When used correctly, small business social media marketing can be one of the most powerful strategies for a company. Social media proves time and time again to be one of the most effective ways to grow an audience.

Denver social media marketing won’t be going away any time soon. If your small business doesn’t utilize social media marketing yet, we strongly encourage you to consider it. Why? Well, because everyone – including your target audience, competitors, and potential customers – are probably using social media.

Small business social media marketing has a lot of moving parts to consider. It’s important to use this strategy correctly to boost sales, attract new customers, and see results so your small business can thrive.

Social Media Marketing Do’s

Let’s start off with the “do’s”.

Complete and Update Your Social Media Profiles

We can’t stress enough how important it is to make sure all your social media profiles are filled out. Not only do small business’ look more professional when they do this, but it also gives your brand a chance to connect with your customers.

A crucial part of completing your social media profile is your bio. It’s typically the first thing people read when they come onto your business page and serves almost like an elevator pitch for your small business. An effective elevator pitch is the key to enticing customers to check out your products and your website.

Patagonia, the outdoor wear company, is committed to not only making quality outdoor clothing, but they are passionate about preserving the great outdoors. This is all said in this snappy, short, and clever bio.

Another crucial thing to consider when filling out your social media profiles is to ensure that all the information your potential customers could possibly need is present.

Take a look at what Basecamp Cyclery, a Denver-based cyclery (and one of our clients!), has for their Instagram page.

The golden trio is present: A relevant profile picture that depicts what the brand is all about, a bio that lays out what they do and what kind of company they are, and a quick link to their website.

While it may take a bit of time to get it just right, making sure your small business has all its information present on your social media profiles will ensure that your customers get intrigued and stay intrigued with your business.

Create High-Quality Social Media Content

It may seem a bit obvious, but we’ve got to say it. Generic content will produce more traffic, but it will also produce fewer sales. The B2B marketing landscape is a competitive one. Businesses of all shapes and sizes must invest time and resources into making sure the content they release is of the highest quality so they can stand out.

“Consistent, high-quality, and engaging content impacts audience decision-making more than any other technique.”

Publishing quality, relevant content will increase your chances of being shared on social media. The more your content is shared by your target audience members, the more your message will be shared with others who are likely also within your target audience.

While the social media content that you release does depend on your small business’ goals, we have a few general pointers to create content that generates more traffic and inspires qualified leads:

Whatever content you decide to put out there, always remember to be creative!

Match your Content to the Social Media Platform You’re Using

Your small business social media marketing strategy should consider each platform individually. A big part of putting out quality content is to ensure that the content being dispersed fits within the social media platform you’re using.

Share Stories on Instagram and Facebook

It’s no secret that we are big fans of utilizing storytelling in social media content creation. But for the sake of this blog post, we are being as literal as possible – Instagram and Facebook Stories should be your new best friends!

The “story” feature is an incredible way to interact with your audience. In fact, studies show that stories get 15x more engagement than regular posts. From utilizing Instagram stickers for polls, to using location sticker tags and tagging other businesses and people, stories are one of the easiest ways to boost traffic and engagement to your small business’ page.

Here are some great articles to get the juices flowing:

Interact with Your Audience to Build Relationships

Speaking of Instagram stories, it should come as no surprise that simply uploading content and posting on a schedule isn’t enough to keep your small business’ social media strategy fresh anymore. Connection and engagement with your audience often leads to conversions! An easy way to make sure your social media presence stays modern and authentic is by interacting with the followers that share or comment on your posts. Additionally, you can offer your audience chances to interact via Instagram and Facebook story features via icons, polls, location tags, and stickers.

Remember, healthy business relationships always thrive upon open and consistent communication. Not only will interacting with your clientele build your customer base, but it will help you retain your current ones.

Social Media Marketing Don’ts

And now for the “don’t’s”.

Gloss Over Negative Feedback

It’s inevitable that people will leave feedback on your small business social media platforms, and it’s not always going to be positive. That’s okay! The important thing to remember is that criticism opens a doorway to show your customers how your business handles criticism.

Instead of ignoring the negative feedback, removing comments, or getting into dramatic arguments, there are several constructive ways to interact with critical current and potential customers. Two rules of thumb to follow is to respond quickly and respectfully. Try to shift conversations from a public place (i.e. comments and direct messages) to email and telephone communication.

Here’s a good example of a quality response to a frazzled customer:

“Hi Robin. We are so sorry to hear that your order didn’t arrive. We would be happy to refund you for your purchase and arrange for a brand new [insert product name] to be sent your way, on the house! Please give us a call at 123.456.7890 or email us at email@mysmallbusiness.com so we can make this right.”

Neglect Analytics

Good social media marketing is always numbers-driven, which makes a lot of sense. When you analyze the intrinsic patterns present within your social media campaign, you’ll be able to gauge what tactics your target audience engages with the most.

Most platforms – like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn – have analytics tools integrated into their systems that can help you track an array of metrics. From audience reach to engagement rate and even conversion rate, it’s all at your fingertips. It’s always a good practice to regroup once a week and go over the analytics of your small business’ social media accounts so you can get a better idea of your overall performance, and to see what your audience has been and hasn’t been engaging with.

Some other social media analytics tools your small business may consider using are: Buffer Analyze, Sprout Social, or Hootsuite .

Forget to Include Links

You must include links to a landing page, a blog page, a page to shop, a contact us page – or anything specific that will get your followers over to your website. Most small business’ aim to connect with their target audiences through social media, but don’t forget –the underlying goal here should be converting followers into customers and clients!

Including links to your website, or to the precise page you are mentioning in your post, will take away any obstacles between them and your small business.

For Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, it’s as easy as copying and pasting your link right into your post (you could also use a URL shortener, like bitly, so your URL doesn’t take up too much space).

For Instagram, you can put whatever link you have for your most current promotion in your company bio, and direct viewers to it like so:

“If you’d like to read more, check out our latest blog post (link in bio).”

Use an Excessive Amount of Hashtags

Believe it or not, using hashtags correctly can be a challenging task. While hashtags are great in helping your small business’ social media page gain the exposure it needs via a post or page, it can be easy to go overboard.

Here are three basic tips we suggest when deciding on how to implement hashtags for your next social media post:

Here’s a great example from one of our very own clients, Squareroot Construction:

 

Your Denver Marketing Agency

At the end of the day, the biggest thing to remember is that social media marketing is more of a marathon than a sprint. There is no secret formula that will guarantee your post will garner leads, go viral, or lead to incredible sales. However, it’s the little things that will make a difference in the long run. Investing time in analytics, including links to up the chances of conversions, implementing rich keywords in your posts, and interacting with your audience, etc.

If you’re on the hunt for a Denver marketing agency that will always go the extra mile to help your business stand out on social media, the search is over. Red Egg’s creative, talented team knows the ins and outs of successful small business social media marketing, from strategy to content creation and everything in between. We have the tools and experience to take your social media game to new heights.