27 tips for using social media for small businesses

More and more businesses are looking to social media as a cost effective way to market their company on the internet.

And small businesses are no different. But for many, starting off can be a challenge with a range of different things to consider. We put our heads together and came up with 27 tips for small businesses using social media:

1. Offering a sneak preview of new products, services, or features can help build demand and provide product feedback
2. Share your knowledge and expertise – you want to come over as being experts in your field
3. Don’t be too defensive – everyone is entitled to their opinions, even if they are speaking against your product or service. Just stick to the facts and then move on
4. Don’t outsource your social media interactions – it’s best when it comes directly from an individual within the company
5. Help spread the word by encouraging visitors to share the content on your website they enjoy – use social media bookmarking links for example
6. Solve problems from dissatisfied customers quickly to stop negative comments spreading far and wide
7. Keep an eye on what is being said about you on social networks and forums
8. Be open – make sure you are transparent with your customers – run a company blog for example to give your brand a personal edge
9. Use social network advertising to grow your user base – Facebook adverts are a good example
10. Keep customers in the loop – you can use social media to keep your best and most loyal customers updated with company developments
11. Find new customers by seeking out new networks and communities
12. Make sure you can quickly and easily describe what your company actually does – you often don’t have very long to describe things through social media
13. Create evangelists for your company and empower them to use social media to spread the good word about your business
14. See where your customers are – find out which are the most popular networks, forums or blogs they use and see if you can get involved
15. Don’t pretend to be someone else – be yourself and be natural
16. Use social media to recruit new staff – Linkedin is a great tool here, but you can also broadcast your employee search on other social networks
17. Find your industry influencers and reach out to them
18. Reward loyalty by offering your fans and followers unique offers and discounts
19. Build a customer community or forum on your website to increase collaboration amongst your customers and users
20. Don’t be too pushy or overly commercial
21. Be careful about what you say – try not to be negative about others, even if they are competitors
22. Don’t just transmit or broadcast information – you need to really engage with your fans and followers
23. If you have lots of employees try using internal social networks like Yammer
24. Connect with your partners and suppliers and build networks with them, their customers and their suppliers
25. Offer your help – use your expertise to give assistance to those on social networks that might need help
26. Find ways to link offline and online – if you use direct mail, then encourage customers to add you to their online networks as well
27. Encourage your customers to contribute by uploading reviews or videos of them using your products or services

What else if there? What have we missed?

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