5 Facebook Tips for Small Business

Make a Plan
Don’t jump in head first without a plan or strategy. Determine if you have the time and resources to engage in social media, then map out your objectives and necessary resources to meet those objectives.

Commit
Once you’ve determined if you have the resources to dedicate to social media, then commit. Delegate someone within your organization to run with the ball. Choose someone who knows your brand, someone you trust, to do the speaking. You will need to give them authority to engage with your customers online (twitter, Facebook) and trust they’ll represent your brand in the manner to which your offline customers are accustomed.

Timing
Try to dedicate at least a few hours a week to Facebook and/or twitter. You need to engage with your customers and fans regularly to stand out amongst the vast quantity of information they see daily. Try posting at different times during the day, different days during the week and track results. Are you getting more comments, seeing more likes, seeing spikes in your website’s traffic? These could be ways to measure how you’re doing.

Listen
Don’t just get online to talk. Listening is 93% of communication. Listen to what customers and potential customers are saying about your brand, about your competitor’s brand. Engage with them when you have something of value to share. Don’t just post coupons or announcements all over your wall or profile. Pepper your marketing with actual conversation and authentic discussion.

Share
Try to drive traffic to your social media efforts via other online or offline channels. Add links to your email signature, put “like” and/or “share” buttons on your web pages, and put your twitter and Facebook URLs on your business cards, in newspaper ads, on promotional pieces for your store or workplace. People have different preferences on how they receive information, make these channels readily available and easy to find.