5 social media tools you can use to market your small business
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This document discusses social media tools that work well for small businesses. It recommends top platforms like blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest. Small businesses can use these cost-effective channels to connect with customers, build their brand, discuss business issues, and increase leads. The document provides tips on how to effectively use each platform, including posting engaging content regularly and measuring the results.
5 social media tools you can use to market your small business
- 1. SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS THAT WORK FOR SMALL BUSINESS
- 2. Top 7 for Small Business 1. Blogs 2. Facebook 3. LinkedIn 4. Youtube 5. Twitter 6. Google Plus 7. Pinterest 2
- 3. Why use social media? • Your competitors are using it • It’s cost efficient • It’s easy to set up • It provides you with a channel to have a conversation with your customers • It helps increase lead generation • It improves your search engine rankings • It improves brand recognition 3
- 4. How are entrepreneurs using social media • Build communities • Communicate and advise customers • Discuss business issues • Build brand • Build a database • Establish themselves as experts 4
- 5. Tips • Interact with customers and give them feedback • Participate but be relevant • Listen and monitor what people are saying • Measure the effectiveness 5
- 6. Why you should Blog • It’s easy to update • You can share your expertise • Promote your blog using facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Google + and regular marketing tools • Get your webmaster to put your blog on your website it improves your SEO ranking 6
- 7. Tips for Bloggers • Develop a blogging strategy and blog regularly (1 - 3 times a week) • Use great headlines and include keywords • Add pictures • Allow people to share your content • Include Google analytics Ideal length of a blog post 400 words 7
- 8. Corporate Small Business 8
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- 11. Most effective social media posts 1. Ask a question 2. Share photos and videos 3. Do a survey 4. Post inspirational quotes 5. Comment about current events 6. Make controversial statements (don’t be offensive) 7. Share customer stories 11
- 12. Facebook Business Page • Start a business page (if you haven’t yet) • Invite people to join • Encourage discussion & answer customer questions • Ask customers for their opinion • Ask questions • Allow people to share your content • Include events, videos, photographs, blog articles 12
- 13. Buddy Belts 13
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- 15. Facebook Promotion 15
- 16. LinkedIn Stats • Average Age - 41 • Household income - $109,703 • Own a smart phone - 34% • Graduate - 80.1% • 50% are decision makers in their companies 16
- 17. LinkedIn • Develop a profile online • Highlight your skills and achievements • Add your contacts • Use it to find prospects, employees & suppliers • Use it to ask questions and get answers 17
- 18. LinkedIn • Join groups or form your own • Search for people in targeted fields, positions and ask them to join your network • Keep in touch regularly with your contacts • Build a great online database • Create a business page 18
- 19. Twitter • It’s about following people & people following you • You can learn & you can educate • You can search terms • You can use hashtags to promote specific topics E.g. #smallbusiness • You can share links to interesting websites • Update regularly and “retweet” other people’s posts • Use Twitter to draw traffic to your blog & website 19
- 20. Get Some Business 20
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- 22. Tweetdeck 22
- 23. YouTube • Demonstrate your products or expertise • Use keywords • Practice • Brand your video • Encourage feedback • Use other online resources to direct traffic to your video • Google loves video 23
- 24. Pinterest • Pin pictures of your products online and allow your customers to do so • Develop a business page and share quotes, pictures. If they’re interesting people will follow you • Develop content people want to share • Participate and share other people’s content 24
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- 26. On Pinterest with a link to ETSY 26
- 27. Google Plus What the experts say: Google+ integrates with all of Google’s other extremely popular public-facing services: search, Google Places, Google Maps and so on. Any business on Google+ will likely see an SEO (search engine optimization) boost from maintaining an active Google+ page. If you’re running a brick-and-mortar store, such as a restaurant or appliance store, having a Google+ page will help add valuable data to your Google Places – Source http://mashable.com/2012/08/08/small-business-google-plus/ 27
- 28. Use Google Hangout to meet with clients 28
- 29. Final Tips 1. Choose the ideal platforms for your business 2. Develop a strategy and be consistent 3. Post quality content 4. Update regularly 5. Encourage people to like, share 6. Don’t focus too much on selling. Use the 80/20 rule 7. Be patient 29
- 30. THANK YOU 30
Editor's Notes
- #2: Welcome Introduce myself Thank VISA for supporting and educating small business owners In this webinar I’m going to show you how to use social media to promote your business and share with some tips and examples of business owners using social media effectively
- #3: There are 100’s of small media platforms out there but today we’re going to discuss the most popular and effective one’s used by small business owners 1. As we go along feel free to ask questions and make comments in the chat column
- #4: Here’s a couple of good reasons why you should be using social media 1. Your competitors are using social media to market their products and services and so you be 2. It’s a free and effective marketing tool 3. It’s easy to set up and manage in-house 4. It’s a great way to communicate with your customers 5. Its grows your sales as it helps increase lead generation 6. Google likes social 7. It help increase brand recognition
- #5: They’re using social media to build a community around their business. Community has always been important for small business. We can now have an offline as well online community. Our community can help market our business, give us testimonials, make suggestions for new products and so much more You use it to communicate more often with your customers and to offer them some advice and educate them Small business owners are using it ask for advice or opinions from people that follow them It’s helps build brand among different customer segments You can use Linkedin to build a database By sharing your knowledge and expertise you build a large following online
- #6: Thank them for doing business with you Share information that is useful and relevant to your customer Use monitoring tools like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite Monitor likes, social mentions, positive vs. negative feedback
- #7: Most small business owners use wordpress or blogspot Develop educational content your customers are interested in reading Once you’ve developed content you can share and re-purpose it on facebook, twitter, Linkedin, Google and your regular marketing tools If you have a website it’s a good idea to get your webmaster to put your blog on your website or use a wordpress template as your website and blog. Many small business do this Encourage people to comment on your posts
- #8: Develop a list of relevant and engaging topics you know your current and potential clients would like to read If you use powerful headlines readers will be more included to read your content They say that blog posts with pictures are read more often. So include interesting photographs in your posts that’ll attract more readers Including sharing buttons Include google analytics so you can monitor how many people are visiting your blog, the search terms they re using and understand what type of content your visitors prefer
- #9: Here’s examples of our blogs It’s help us build credibility among small business owners and our corporate clients Its brings us new clients We have found that if we post interesting educational content, with powerful headings we get more visitors and people share our content Our best blog post ever received 8000 visits in one day
- #10: Here’s an example of a small business using a blog to educate its clients It has interesting content both current and potential customers want to read It promotes their services It’s use to share their expertise It’s on their website so it’s good for SEO
- #11: Here’s an example of a great small business blog worth reading. Duct tape marketing uses a wordpress template to host their blog as well as their webisite It has interesting content It promotes Duct Tape Marketing products and services They use great headlines and photographs and it gets tons of traffic
- #12: We have found the following to get us the most likes and shares By asking a question you’re encouraging people to participate. It’s great for research People love photographs and videos. So get out there take photos and develop short interesting videos Do a poll or a survey and find out what your community is thinking Share inspirational quotes you find in books, online and on Pinterest Share your opinion about current events without offending anybody Challenge your audience Share testimonials or stories about your customers
- #13: It’s simple go online and Google “How to Start a Facebook Business Page” and you’’ll be up and running in 5 minutes. Ensure that include your branding Brand your page appropriately Include relevant tabs. I’ll show you a few examples in the next few slides If people start liking your content it appears in their newsfeed and more people will see it Encourage people to share your posts Keep your page up to date
- #14: Buddy Belts do a great job on their page. They sell special dog collars so they use their facebook page: Build their brand Educate their customers Encourage their customers to share photographs of them with their animals and their Buddy Belt They ask customers to help them name the new colours every season They ask customers to help them improve the product
- #15: UC Baby another small business owner uses their page to grow their brand among their community . They do 3D Ultrasound They have over 5000 likes They have a list of all their offices listed They educate their customers Their customers are encouraged to post testimonials on their page Their customers post photographs of their beautiful babies
- #17: It’s probably the best place for B2B marketers The profile of the people that sign up are decision makers There are some great educational videos on Youtube that’ll show you how to improve your online profile and use Linkedin well It’s free
- #18: Sign up and start networking Build a profile showing your achievements and qualifications Upload your email contacts. Linkedin will prompt you to do this Search for potential customers or employees Use the Q&A section to respond to questions and build your brand
- #19: There are hundreds of industry specific groups you can join and participate in You can share your expertise You can do targeted searches You can use it as database. If you meet somebody at a networking event you can connect with online You can create a business specific page. I have a sample on the next slides
- #20: It’s a great place to share your knowledge and expertise You can follow influential people and companies You can pick up projects
- #21: Here’s a great example of people looking for an accountant on Twitter. Contact them directly
- #22: Here’s an example of a well branded twitter profile. Scott has used his large twitter following to sell many books and develop a speaking business
- #23: Here’s a tool you can use to do industry specific searches on twitter. Search for your competitors and see what they’re talking about
- #24: Use Youtube to educate your customers about the products and services you offer
- #25: Use great graphics on your website and let people share your photos. Pinterest is ideal for artists, fashion, photographers and more Start a business page share, tips, quotes, videos and recipes
- #26: Here’s a great example of a company using Pinterest well. They share recipes on their page
- #28: If you’re posting content to Twitter and facebook why not Google Plus too Start a business branded page Start developing circles of friends and contacts
- #29: Use Google hangouts to meet with clients
- #31: Thank you for attending this webinar brought to you by VISA.