, consider these tips:

• Spend time identifying where your target market spends their time. Is it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest? Once you know where they want to receive your message, then begin to craft it.
• Take time to determine what you will talk about. This is not a time or place to be spammy or promotional. You want to offer insight and give away your knowledge freely to begin earning trust and building rapport.
• Like, circle, or follow competitors and other local businesses. Pay attention to what they're doing well and where there's an opportunity to do better. Pay attention to who they're interacting with and how they're engaging their community.
• Ask questions! This is a quick and easy way to find out what matters most to those connecting with you online.
• Be the solution! Once you ask the question, it's time to solve it like Tiny Buddha does in this tweet.

3. Connect with like-minded business professionals

Connecting with other business professionals might be counter-intuitive to how you’ve done business offline. But in the online world, relationships are everything.

Social media is an excellent way to connect with like-minded business professionals and build a mutually beneficial relationship. However, there are right ways and wrong ways to connect.

The right way? Strategically reaching out to people within your industry, niche or community.

The wrong way? Randomly sending out requests or long DM's (with no prior relationship) to simply “add to your numbers.”

How to make this work in your business

Join LinkedIn Groups, Google Plus Communities, and Blog Tribes to connect with others talking about and sharing similar content to your own. Take the time to comment on their latest post or offer feedback on an interesting tweet.

Have a Facebook Page? Your newsfeed is a great way to do this! From your page, go to your page by clicking on the "View Pages Feed" link directly under your cover photo. Now scroll through and begin to share their content and actively engage.

Networking with professionals within your industry and then sharing their content creates goodwill and reciprocity. It also stretches your reach beyond your network, tapping into their established following.

4. Diversify your marketing efforts

In traditional marketing, would you limit yourself to only one outlet? I can’t imagine the answer is yes. Likewise, don’t box yourself into a corner with social media. Spread your wings, try something new, and determine what works best for your business. By mixing social media with online advertising and PR efforts, you will be able to expand your business further than you ever imagined.

How to make this work in your business

Don't reinvent the wheel. Repurpose evergreen content into new media. Test an Infographic, video, podcast, or graphic quote on different social channels.

Keep your content fresh and your social networks alive and interactive through a variety of media types. Test, test, test to identify what's working and what's not.

Here’s an example of how to make this work. This slide deck was repurposed from my post "10 Ways to Creating a Winning Social Media Strategy." With almost 21,000 social shares, it's one of my top traffic drivers and a perfect candidate for repurposing.

5. Make your time and money count

Do you find yourself hopping from one social network to the next? Do you often get sucked into Facebook, only to realize you’ve lost hours out of your day? You’re not alone.

Creating a solid social media strategy can streamline your efforts and simplify your daily to-do’s. It gives life to your mission, vision, and values and provides a roadmap towards success.

Stop wasting time and money on one-off tactics and get clear on why you’re using social media. Once you know your why, it’s much easier to understand the how.

How to make this work in your business

Get clear on how you can tackle social media in a productive and meaningful way. Take time to map out the keys to your success.

Your 6-step action plan

• Define Your Goals
• Stand Out Online
• Research
• Create an Integrated Strategy
• Translate Your Established Brand
• Track and Measure Your Success

6. Drive traffic to your website/blog

As a small business owner, your website and the content on your blog are the backbone of your online presence. Not convinced that blogging is the right marketing solution for your business? As Neil Patel with QuickSprout points out,

"Blogging generates the most traffic for companies, and when you’re consistent at it, blogging leads to more search traffic. In fact, blogging is the #1 traffic-increasing factor, while SEO is #2."

So beyond the benefits mentioned above, what else can a blog do for your business and personal brand?

• Establishes you/your business as an industry leader
• Builds credibility through the know, like, and trust factor
• Decreases marketing costs through an integrated strategy
• Allows potential customers to self-select and move through your sales funnel
• Generates the right kind of leads, bringing your perfect customer to your doorstep

Where do you begin? Identify your WIN.

How to make this work in your business

If you want to build a successful blog, you need to know who you're talking with, what problems you solve, and the opportunity within each of those.

WIN: Who, Issues, and Needs

• Who: Who will you be talking with on your blog? List your target market. Mine, for example, is small business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers.
• Issues: What issues is your target market dealing with? Mine would be finding enough time to manage social media, juggling a business online and offline, budget, conversion, and results.
• Needs: What are the needs of your target market? This is where you’ll start to identify opportunity. What problems can you solve, and what solutions will you provide?

7. Nurture relationships

Social media is extremely useful when it comes to keeping in touch with your past and current clients. By connecting with them on Facebook and other social networks, you can build a bridge that can prove extremely beneficial in the future. Not only will you stay top of mind, but you’re creating relevance.

With consumers' attention spans hovering around 8 seconds, the more brain cells you can earn, the better off you will be once they’re ready to make a purchase or connect with your business.

How to make this work in your business

Sharing an experience is important, but crafting it and having a purpose is even more important. Focus on the “telling” of the story.

The goal is to help your audience and potential clients relate—whether it’s to you and your business or to a past client through a positive testimonial.

Start creating your own stories and watch how people react. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to draw in a client when you allow them to understand who you are and connect with you on a much deeper level.

Final thoughts

There are many benefits to your small business getting active on social media.

How can you better position your business across social media to welcome new customers? And how can you use social media to endear customers to your small business? Answer those questions and unlock the benefits and power of social media in your small business.

This post was originally written by Rebekah Radice and posted on PegFitzpatrick.com