Social Media 101

This may seem silly to most, but you'd be surprised how many businesses are not utilizing social media to grow, increase traffic and generate leads. I recently taught a Social Media 101 class for small businesses that had no idea about the power of social media as a source of promotion, advertising and simply, an outlet to tell their story.

If the below tips and tricks can help you and your business in any way, then I've done my job. Leave a comment if you have any neat tricks of your own for those looking to get started. The learning never ends no matter what business you're in!

WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM YOUR COMPETITION?

Brand identity
Target market/audience
Expertise
Reviews and client/customer testimonials
Engaging content

Knowing who you should be targeting will save you time and money. If you are a wedding dress designer, you aren't going to target your ads to men (now rings that is, would be a clever idea!). If your business is a retirement or active adult community, you aren't going to target millennials. It's always best to have a business and/or marketing plan prior to spending any money on advertising so your campaigns accurately reflect your goals and objectives.

SETTING UP YOUR FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE

Who are you and what is your story?
Business and contact information
Profile picture – headshot or logo
Cover photo or video – can be a logo or visually appealing image/graphic/video and should be updated/changed at least once a month
Invite your friends and colleagues to like your page
Start posting!

You set up your page. Now what? It's important to build your following by letting the friends you already have know that you have a business page. Putting money into Brand Awareness ads could be a great start as well if you are looking to build an audience quicker.

NAVIGATING THROUGH YOUR PAGE

PAGE – This is where you post and interact with your followers
INBOX – This is where you respond to inquiries/messages from followers
NOTIFICATIONS – This is where you get notified when another page or one of your followers likes, comments, shares, or mentions something on your page
INSIGHTS – This is where you'll see how your page is performing – views, reach, reactions, posts, promotions (ads), audience demographics, and actions on your page
PUBLISHING TOOLS – This is where you can see all of your published and scheduled posts, videos, events and leads
SETTINGS – This is where you manage the backend of your page, from page admins to connecting apps and much more

EDUCATE, ENTERTAIN, ENGAGE

Your content should vary and focus on your business. Users should showcase engaging videos, local events, area news and industry news as it pertains to your particular business. Save the cat videos and politics for your personal profile.

DO’S

Post consistently
Ask questions
Invite your friends to like your page
Post high-quality images and videos
Cross promote your social channels (if applicable), website and blog (if applicable)
Engage with other industry professionals and local businesses and tag them using the @ symbol

DON’TS

Saturate your audience by posting too much
Automate your content...put in the time and effort! Your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn posts should not all be the same
Post blurry photos, shaky videos, share content that doesn’t make sense/relates to your brand
Use hashtags on Facebook – hashtags are for Instagram and Twitter **this is my BIGGEST pet peeve
Put long links in your posts – shorten them by using bitly.com or simply delete the link you just pasted and a preview will show up, depending on the website – this gives off a clean look

DON’T FORGET TO HAVE FUN!