Social Media Strategies for Small Businesses
office responsive devices website builder3d rendering
Shalom Lamm, the New York state real estate mogul, like many baby boomers, came to the social media game late. Heck, when Lamm was in his 20s and 30s, the internet wasn’t even invented let alone popular.
However, once he was fully familiar with the power of social media, he, like most smart businessmen, learned to focus on the power of social media. Here are some of the things he learned as a strategy for small business. Today, it is so important for small businesses to learn the ins and outs of social media.
#1. Start With a Plan
A plan is essential to social media success. And this is not as easy as you think. The first thing you need to do is learn about the different kinds of social media. They are hardly all the same.
In addition, with social media, mistakes travel extremely fast. If you misjudge a social media site and make obvious mistakes with the audience, you may be pummeled with negative complaints so fast your head will spin. Therefore, take your time when drafting your plan.
#2. Don’t Assume All Social Media are the Same
This is probably still in the area of forming your plan, but really become familiar with the various social media. Do not make the assumption that what may work for one may work for all. Tik Tok, for example, is a whole different animal than Facebook. Instagram, another popular media site, is really visual.
#3. Go Slow
Shalom Lamm believes that a small business, in order to effectively use social media, needs to go slow and see what works and what doesn’t. And by all means, use trackable data to actually decide what works. Don’t just go with your gut.
#4. Decide What Your Goal is
Are you hoping for simple brand awareness with your social media, or are you hoping for sales for a particular product? Decide early what your purpose will be if you want to effectively use social media.
#5. Be Prepared to Constantly Update
Many small business owners do not realize that in order to effectively run a social media campaign, you need to constantly update. This is no once-a-month job. Be prepared to post to your social media sites at least twice or three times per week. Some will actually post daily.
#6. Research What Your Competition is Doing
Since everything is visible on social media, there is no excuse for not checking out what your competition is doing. Are they really hitting the nail on the head? Then better sharpen your pencil and get to work. Are they leaving big holes that are exploitable? Take advantage of it.
#7. Don’t Forget the 80/20 Rule
In almost every aspect of business, including using social media, 80 percent of your results will come from 20 percent of your work. Use your analytics to determine which two social media forums provide most of your sales, your leads, or your brand awareness. Concentrate on those rather than diluting your efforts trying to exploit every social media site.
