Tips for Growing Your Business with Social Media

Do you feel like a lab rat at times, posting, posting, but never getting anywhere when it comes to your Social Media marketing for your business? 

First and foremost, you must understand why people are on Social Media, i.e. to keep up with their friends and family, post their activities, to be social, and to be entertained, etc.  It’s more than likely not to search for your business.  Therefore, if you are constantly posting ‘buy, buy, from me’ type posts, they are not showing up in anyone’s news feed.  So, what and how should you post?

Here is a list of tips for getting more exposure on Social Media.

1. Set up Social Media accounts in your business name.  Keep your personal accounts separate from your business accounts.  Set up as many social media accounts as you can maintain, because not everyone uses/likes the same media, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram (especially if you have a visual product).
2. Make or have made a professional custom banner for your social media sites.  If you are a local business and you want people to call you, put your phone number in your banner.  Have your branding, i.e. logo, colors, etc. consistent across all social media sites.
3.  On your Facebook Business Page, list your business as the name of your Facebook Business page.  For example:  If you are a Real Estate agent and work for ReMax Properties, put your Business Facebook page as Jane Doe Realtor, then on your personal page list your business as ‘Jane Doe Realtor’ that way it will link to your business page.  You can list in your ‘About’ section that you are with ReMax Properties.
4.  Link your social media accounts where possible.  For example, link Facebook and Twitter business pages, so that when you post on Facebook/Twitter, it will automatically show up on the other page.  This way you get double the exposure with only one post.
5.  If you are just starting out, ask your friends and relatives to ‘Like’ and share your page.  In
   
   fact, if you can get your close friends to continue to ‘Like,’ comment, and share your posts, that will get your posts more exposure.  Thank people and tag the ones who ‘Like’ your page.  And when they comment, ‘Like’ their comments and comment back if appropriate.  Social Media is supposed to be interactive.
6.  Educate your audience.  Not necessarily about what you do, but more about the industry you represent.  Tips and ideas.  For example, if you are a travel agent, post travel tips, how to pack, where to get a passport, etc.
7.   Use Hashtags that are relevant to your post, i.e. #socialmediatips #growyourbusinesswithsocialmedia #usehashtags.  These hashtags are searchable.
8.  Post information about yourself.  How did you get started in your business/industry/profession?  About how you stay up on your industry, i.e. classes you take, books you read, networking/association meetings you attend, etc.
9.  Post about your clients, especially those that praise your work.  Thank and tag them publicly on your social media channels.  Publish their testimonials.
10. Post as much original content and media as possible.  The more original the more exposure it will get.  Posts with photos get more views than those without.  If you do your own photos, put your logo or website on them before posting.
11. Do videos.  Do Facebook live.  People want to see and hear you.  Get to know you, the person you want them to do business with.
12. Entertain – Quotes, Cartoons, humorous videos, etc. go a long way.  People are more apt to   These don’t necessarily have to do with your business.  For some reason, every time I post something on my business page about coffee, it gets more views than anything else.
    
    share and retweet.
13. Post about relevant news, current events, things happening in the community, holidays, etc.  I advise staying away from politics, religion, and other controversial topics on your business pages.  
14.  Post about holidays.  Find a holiday calendar, like https://www.brownielocks.com/b3bcalendar.html and see what holidays you find interesting and use them for posting.  Or if you like the more bizarre, try http://www.gone-ta-pott.com for the weird holidays you never knew existed like Buzzard Day or Ear Muffs Day.  Yes, Virginia, these are actual holidays.
15.  Share other people’s posts on your page.  Liking, Commenting, and Sharing is caring.  People will be more apt to Like, Comment, and Share your stuff if you Like, Comment, and Share their posts.
16. Join local business groups.  For example, on Facebook there are usually many local business groups.  Join them.  It makes it easier for people to refer you because they can tag you when they list your name when someone asks for a referral for your industry/profession.
17. Boost your posts from time to time to get to a larger audience, but don’t do it all the time because it will lose its effectiveness.
18. Post a survey.  Ask questions.  Start a conversation.  The more engaging a post is (i.e. the more Likes and comments it gets) the more people will see it.
19. Be persistent and consistent.  On a Facebook Business page, you can do posts and schedule them for a future time and date.  If people are looking for you or your business you want to make sure you are consistently posting, whether that’s once a day or once a week.  I’m sure if you go to a Facebook business page and there hasn’t been a post in 6 months, you wonder if they are even still in business.
20.  If you can’t do this all yourself or don’t have the time, delegate it to someone else in your company or hire someone to do it for you.

      We hope you have found this information helpful.  Your feedback and comments are welcomed

and appreciated.  If you have other things that have worked for you, we would love to hear them.

Oh and BTW - We would appreciate it if you would 'Like' out Facebook page.

Happy posting,

Annette

Painted Lady Enterprises

‘Helping My Clients and Their Business Look Good’

Reviews and Testimonials

Have you received exceptional service lately?  Did you express your gratitude to the person and/or business?  Did you write a testimonial and/or review?

Businesses love to hear they are doing a great job and it's a valuable marketing source to have those reviews posted for those who are looking for their products and services.

Typically when we need a product or service, we ask someone we know and trust.  But what if they don't know anyone, then what do you do?  You probably go to the internet and do a search and if you're lucky, you'll find a business that has reviews and ratings from multiple sources.  These reviews help to build trust, credibility, and confidence.  A business is more likely to receive calls when their satisfied clients take the time to provide this valuable feedback.

There are several sites where reviews can be left.  If you are a business owner, I encourage you to set up your profile on these sites and encourage your satisfied clients to leave their feedback.  Perhaps add these links for your business to your website, on the invoice, and/or send a request for a review.

Yelp
FourSquare
Google Plus
Facebook

Happy Reviewing,
Annette
Virtual Assistant specializing in Relationship Marketing
www.PaintedLadyEnterprises.com

Raving Fans - Best Referral Ever!

As a Marketing Solutions Consultant I work with businesses to help them build relationships with their clients and prospects for a source of endless referrals. It's always great to have satisfied customers, but when they are 'Raving Fans' like my friend Charlie, it let's me know I am offering a wonderful service. I think this is one of the best endorsements I have ever received for the greeting card service.

Here is what Charlie has to say......

All my life I have known the importance of writing thank-you notes, birthday cards, sympathy cards, congratulatory notes and other items of common courtesy successful people in business and people I admired had always been doing. I just hated doing it…the picking of the card, writing the note by hand, my handwriting and spelling are terrible. I would always angst over the process. The card would never look as good as I would have liked. Additionally, because I hated it so much and I would procrastinate so long it was an embarrassment to send the card so long after the event or gift was received that I just never did. What a disappointment - for me and, for the person who deserved better treatment and consideration from me.

Annette introduced us to send out cards and I thought, “What a novel concept”. I could pick out the card, write my comments and send out the card, all from the comfort of my own home, using my computer – with spell check – and customize the font. This would be great!

So we signed-up…and procrastinated. Now we had to learn a new computer program. What had we done? We would never use this thing. What had we been thinking?

Still, in the back of my mind, I knew we needed to expand our relationships and our business. This would be a great way to accomplish our objective.

Over the Christmas – New Year Holiday I broke into the program and gave it a try. I sent out 45 cards wishing business acquaintances, customers and family personalized Happy New Year cards. The process took me about two hours and I was wonderfully relieved. Our cards arrived 3-4 days later. People loved them. The program was easy to use. What had I been waiting for? Next I sent a customized thank you note to our 5 year old great niece for a signed print she gave us for Christmas. It took about ten minutes and it was beautiful. I sent out another special thank you note to our sister-in-law in Texas. She had painted a special watercolor portrait of our three dogs we had lost due to old age last year. This is a special gift which deserved a special thank you. I had that completed and in the mail within another ten minutes.

My brother-in-law sends out, via email, a monthly birthday, anniversary, date of passing reminder that includes everyone in the family.

I received January’s on December 30. The personalized, beautiful cards with my heartfelt sentiments were out and in the mail within about 25 min. I didn’t have to go to the post office. I didn’t lick a single envelope. And I didn’t have to go to the store and search out the perfect card - which for me was never available. One of the best parts is once the person’s name is entered, until they move, I’ll never have to remember the date or write their address ever again. The program takes care of all of that for me. This product is the coolest thing since sliced bread.

My wife and I made a business call on a new potential client Monday of this week and Monday night at 7:30 pm our thank you for your time, nice to meet you card, personalized - with their name in it - was in the mail. I did all of it from my laptop and the cost was less than if I bought the card at Wal-Mart.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you! You have just solved one of my age-old problems. The product is beautiful, simple to use, and something I’m proud to send out to anyone. If I can’t find a card that works for me in the more than 13,000 available then I can create my own. I wish I had had the use of this ever since I was about five years old. At least I have it now.

You folks are wonderful…thanks for sharing this with us Annette! You are our Hero.

Sincerely,

Charlie

Owner

Gotta Eat!

The Office Deli...Innovative Vending Solutions

charlie.johnston@johnstonins.com

Charlie, I think You ARE MY Hero! Thank YOU!

In gratitude,
Annette
www.PaintedLadyEnterprises.com
"Helping You and Your Business Look Good"