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Social media can be fun, and it certainly is a great way to spend some time in the off hours. For businesses, though, social media is more than that. It is a way to keep in touch with customers, to reach them where they are at. It is also fairly inexpensive, easy to use (once you get the hang of it), and it can be very effective, if done right. Here are 5 tips to help your business succeed on social media.
Make Sure You Have the Basics Down
Whether you are in the business of selling tractors or a healthy lifestyle, such as USANA Health Sciences, you have to start with the basics of social media before you get into anything fancy. Figure out what, exactly, you hope to achieve with your social media so that you know when you’ve met your goals or when you should readjust your technique; carefully select which platforms you would like to use that you will get the most impact from; and decide how often, when, and what to post. All of this will take some time to master – perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that you can always change your strategy to find what works better.
Get Creative
Once you have a basic strategy in mind and some experience working with your social media platforms, you can start to have fun and get creative! There is no reason why your posts have to be dull, dry, and boring – in fact, it is much better if they’re not. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Make a video. With phones and other technology nowadays, shooting and editing a video is easier than ever. They don’t have to be very long, because people won’t want to watch anything for more than a few minutes anyway. They can be anything from a time-elapsed video showing how a product of yours is made to a quick demo of how something you are selling works.
- Create a tutorial. When someone needs to know how to do something, the first place they go is the internet. Why not be the help someone needs to solve their problem? This may draw in potential customers and can also inspire people to follow you.
- Show customers you appreciate them by giving them the spotlight. Everyone likes to be acknowledged. Let your customers know they are the most important part of what you do, by retweeting things they say, having a “customer of the week,” and encouraging people to send in video or photos of them unboxing or using your product.
- Run a contest. Everyone likes to win stuff, too! Of course, the prize should be something your company makes or at least related to it. Make it fun, and use the contest as an opportunity to post fun updates. Don’t forget to post who won (ideally with a picture of them happily holding their prize). If you do run a contest, make sure you post the “terms and conditions” (the rules for entering and winning) and a point of contact so that people can reach out if they have questions.
- Let someone take over your social media. Let’s say you run a business that sells restaurant equipment that is used by the town’s favorite restaurant. Give the head chef of the restaurant some space on your social media accounts to give cooking tips, his or her favorite recipes, or even to tell the story of how they got started in the business. Besides injecting some new and different content into your social media, the restaurant will love this opportunity as well because it will be good advertising for them.
Perhaps the best tip of all is to have fun! When you show that you and your employees enjoy what you do, it is a great advertisement for your company and your products, and it is also a great way to avoid dry and boring posts.
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