Are you a small business owner? Do you use social media to promote your business? If you don’t and are interested in promoting your business through social media, these tips are for you. Whether you’d like to use Facebook, Twitter or Google+, there are a few things that should be considered regarding your actions on these pages. There are a lot of Do’s of how to promote your social media pages, and sometimes the Don’ts are overlooked. Below are three things that should be avoided when using social media for business:
Skipping the Plan Process
A large number of small business owners immediately start using social media because others have advised them to do so.However, small business owners tend to overlook the ‘research and planning’ step. It is very important to learn about the network you will use to promote your business. After you have researched your choice of network and learned the way it operates, you should plan out steps that should be taken. For example, the social network page can post according to the day of the week;
- Marketing-Mondays: Promote a product or service provided by your business.
- Tip-Tuesdays: Useful tips the viewers will appreciate that also links in with what your business provides.
- What’s New-Wednesdays: New products or services that will be available soon or has recently become active.
- Throwback-Thursdays: Re-launch a product or service that already exists.
- Feedback-Fridays: Ask for feedback on products and services.
- Saturday-Sales: Promote sales that are taking place currently.
- Thankful-Sundays: Thank followers for their time, likes, shares, and reply to their messages and comments.
Taking time to learn about the social network you will use, and planning out how the network will be useful in promoting your business, rather than starting to post right away.
Spam Your Fans, Followers, Circles
No one likes being spammed, it’s annoying and impolite. Spam exists in the social media world, but understanding what it is on networking sites is difficult since there is no option to opt-in or out of these spam messages. It is important to know what spam is on social sites. For example on Facebook, it would be considered spam to update the same post multiple times in the same day or to send constant private messages on ‘the big sale’ to other network users who ask you to stop messaging. Spamming someone’s newsfeed or their messages can be harmful for your business. Such actions will cause others to block your social site and give negative reviews on your business.
Self-Promote All the Time
The reason you are on social media is to promote yourself and your business, however it would be beneficial to take a breather from constant promotion. For instance, it would be useful to share how you came up with the business idea, your experiences as an owner of a small business, or the value this business holds in your life. When you share your attachment to the business, it will help you make friends, and gain followers.
Do you agree or disagree? Please share in the comments below.
Based on “What Not to Do When Using Social Media for Business” by Alyssa Gregory from http://sbinformation.about.com/od/marketingsales/a/what-not-to-do-when-using-social-media-for-business.htm
