Most businesses big and small are now using social media within their marketing strategy. For the most part, the larger companies with the bigger budgets are getting this right but for the small business, it is a challenge to know how to use the tools. This will vary massively depending on your intended audience but there is a key principle that you need to follow, networking.

If you have ever attended a business breakfast or lunch group you will know what I mean. It’s about gaining trust through building positive relationship. Hands down the best form of marketing is word of mouth, nothing you do will beat a personal recommendation. Social media marketing is along this line, you share things that your customer would be interested in and they will want to listen to you. They may share this information with their friends and then their friends want to listen and so on.

If your business is specific to a local area, try offering information that is more personal, information that cannot be generally found on other business websites. You are more likely to have first hand local knowledge, which can be very interesting to your potential customers. For example ‘West Coast Surf Shop’ based in Abersoch, north Wales; provide daily tweets and Facebook posts, which are dedicated to the local weather and surf conditions. The posts are always accompanied by photographs taken early in the morning and early evening and they provide vital information for anyone planning on surfing in the local area. They also include a subtle ‘call to action’ which is the link to their website in the for more information. With only one in eight posts tailored towards the items available in their shop, this is more of a ‘ps’ or ‘by the way’ mentions of sale products on offer rather than typical aggressive direct sales marketing. Being more relaxed about how you approach social media as a sales tool makes it far more successful.

You are aiming at being an authority on the subjects that surround your business so people respect you and welcome your advice and knowledge.

This can be a little more tricky in a B2B context but you still have a wealth of knowledge about your industry you can pass on. The people that follow a B2B company on social media are still people, even if they follow you under their employer’s banner. So engagement in a B2B context is still conversational, perhaps more about passing on industry information or news. This should be within the industry that you operate and strongly connected with what you do. General Electric are very successful on social media for their playful, educational and informative posts. They share news on inventions or the inventors behind common household products but in an informal, light-hearted manner.

Here is an example of a GE tweet which shares interesting inside information of what happens inside a Jet Engine. As their audience is predominantly engineering based, this is highly relevant content related to GE’s business but not sales based.

The big thing to avoid is telling people about your products all day. Social media is not a shopping channel! People will switch off or even hide you from their feed if you bombard them with sales messages about your product or service. If you are launching something new then this can be appropriate depending on how you handle it. Take you salesman hat off and talk about it like you were explaining it to a colleague or just say ‘here’s a new thing, check it out.’ Similarly, if you have a sale on then this can be OK, perhaps highlighting a specific product, but not if you have frequent sales or you are a discount businesses. On social media, people like informative posts but if you can make it fun too then you could be on to a winner.

Humour is a great sales tool. It puts people at ease, which helps them connect with you and subsequently your brand. I’m not talking about telling some one-liners, ‘What’s brown and sticky?’ has a pretty niche audience. Sassy sarcasm can work really well depending on your customers but don’t force something, your tone on social media should reflect you in life as you are building an online identity for people to relate to. Meme’s are a great tool here (pictures with text or quotes) and an image in a post will receive a significantly higher engagement than plain text. Remaining positive is important generally. You don’t have to comment on or share things that you don’t like; you can just stay focused on the things that reflect your interests and perspective, promoting a friendly nature.

Most importantly, there is no need for the sales pitch here, be yourself because it’s your personality your selling on social media.

If you have found this useful, have a look at our article on what not to say in ‘Beware of Anti-Social Media’.

Lisa Cooper

Lisa Cooper is a photographer and marketing writer working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building your brand through quality print marketing.

If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch info@print-print.co.uk