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Digital Marketing for Small Business

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Tips for small business owners: Social media guide for beginners

Social media for small business owners

  1. Don’t make it personal
  2. Be professional at all times
  3. Share a lot but with caution
  4. Share user-generated content
  5. Plan your content ahead

Social media guide for beginners

You’ve set up your Facebook account and you’re running your page. You’re off to a good start garnering some Likes and Followers. You want to keep going and continue the momentum. But now what? What exactly should you share? What topics do you need to cover? What can’t you talk about?

Being on social media representing your small business can be quite daunting especially with little experience in these platforms. In this post, we will discuss important tips that beginners should keep in mind when maintaining social media channels.

Don’t make it personal

Yes it is often hard not to make things personal especially since you’re talking about your business. But it won’t do your small business any good if you make everything personal. First of all, be professional at all times when responding to comments – especially the negative ones. This will always happen because it is impossible to please everyone. But stick to professional comments when responding. This goes for what you post on your social media platforms as well. Separate your small business stories from your personal life stories. Personal stories go into your private social media account while business posts go in your business page.

Share a lot but with caution

As a small business, you should follow several Facebook pages related to your industry. Not only will you find new information that could help your business, you also have fresh content for your own page. Be nice and share because sharing is caring. This is very true for social media. But only share information and links that are related to your business. Share articles that your customers will find useful. Or maybe ones that will give them an insight about your industry. Be careful with the links you share though because there are a lot of fake news out there. So share but ensure that you’re following legitimate pages and websites. Also, sharing user-generated content (USC) is another good way to encourage engagement with your followers. Search your tags and hashtags every now and then and share your USCs.

Preparation is key

Don’t get caught grappling for content and posts each day. One way to do this is to plan ahead of time and create a content calendar. Come up with themes and topics for certain days. For instance, maybe do an inspiration post one day a week by posting quotes in a beautiful layout. Or post short useful information that you think your audience will like. You can do a weekly plan or even a monthly one. That way you always have something to post. It doesn’t mean you have to post everyday. Pick certain days that you know your audience will be there. There is no point posting when no one is around.

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3 Things that may be wrong with your website

Things that may be wrong with your website

  1. You don’t have a blog
  2. It’s not SEO-friendly
  3. Difficult navigation
  4. No obvious Search bar
  5. Few white space
  6. No Call-To-Action

There are several things that may be wrong with your website. Here we will tackle three of the most common mistakes prevalent today and how to fix them.

Given that your website is the place your customers will go to find more information about your business and your products/services, you want to make sure you get it right.

No blog

We’ve already talked about why your site needs a blog. So now it’s your turn to have one. If you already have one, then there are some things you need to think about. Are all your posts SEO-friendly? Being SEO-friendly means your site is easy to find on Google. And everyone uses Google. Is it reader-friendly? Once you go over the 600-word mark (sometimes even 300 words), people lose interest. Attention span today is very short, make sure your blog posts get to the point quickly. Make your post’s statistics easy to digest by creating pretty graphics to show them.

website healthDifficult navigation

It should go without saying, but unfortunately there are still websites today that have really difficult navigation. You will annoy visitors if they can’t navigate your site easily. For instance, is your contact page easy to find? What about your About page? Where are your social media links? Can visitors find the categories for your blog posts? Do you have a search bar? How many clicks before they find more info about your products/services?

No white space

Why does your site need white space? White space doesn’t mean unused space on your site. It gives eyes a place to rest and makes your website tidy and easy to read. Don’t fill your site up with too much text or pictures, or music and videos. Make it easy for your audience to see what’s on your site by having a good amount of white space. Also, this will help them find your Call-To-Action quite easily. Make sure you have a good-looking CTA that’s easy to read. Remember, you only have minutes to attract a customer, even seconds sometimes. Make the most of your site.

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Why your small business needs a blog

If you are a small business owner you might have wondered why your business needs a blog. What is a blog anyway? A blog can be part of your website that’s written in an informal tone, aimed to give you more credibility while providing free helpful information to your readers and customers at the same time. In this post, we will discuss why your small business blog will help you.

A blog gives you street cred

You know that you know what you’re doing but aside from family and friends, others might not know that. Writing blog posts on topics related to your business will show to your customers (and potential customers) that you know what you are talking about. You are the expert of your business. That expertise will show when you share knowledge that others find helpful. You might think you have very little to share or talk about but if you sat down and thought about it, you’ll find that there’s more than you initially thought.

small business blogIt helps people find your site

A well written, helpful and SEO-healthy blog post is a big boost for your website’s online presence. Without making it too complicated, it basically means when people Google certain topics ones that you’ve written about on your blog will pop up on the search. But you need to make sure that your blog posts are SEO healthy. Stuff like featured image, internal and external links as well as keywords will help boost your online presence.

A blog helps convert readers into customers

Your blog posts will show readers you know your business and your products/services inside and out. This gives them confidence that you are there for the long haul. It also shows them that you can help them with whatever it is that they need because you have the capability to do it. The confidence they have on you will convert them into new customers. Once they become customers, and they love you, they will then share your site and blog posts on their social media sites, bringing new readers to your website. It’s an evergreen process.

If you need ideas for blog topics, try Googling ‘blog ideas generator’ – there are plenty of sites out there that can help you.

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3 Ways to start building your community

Ways to start building your community

  1. Know your people
  2. Focus on your audience
  3. Be a good source of info
  4. Respond to their inquiries online
  5. Participate in your local community

Building a community around your small business will not only attract new customers but also encourage long-time followers to your brand. There is something to be said about wanting a community, especially when the biggest of brands are doing it too.

The hard part, however, is starting. Here are three ways to help you start building your community today.

Know your people

No one else knows your business and what you can provide more than you. Have a think about what you stand for, what your business stands for and what kind of people you want to attract. Having a specific focus of audience will help you reach them more, instead of trying to reach too wide and ending up with the wrong type of followers. It is worth having a sit down with someone you can bounce ideas with to narrow down that target audience.

building your communityMake it worth their while

You are an expert in your small business, and because of this you are a great source of information for your area of expertise. Share this knowledge with your community via your blog and social media sites. Engage with your customers online or offline and make sure you respond to their queries in a reasonable timeframe. Reward your followers by giving them up-to-date information on your latest events, giveaways and promos. This will encourage them to share with their friends and invite more people into your brand.

Participate in your local community

Your small business belongs in a community so it’s good to be visible when it matters. Sponsor a sports team in your area, or maybe your local school fete. Have a booth when there’s an event, or reach out to your local council to see if you can be a resource speaker about a topic that would help other people. Investing in some community goodwill is always good. Your brand will be associated with the spirit of community, which will encourage long-term supporters of your business.