Social media can be an excellent tool and resource for a company, for many reasons. You can reach out to clients about a number of different topics, encouraging repeat business and connecting you in a personal way as well. This is not something that was available to businesses, in the same way, decades ago. Granted, there were those friendly neighborhood shops and everyone knew everyone else’s business (is that a good thing?), but today we are truly living in the idea age. We have the ability to be personable and build business relationships without sacrificing our privacy to the full extent. It is called social media. That said, in order to utilize social media in our business, we need to build a following. We need to spend some time building those relationships that we are talking about here. So, let’s start with some tips and strategies to help us to accomplish that. Ready?
Create a Promotion for “Friends” or “Likes”
Do you want people to like your page or become your friend? If that is the case, give them something for doing it! For example, offer a coupon with a certain percentage off of a service that you provide. Or a couple for an upgraded service. You can also make the coupon invalid for the first trip, ensuring that the customer must come back to use it. That is only one suggestion and with the use of technology (and things like QR scanning), the sky is the limit on what you could do.
Be Entertaining or Informative
Don’t post boring things on your social media page. Be entertaining! Post a joke (an appropriate joke) every now and then. You can also be informative and post information that your clients might find useful. Sometimes people like to see the personal side of a company, too. Don’t be afraid to include announcements of babies born, weddings, and office holiday pictures. If you post things that people need or like, they are more likely to pay attention to your page… and your company. It is about building those relationships!
Don’t Overdo It
Have you ever received an email from a particular company and you receive it every day, to a point that it annoys you? I have. You know what I end up doing? You guessed it. I unsubscribe! The sad thing is that many times it isn’t necessarily a bad email. It may even be informative, but receiving it daily, or worse yet multiple times every day, is just too much! Learn from how YOU feel and don’t post on social media every hour. Post a couple of times a week and make the posts worthwhile. That builds consistency. If your company is such that more volume can be handled, go for it. Just keep in mind to find that balance, build relationships, and keep consistent. Also, posting on social media has a different level of threshold and tolerance than an email newsletter. Keep that in mind while you are making your decisions.
Hire a Professional
Managing a social media profile and/or page takes time. If you are not able to devote your time and energy to the social media management needs, think about hiring someone or an agency who may be able to help you reach your objectives. Keep in mind that even if you hire someone, you will still want to check up on the business social profiles to ensure that they are being managed in the way that you want it managed.
Take Time to Learn
Even if you hired a professional, make a point to sit down for a couple of hours and learn what you can about managing the page yourself. The more you know, the more you’ll be able to step in when necessary. You’ll also be able to have more effective conversations with people who are helping manage it.
Social media is very useful, especially if you use if properly. Follow these tips to make your business social media profiles and online presence work for you. You are on your way to that success that you dreamed of having!