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Small business social marketing do's and don'ts


From the Resene Trade blog

New to social media marketing? Discover some of the top do’s and don’ts for small businesses in the tradie or painting trades.

Social media marketing allows businesses to connect with their audience, build brand awareness and grow a customer base. In New Zealand alone, 93.6 per cent of businesses use some form of social media for work purposes, according to an OMG Solutions survey.

But just how often should you post? How do you deal with negative comments?

These questions and more can lead to a few social media marketing do’s and don’ts that could make or break your small business.

Do

1. Fill out profiles correctly and accurately

Before you even start posting, ensure that all profiles and relevant sections are completely filled out. Be sure to include website links, locations, about us information, high resolution photos – such as previous projects – and other must-include details. These must all be spelled correctly and completely factual.

When filling out other social media platforms, don’t just copy and paste. Instead, adapt the language slightly to show that you have taken the time on each one.

2. Post regularly

There’s a balance to adopt when posting on social media. Be sure to post just enough to foster engagement, but not so much that you become perceived as annoying. It’s important to maintain a routine instead of sporadically posting when you remember or have time.

Show off decorating ideas, paint swatches or recent projects to show your audience that you have an in depth knowledge of your industry.

There are several programmes available to help with scheduling posts, such as Sprout Social. These can allow businesses to plan ahead and stay on track in order to create a regular social media presence.

3. Interact with your audience

If your social media marketing campaign is working well, you’ll no doubt see more and more activity across your various social platforms, in the form of comments, likes and shares.

Engagement is one of the most important tools in social media marketing. New Zealand business owners ranked engaging with an audience at an importance of 85 per cent when evaluating company objectives, states OMG Solutions.

Take the time to reply to comments and answer any questions to show your audience that you are present and care about what they have to say. If you don’t have the time to reply straight away, aim to get back to them within 24 hours to show that you haven’t forgotten.

... and prospective leads

It’s not just current clients that you should be interacting with on social media. Spending a bit of time to engage with prospective leads and customers online can generate new relationships and even new business. Avoid spamming them with promotional updates. Instead, engage consistently and naturally to avoid annoying potential clients

Don't

1. Ignore negative comments

Alongside the positive comments on your social media feeds, there are bound to be a few negative people who want to have their say. Unfortunately, these comments are inevitable, no matter who you are or how big your company is.

Although it may seem like a good idea to ignore negative comments and simply move on, this type of feedback should be prioritised over the positive. If a customer has had a bad experience, connect with them to work out what went wrong and how it can be fixed. Remain professional at all times when dealing with their complaint. The last thing you want is for prospective clients to see this negative feedback handled poorly as they will just take their business elsewhere.

If you receive comments full of profanities or false negativity, consider deleting them altogether.

2. Forget your other accounts

Facebook is the most popular platform on social media, with 74.7 per cent of businesses across New Zealand actively using Facebook, states a social media report by OMG Solutions. If you’ve spent time building up a strong social media presence on this popular platform, you may have accidentally put others on the back foot.

A simple technique to ensure that all of your social media platforms remain on a similar level is to post your content across each platform when you post to another. Scheduling sites such as Sprout Social allow a user to plan out exactly which content will be posted and when. This allows business owners to remain organised and consistent with the content they are publishing.

3. Don’t try and use every social media account

Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest... The list of social media platforms is a long one. Focus on the platforms that are applicable to you and your brand as there’s simply not enough time in the world to cover them all.

May 2018


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