Practical Tips for Using Social Media in

a Small Business

Anita CampbellEditor, Small Business Trends

http://smallbiztrends.com

Twitter: @smallbiztrends

How to Use These Tips

Not a hard and fast formula Not every tip fits every situation – not

everything will be right for you and your business

My goal: trigger ideas

Align with Biz Strategy

Your “marketing needs” tell you which social activity to do. Goals: Generate leads? Increase brand awareness? Drive website traffic? Listen to your markets and customers? Develop expert status and authority? Reputation management? Other?

Yelp

Very important for retail, hospitality, consumer services Respond to customer complaints Monitor quality issues Reputation management Use Business Owner’s Guide at

www.yelp.com/business

Yelp –Business Owner’s Guide

Facebook

Unique mixture of personal & biz Beyond the Personal Profile:

Use Groups as a microcommunity; publicize events; discussions

Use Fan Pages to establish microcommunity – some say overtaking Groups

Advertising available App craze fading See www.facebook.com/advertising

Facebook – Business Pages

Twitter

Combination of broadcasting & 1-to-1 Fast intimate way to connect with customers

and public – relationship builder! Customer support channel – “listen” Develop brand visibility Announce specials Drive traffic to a blog

Twitter – Personalize, Engage!

LinkedIn

Great for corporate market and job hunters Go beyond the profile Ask and answer questions to display

expert status, drive traffic Start or join a Group See www.linkedin.com/answers

LinkedIn – Groups

LinkedIn – Answers

Voting Sites – Digg, Tip’d

Build traffic to your website Great if you have blog content Submit your content Be a good social citizen and vote for

others’ content Discover content for newsletters and

your own blog See www.bizsugar.com for SMB site

Voting Sites - bizSugar

Bonus Tip

Be Authentic!Distinguish yourself from the bots

and fake accounts and spammersBe YOU! There’s only one YOU

What else would you like to know?

Thank you!

Anita Campbellhttp://smallbiztrends.com

Twitter: @smallbiztrends