25 Social Media Tips for Small Business. Use these tips to boost your social media marketing and increase the engagement of your followers. Smarterpillar founder Mark Ferguson created this list based on the queries he receives from his clients. His work as a digital marketing consultant in Oxford gives him an insight into the sorts of issues small businesses come up against when trying to implement a social media strategy.

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25 Social Media Tips
for Small Business
AUTHOR : MARK FERGUSON
SMARTERPILLAR.COM

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Mark Ferguson
• Blog at Smarterpillar.com
• Director of IT at Business Services Firm
• Writer on Social MediaToday

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Small Business is Tough
• Limited time, budget and resources
• Money spent on advertising needs ROI
• Often advice doesn’t this take into account

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Why Social Media for Business?
• It’s the word-of-mouth advertising of today…
• …on steroids and caffeine
• It can be cheaper than traditional marketing with far greater rewards

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#1. Focus On One Social Media Platform At A Time
• Makes workload manageable
• Choose platform that your potential customers use
#2. You Will Need Content To Share
• Share content from other sites which your followers find interesting
• Start a blog for original content

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#3. Create A Schedule
• Don’t make mistake of ‘fitting it in when you can’
• If possible, involve as many people as you can
#4. Be Consistent With Your Images And Social Media
Names
• Use the same header images and logos on your profiles
• If possible, use the same name for each platform

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#5. Tweet, Tweet and Tweet Again
• You can never tweet too much
• When you publish new content, tweet about it multiple times
#6. Test Everything
• Try different variations of the same tweet
• Analyse which gets the most engagement

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#7. Analyse Your Updates To Find The Best Times
• Initially, post at various times of day to find best time
• Use that time to promote your own content rather than someone else’s
#8. Add Images To Your Updates
• All social media networks allow you to add images
• Analyse to see if it increases engagement

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#9. Connect To Target Companies And Their Owners
• Connect with target customers not just current customers
• Find the decision makers in these companies and connect to them too
#10. Use Companies Social Media Names
• Use ‘@company’ or ‘@person’ in tweets so they get a notification
• You never know where it will lead

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#11. Respond to Messages
• Where message isn’t automated or spam, respond
• This politeness pays dividends down the line
#12. Link From Your Profiles To Your Main Website
• Better link back to a ‘benefits’ page rather than homepage
• It may seem obvious but often gets forgotten

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#13. Announce Promotions And Deals on Social Media
• Others spread the word about your promotion
• Add some urgency by including a time limit
#14. Place Links To Your Social Media Profiles On Your
Email Footer
• Creates a lot of extra exposure for your business
• People you email are already interested in your business so will engage

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#15. Don't Be Afraid To Promote Your Products Or
Services
• You are unlikely to convert customers with one post or tweet
• Find the right ‘soft sell’ balance for your updates
#16. Spend Money On Advertising
• It doesn’t have to be expensive
• You can make an impact with only a couple of pounds a day

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#17. Don't Always Put A Link In Your Post Or Tweet
• Sprinkle in a few conversational tweets
• Ask a question or quote an influencer
#18. Experiment And Be Creative
• Get very quick feedback on if something’s worked
• Social media has a short memory so no lasting damage

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#19. If You Find Something That Works, Repeat It Again
• Repeat the formula until it stops working
• Define what you consider to be ‘success’
#20. Integrated Campaigns
• When comfortable, use other platforms to cross promote
• Use one network to publicise another

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#21. Customer Service
• Deal positively with customer service issues
• Shows potential customers how good you are
#22. Be Consistent
• Consistency is the key to sticking out from your competitors
• You can only achieve consistency with a sustainable strategy

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#23. Automate, Automate Automate
• Plenty of tools available to speed up processes
• I use Buffer, Crowdfire and Swayy amongst others
# 24. Be Patient
• People expect results too quickly
• What will you gain from stopping?

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#25. Have Fun!!!!!!
• Social media marketing should be fun

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For Further Info, Please Visit :
• Smarterpillar.com
• SocialMediaToday.com/users/Mark-Ferguson