How does a small business owner begin a social media marketing campaign?  What does it take to do it correctly?  

I’ve narrowed this process down to several small steps so that your business can see growth and results within only a few months.  Why not make 2017 the year your business reaches new heights?

Start by doing this…

Hire a Professional.  Freelancer or Part-Time Employee.  Or perhaps a current employee can build their  resume by learning social media marketing from an expert and taking on this project within your organization.

Optimize your Website.  Make sure it is mobile-friendly and has all of the back-end SEO set up correctly.  Your hire from above will help you with this.

Define your Audience. Based upon your audience demographics, you can easily decide (along with your marketing expert) which social media platforms would be the best fit.  For example, a senior citizen audience —and utilizing Snapchat as a tool to reach them— would not be a good fit—Facebook is the ideal choice here.

Start Small. If you delve into too many social media accounts and do not maintain them properly, your brand may take a hit.  Take your time with it.  Build a Facebook page, create content, develop your Likes and build a solid Facebook presence…  Once it’s a well-oiled machine, branch out from there.

Send out Email Newsletters. Whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, sending a company email to your customers on a consistent basis is crucial to keeping your name in front of them.  If you miss out on a buying opportunity versus a competitor, most likely your email campaign is not engaging or content-rich.  Make your newsletters worthwhile; say something important and provocative to grab their attention.

Become a Blogger. You know your products/services inside and out and, most likely, are an expert in your field.  Why not write about it?  If you are not a terrific writer, you have many options for a ghost writer… including your administrator, marketing team or a team member with a writing passion.  Add the blog to your website, and voila!, you have automatic content for social media posts.

Images and Video Rock Social Media. Online content telling your product’s story through video or photos will receive the widest reach of viewership versus just posting text and words.  Even better, a happy customer’s photo using your product or service is one of the most powerful content tools available to reach your prospects.

Paid Ads Blow Away Organic Search. In order to get the most bang for your buck, start with paid ads via Google AdWords Express,  Facebooks post Boosts or Facebook local awareness campaigns.  Organic (or unpaid search) is becoming more difficult to obtain since search algorithms seem to change on a daily or weekly basis.  If your organic results are nil, a paid campaign of only $5/day could do the trick.

Check out the Results. Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest and others have analytics to show you how your page is performing.  Let the numbers speak for themselves and compare your business to online profiles of your competitors.  This will help you seek out where you need to grow your presence online.

Feel free to comment below with your small business social media marketing experiences.

Cheryl Friedenberg

Marketing Consultant

High Key Impact, LLC

Highkeyimpact.com

Cheryl@highkeyimpact.com

A new client I’ve recently acquired is a self-proclaimed ‘old-fashioned’ marketer. His small business promotes itself via print ads, he never really did much email marketing and the idea of a Facebook page is foreign.  This has become a tremendous challenge for me as a social media marketer and I’m embracing this by taking slow simple steps, knowing his business is on-board with the plan.

Here is my timeline for easing his business into social media marketing:

1. (Month 1)
   Create and establish a Facebook page.  
   The best way for a non-Facebook user to gain a following on Facebook (besides suggesting the page to his email address book) is to Boost his page for likes.  Additionally, I know he doesn’t mind giving out handouts at his point of sale  retail location, so I will create a flyer with his Facebook page URL and reasons why customers should like the business page.
   In order to get a sense of what types of posts work best on the Facebook page, I’ll test various offers, product information and industry-related news article posts.
2. (Month 2)
   Work on the website’s SEO.
   Several suppliers to this business operate their own websites with the opportunity to link back to my client’s website.  By digging deeper into the suppliers’ websites, I will confirm his website is linked on their ‘find a location’ pages.   Check Google, Bing and other search engines to optimize each of their free search tools for businesses.
   Build an email list.
   This client used an email marketing tool very sparingly over the past couple of years and ceased to continue utilizing it.  My goal is to convince the business owner that with the right email message, he will generate more awareness of his business and bring in more clientele to shop.
   Boost a popular Facebook post.
   Facebook page insights are helpful to see which posts are reaching the most users.  By boosting this post, the business will reach a wider and targeted audience for more exposure.
3. (Month 3)
   Begin an email marketing campaign sparingly.
   By using analytics and proving the emails are converting customers, we can catapult into a full-scale email schedule with content including staff profiles, promotions, testimonials and product information.
4. (Month 4)
   Continue to show results.
   Insights, Analytics and in-store statistics are the best tools for showing a retail business owner how social media marketing is growing his sales numbers.
   Introduce the concept of Blogging, Video Live-streaming and an additional Social Media Platform.
   Choose one of the above with the client’s input and test it out.By taking small, incremental baby steps with this particular client (or any others with the same hesitations), a marketing consultant can showcase their business into a modern, cool, hip and trendy place to buy their products!

It’s allergy season and you know what that means.
The itching, sneezing and wheezing associated with little annoyances in the air.  The beauty of spring flowers blooming and green plants budding has an ugly side too.  Do you suffer too?
Let me tell you something.
There are many other frustrations in this world which have the same effect on me as allergies—I’m sure the same for you.   Let’s focus on digital marketing for small business.

I’ve conjured up 10 Marketing-Related Annoyances.  Tell me what you think?

Infographics with small print, too much information on one sheet and no clear-cut format.
I’m not going to show examples of bad infographics as I’m not a hater.  So instead, I’ve found a couple of examples with infographics done right.

The text size and font is easy-to-read, there is a clear message for the readers and the information is simply presented.

Overposting about Me, My Business, Call me, and I can help you.
A general rule of thumb is 80% sharing content about your industry and 20% self-promotion.

Misspelled words
Use spellcheck, please.

Mixing politics or religion with business.
It’s a clear way to turn off clients.  Don’t even get pulled into the conversation on your personal Facebook page.  You never know who it may offend.

Not answering negative comments or reviews.
Allowing negative reviews to fester or bring down your ratings without a response is likened to watching someone get badly hurt and not helping.
All you need to do when negative post appears is to post a response from the management regarding a bad review and say you are sorry for their experience and your business does not take these mistakes lightly.  Offer a freebie to this particular customer as an incentive to come back.

Giving your brand an uneducated ‘voice’.
I have seen many small business Facebook pages where the business owner posts about their work.   Some of these are true epic fails with misspelled words, improper grammar and no punctuation.
If you have any doubts about how your ‘voice’ sounds, it’s best to hire a professional for the job.

Fuzzy or smashed photos.
Only use high-quality, correctly sized images or your brand will suffer.

A Google search which misses the mark.
Sign up for Google My Business so that you always appear on searches.
Additionally, ensure the competition is below you on Google and other rankings.

A website not optimized for Mobile.
Ever read an article on your device which has margins wide enough for 3 words. Mobile-Friendly websites are a necessity in this day and age.

Lack of posting or over posting on social media.
Do you hear crickets on a social media platform or is someone tagging everyone like mad for their 20-second interval posts?  Keep it consistently active within preferred norms.

I’d love to hear your pet peeves too!  Comment below.

Cheryl Friedenberg
President, High Key Impact LLC
cheryl@highkeyimpact.com
Highkeyimpact.com