Today’s small business owners understand the awesome power of social media. They no longer deal with the question of whether or not they should use it for their Internet marketing efforts. Instead, they search for ways to leverage this type of marketing to increase sales.

You’ll find plenty of advice these days on how to use Social Media Marketing, but one of the key elements that business owners may forget is that social media allows you a golden opportunity to connect and engage in conversations with your customers in a unique way.

Your social media campaign should be intended to establish long-term relationships with your customers. Instead of looking for ways to get more bang for your buck, find ways to make a stronger connection with your target audience. The reason for this is simple- when you provide interesting and/or useful content, such as educational blog posts, special offers or discount coupons, users are more likely to read your content, remember your company and take advantage of your offers.

Here are a few pointers for developing unique content on all your social media sites:

  1. Post relevant content. Find out what types of customers are drawn to your site. With a free tool like Google Analytics, you can learn the average age, profession and other valuable information about your customers. Once you have this info in hand, write content for that audience.
  2. Encourage customers to write reviews. Customer reviews are a highly valuable source of mostly positive, fresh content produced by your customers. Offer incentives like prize giveaways regularly to generate lots of reviews.
  3. Contests and promotional incentives. Everyone enjoys a fun contest! This is a great way to encourage your customers to visit your social media sites more often. It can be something as simple as answering trivia questions or posting silly photos.
  4. Informative Videos. Everyone loves YouTube videos! Take advantage of their popularity by embedding educational, how-to, and humorous videos into your posts and on your website, social media profiles, Google Places, Yahoo/Bing Local, etc. You’ll get major SEO value from doing this with your videos.

Final Reminders

Never forget that your customers are the key to your success. Treat them with as much respect as you would if they were real people coming into your brick & mortar store. Don’t waste their time with menial, boring content. Make sure your social media posts are always interesting and relevant.

The last thing to remember when putting together your Social Media Marketing campaign is to stay up-to-date on all the current trends and developments. The world of internet marketing can change overnight. What works today may not work as well tomorrow. For instance, Facebook has become famous for its frequent and sometimes major site changes.

If you’ve got a small business to run, you may not have adequate time to stay on top of these changes and the issues that arise from them. That’s why most business owners partner with an internet marketing firm that handles the intricacies of search engine algorithms and stays current with social media trends. This allows them to focus on running their business.

At Quicklight Media, we welcome your comments and questions. We’d love to hear from you!