3 Social Media Tips to Ensure You’re Doing It Right

Small business owners are using social media to reach their customers and potential customers. But are they using it correctly? Some are, but there are many small businesses that are not.

Two thirds of internet users in the U.S. regularly use a social network and they spend three times more time on blogs and social networks than on email. So, social networks, not email blasts, are the way to reach these people.

Here are some tips to follow to make sure time and effort you are putting into social media pays off for your business.

Set Up Your Accounts Properly

When you sign up for a social media account for your small business, thoroughly fill out your profile. Make sure you include you company name, logo and tagline, company color scheme, a photo of you or your business, your company biography and a call to action.

Connect with likeminded people on all your social network platforms. “Like” other pages on Facebook, create circles on Google+, create lists on Twitter and connect with other entrepreneurs on LinkedIn. Once you’ve made these connections, start conversations and build relationships. Chat with your followers, comment on other industry related blogs, join and participate in online groups and share your content.

Have a Plan

Your social network use should not be intermittent and unplanned. You should have a strategy that you re-visit every six months to make sure you’re posting the proper content and interacting with your followers correctly.

Create stellar content. Write snappy headlines, use short paragraphs and include compelling images. And don’t forget to include a call to action. Optimize your content using your SEO keywords. Businesses that optimize and promote their blogs receive 55% more traffic and 70% more leads than those who don’t.

Share your content on all your social network platforms. Make your content easy to share. Ask questions and spark discussions. Blog posts shared on Twitter and Facebook receive 149% more inbound links than those not shared.

Schedule Your Posts

When you decide to use social media to promote your small business, commit to a schedule and stick to it. Use a scheduling software, such as HootSuite, to schedule your posts to publish to your entire social media platform at the same time. Occasionally, link to your webpage to convert followers to customers.