Social Media PART 1: How?

Social Media for small, local businesses is about connecting you to people and organisations that will benefit your business.

So how do you do that, which social media sites should you use, why should you bother, what should you post and when should you be doing it?

How.

The only way to be successful with your social media is to make it work for your business, and the only way to do that is to plan!

1. Define your objectives: what do you want to get out of social media?

• Let people know about you and what you do
• Get more people to go to your website
• Generate new sales leads
• Learn more about your customers’ habits, likes, needs, etc
• Get known in your local area
• Etc.

2. Decide how you want to be seen

• An expert in your field
• A local advocate for small business
• Someone with all the answers
• Informal, yet professional
• Approachable and fun
• Etc.

3. Know your target market. See blog post 'Hitting your business bullseye' >

Knowing who you want to connect with, what you want to achieve and the type of ‘personality’ you want to portray, will define what you post and how you write your posts.

Next blog, coming soon, 'Social Media: Which?'...

Planning to Fail or Planning to Succeed?

No matter what is going on in the  business world, what political changes are happening, the state of the economic climate or local challenges that arise, business need to plan to be successful... otherwise, what’s the point?!

What’s your business plan? What’s your marketing plan? What strategies have you got planned to achieve your business and marketing plans?

All businesses need customers. All businesses need to attract new customers. So you need to put a plan in place to do that. Your business plan lays out the goals you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve those goals. Your marketing plan outlines the promotional activities to put in place to achieve your business goals.

Your marketing plan will enable you to understand exactly who your target customers are, which in turn will enable you to send out the right messages and define the right marketing activities to attract those customers. This will become your marketing strategy.

A Marketing Plan for Small, Local Businesses

Most small, local businesses have one goal in common... get new customers (which means growing the business and generating more money). So let’s plan for that.

Who is the right (ideal) customer for your business ?

Identifying your target customer is key to growing sales. You can then focus your marketing to promote your business directly to those people.   Find out more about how to identify your target market  >

Why should those customers buy from you and not your competitors? 

You need to differentiate yourself from similar businesses, in order to stand out from the competition and attract your target customers. Find out more about unique selling points >

How do you target your target customers?

Once you know who you are trying to attract and what your unique selling points are (what makes you different/special), then you will be able to create the right marketing messages and define the best marketing activities...

What to say

Are your customers led by price? Are they affluent? Are they conservative in their approach to buying or are they quick decision makers? Do they go out or do sports or watch all the soaps?

Talk their language. 

Where to market

What local papers/magazines do they read? What social media do they use? What activities do they do? Where do they live?

Promote to their lifestyle. 

How to market

Advertise – do they read local papers? Leaflets – can you distribute to where they live? Sponsorship – do they support a local team? Tweet – can you get them to follow you on Twitter?

Talk directly to them.

So what have you got planned?

A picture paints a thousand words

A single image used in your business can convey numerous messages, and these messages are providing your potential customers with their first impressions of your business. Creating a first impression only happens once and creating the right impression is vital.

So what does your logo say about you?

·         Will people want to know more?

·         Will people want to contact you?

·         Will people want to buy from you?

Obviously buying decisions are not (normally) based purely on a logo, but it is an integral part of a customer’s decision making process when they are deciding who to purchase from. With so many accessible offerings for people, an enticing logo, a memorable logo, a trust-inspiring logo is often a key part of the selection process, a way to narrow down the options.

So let’s take it back to basics....

What is a logo?

·         Something that tells people who you are

·         Something that represents your business

·         Something that enhances customers’ first impressions of you

Why do you need a good logo?

·         Make a great first impression – an amateurish logo makes you look amateurish

·         Make customers choose you – stand out from your competition

·         Appear bigger and more established

·         Look professional and gain trust

·         To be more memorable to your customers

What makes a good logo?

·         Easy to understand and recognise

·         Memorable in a positive light

·         Able to stand the test of time

·         Able to be used for different mediums (web, print, uniforms etc)

·         Eye-catching to your target audience

What’s an icon?

Icons are generally used to inform people or direct them:

·         Inform

o   Quickly show different types of product ranges or different areas of service

o   An extension of your brand, following the same look and feel

o   Designed to visually inform (remove the need for words)

o   Great for using on websites and on van graphics (for example)

o   Eye-catching and informative at a glance

·         Direct

o   Use as an action ‘button’ – call, tweet, click here...

o   Available to download in a variety of designs, and often free to download

In Summary...

Images are invaluable to get across information and 

messages quickly, and strong visuals will be memorable.

The right image will make customers want to know more... 

and we all want to attract our customers’ attention.