10 Social Media Tricks Your Small Business Needs to Try

If you're struggling to get the word out about your small business, social media could be your great equalizer. Social media as a marketing channel is more strategic and data driven than a few blog posts, status updates, and a few hundred “followers” and “likes.

Expanding your audience is crucial, and Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter let you do that easily. HootSuite lets you manage all these profiles at once, saving valuable time, while Tumblr, Vine, and Instagram allow you to reach a younger audience in creative ways. And don’t say your audience isn’t on social media; the fastest growing demographic on Twitter is 55-64 year olds.

Keeping up with the latest social media changes is not always easy, and your social media marketing tactics may need to be refreshed. At Grovo, an online learning platform that trains people on leading cloud apps, social media tools and Internet trends, we put together the top 10 tips your small business needs to try to take your social media presence to the next level today:

1. Promote a Page Post with Facebook Ads
Paying to advertise a Facebook Page post increases the distribution of an important message so that it appears in more News Feeds across Facebook. To promote a page post, select "Page Post Engagement" from the ads creation page. Pick a recent post from the dropdown, or check the box to automatically promote the most recent post and keep your ad up-to-date.

Below, you'll see what your ad will look like in the "News Feed" and the "Right Column," but you can "Remove" it from either place. Uncheck the box beneath "Sponsored Stories" if you don't want stories published about people liking your posts, commenting on your posts, or sharing your posts.
However, leaving Sponsored Stories enabled won't force you to increase your budget. Under "Advanced Options," you can add "URL Tags" to make it easier for you to track clicks if you want.

2. Get To Know Your Facebook Fan Base
If you don’t know who your fans are, you won’t know what content to publish. Posting the wrong content will help you lose likes, not drive likes. The “people” tab will help you better understand the users who share and engage with your page’s content. Here you can choose data on demographic information and narrow your data down to people you’ve reached, who’ve engaged with content, or who’ve checked in within the past 28 days. You can also see check-in, age, sex, and location comparison reports, and detailed explanations.

This video will help you better understand how you can get to know your fans better, in order to target them with the right content and drive likes:

3. Advertise on Twitter
Setting up your Twitter ads account allows you to promote your brand or company through Twitter. To sign up, go to ads.twitter.com and sign in with your brand's Twitter account.

Once you get started, add the locations and interests of people you'd like to target. Under "More targeting options" you will be able to better precisely and accurately you target your ads. If you do this, the more likely it is that someone who views it will click on it, so choose carefully.

You get to decide the maximum you'd like to pay per day and per interaction for individual promoted tweets and promoted accounts. You won't always pay the maximum amount, but you'll never pay more than your maximum bid. You can also choose to focus exclusively on promoting individual tweets or your account by clicking "Stop promoting" under the other category. Your ads will begin appearing on Twitter users' feeds. You can control your ad settings on this page, and return to it at any time by going to ads.twitter.com.

4. Convert to a Pinterest Business Profile:
Pinterest now allows businesses to have official accounts. These accounts allow companies to more effectively interact with their audiences on Pinterest.

By visiting business.pinterest.com, you can either create a new business profile or convert an existing profile to a business account. To create a new business profile, click "Join as a business." You'll then be prompted to fill out a form with such information as: your business type; your contact info and password; the business name and logo; and a description and website.

Business accounts, you only need to provide a single name, rather than first and last name with personal accounts. To convert an existing profile, select "Convert your Existing Account" on the Pinterest Business page. Log in to your account, provide the required information, accept the terms of service and click "Convert Account." After creating or converting your account, you'll see a Get Started page that can help you Verify your website, install a pinterest widget on your site, drive traffic back to your site, and grow your audience.

5. Make Your Business Googleable
Google Places for Business allows you to manage the information Google displays about your business in search results, your Google+ profile page, your Adwords account, and Google offers all from a single dashboard.

To get started on Google Places for Business, go to google.com/places and click "Get started for free." Log in with your Google Account or Google apps username and password. In the popup, choose whether you'd like to be notified about future release information, agree to the terms of service, and hit "Okay, got it!"

Type your business name, location information, business phone number, and business type. On the next page, verify your account to prove you really own the address, or "Continue and verify later."Note that your page won't be displayed on Google until you verify it. Next, click "Edit information" and add your business's hours, a description, and photos. Your changes will be saved automatically.

6. Post Simultaneously to Multiple Social Networks
Once you've added social networks, you can use HootSuite to post to multiple networks at once.
First, select the profiles you want to send this message to in the box to the right of the compose box at the top of any page. You can select as many profiles as you have connected. Deselect a profile by clicking its icon again. Click into the "Compose" window and type the message you want to send.You can type up to the most lenient character limit of the networks that you selected. You'll see each limit decrease to the bottom left as you type.

If you exceed the limit of one of your networks, the number will turn red and go into the negatives. This lets you know how much of your message will be cut off with an ellipsis on that network. Click the location icon to add location data to your message, and the lock to adjust your privacy settings. Click "Send Now," and your message will be posted to all the profiles you selected.

7. Help Search Engines Find your Videos
Adding tags and video categories can improve the performance of your videos by helping search engines find them when users search for your tags and similar terms. You can add tags when you upload your video, or at any time after by selecting "Video Manager" in the dropdown below your username. Check off a tag you've already used to include it, or type in the box above to find a specific tag or create a new one. You can also choose a video category that matches your title, description and tags to help improve your video's search ranking even more.

8. Track the Performance of your Tweets
There are many ways to advertise your business, this way has 140 character restrictions. Twitter helps your business build an audience, broadcast your message and send followers to your site. Tracking your tweets' performance allows you to see how popular your tweets are over time, as well as get information about the people who follow you. To track tweet performance, go to ads.twitter.com and log in. The following video will give you a better understanding of using Twitter’s Analytics, to dive into your Timeline activity, followers influence, good and bad tweets, and more.

9. Pay to Have a Tumblr Post Shown More Places
Promoting a Tumblr blog post allows you to pay for your posts to have better placement in front of your audience or highlights a post to stand out on users' dashboards.From the post creation page, click "Promote this post" then select either "Pin this post" for $5 or "Highlight this post" for $2.

When you pin a post, it remains pinned to the top of your followers' dashboards until they remove the pin.
Highlighting a post means the post will have a glow around it to stand out from other posts, and include a tag to the right of the post.

Select a message for the tag using the dropdown below, after you select the "Highlight this post" radio button. Select the icon and color to the right. If you've already entered your credit card information, you can either confirm the payment, change your card, or cancel the order. Otherwise, type in your credit card information and click "Next" or use PayPal to pay for your promoted post.

10. Track Your Most Popular LinkedIn Updates
LinkedIn page analytics allow you to keep track of which of your company's updates are the most popular,and see how your LinkedIn page has grown over time. To access your company's analytics page, go to your company's page, then click "Analytics" at the top.Here, you'll see your company's most recent updates, with more information about each post to the right. To better understand your LInkedIn Reach, Engagement, Clicks, Likes, COmments, Shares, Range AND More… Grovo’s 1minute LInkedIn Analytics Overview will help:

Special thanks to Drew Hudson for today's guest post.  Drew Hudson is a Product Analyst and Writer for Grovo Learning, Inc. specializing in social media, cloud computing, and mobile apps. Since the turn of the decade, he has entrenched himself in the evolution of Web services and digital strategies and is an authority on the business impact of new Internet tools and trends. He writes several tutorial scripts each day, with tips on how to better use the Internet, and is a lead writer for the Grovo Blog. Besides keeping up with what's going on in the tech world and writing about it, Drew loves music, sports, and exploring the best of everything New York has to offer.

Learn from Coca-Cola, Red Bull and Oreo for Social Media Success

No matter what size your business is, you can still utilize social media platforms to boost your marketing efforts. Did you know that Facebook has over 1 billion members, there are more than 140 million users on Twitter and YouTube gets 4 billion views every single day? 

Social media is used by consumers across the world as part of their everyday lives but it is a vital element that businesses should use too. According to a new report by Forbes, social media is more prevalent among customers than ever.

However, only 8% of Fortune 500 CEOs are on Facebook; only 4% are using Twitter and less than 1% has a presence on Google Plus.

So it is clear from the findings that it is important for businesses to engage with their customers through such channels. When used correctly, you can form an online community of dedicated fans that will help your brand maximize its advertising strategies.

Learn from renowned big-named brands for social media success. Here are 3 examples of social media triumph:

• Coca-Cola 

Facebook: 36 million fans

Twitter: 616,873 followers

YouTube: 105 million video views

Coca-Cola is a great example when it comes to tweeting, photo sharing, uploading videos, blogging and social media apps. It has achieved massive success online and the secret is that it has an independent fan page rather than an official one. The fans can moderate the posts themselves so it is more like a community rather than an advertising platform. It is about engaging instead of acquiring and about loyalty as opposed to selling.

• Red Bull

Facebook: 32,282,658 fans

Twitter: 746,963 followers

YouTube: Over 340 million video views

Red Bull has built up a very strong fan base online and it has become one of the most flexible media companies in the world. The fun, unique content that it publishes has made it a lifestyle brand and the company produces several engaging videos on a daily basis.

Just take the latest Space Jump as an example. Its mission to the edge of space resulted in Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner successfully completing a jump from 23 miles above the Earth; setting world records for the highest jump, highest balloon flight, and fastest jump.

Red Bull has become a badge that you like extreme things. It appeals to everyone that embraces adrenaline activities such as those who like going fast on motor bikes, and surfing in the desert.

• Oreo

Facebook: 28 million fans

Twitter: 56,000 followers

YouTube: 5,258,025 video views

Oreo’s social media marketing strategies are admired simply because it plays on the fact that it is a highly recognizable brand.

It creates a lot of buzz and has built a strong community to achieve high engagement rates. They have a ‘fan of the week’, a ‘birthday of the day’, and they ask their fans to share their ‘Oreo moments’.

Essentially, they have achieved success because they reach consumers in a personal manner and make it fun.

Conclusion…

Brands that do well on social media tend to be the biggest brands in the world. But SMEs can emulate the likes of the companies mentioned above by employing the right techniques.

Don’t think of it as a marketing channel that you have to get involved with; think of it as what your brand can do for customers online. Social media is a relationship, not an advertising platform. Start genuine conversations with your consumers, engage with them and think of it as a community.

Once you have made the contact, it is an on-going practice. Even the likes of firms such as Red Bull needs to continuously engage with their fans or they will go elsewhere.

This guest blog post was provided by Custard, a creative marketing agency based near Manchester England that specializes in innovative social media strategies.

Killin' It with a Facebook Campaign: SnapKnot Case Study

As the economy forces small businesses to manage on limited resources and use out-of-the-box marketing, social media has emerged as a powerful low-cost marketing tool. Last week I had the honor of speaking with Mike Rheaume, co-founder of SnapKnot – one of today’s fastest growing photography websites. Mike shared his insight into successful social media marketing and gave me a new appreciation for leveraging the power of social to grow your business.

SnapKnot is an online platform that matches engaged couples with wedding photographers in their local area and price range. The site, featured on TechCrunch earlier this year, has seen explosive growth thanks to the proper use of social media.

It’s a Contest
In addition to meeting a specific market need, SnapKnot has done an amazing job of leveraging social media to achieve significant growth. And it all began thanks to a Boston-area startup named SocialContests that designed a Facebook contest designed to exponentially increase followers. SnapKnot encouraged participation among photographers by offering a $3,000 camera to one lucky winner and promoting the contest via their website, online media partners, and email list.

The Facebook contest, which took place over a 3 month period, had a direct and dramatic impact on follower count. Snapknot saw a more than 700% jump, now boasting more than 79,000 fans. More importantly, these followers have translated into increased revenue through new membership subscriptions and prospective leads on the wedding photography website.


More than a Contest
One of the most impressive aspects of this case study does not come from the utilization of social media itself, but the well-executed marketing program behind the contest itself. There are a few things that SnapKnot did extremely well with contest partner SocialContests to ensure a positive return on their contest:

1. Incentives for a specific audience. SnapKnot knows their customers extremely well. As such, they didn't just offer any type of camera for the contest but one that was highly valued among professional photographers. By understanding the audience and providing a product that was sought after, SnapKnot showed their knowledge and expertise while creating a true incentive for their audience.

2. Capturing information from users. Not only did the contest encourage users to become fans of the wedding photography site, it also required name and email address as well as a qualifying question to be answered for participation. Building a house list is one of the most powerful tools in any marketing arsenal, especially when integrated with a drip marketing program that moves individuals through a purchase decision process leading to interest, desire, and purchase.

3. Leverage the power of social. Offering a great incentive for little cost (name and email) SnapKnot realized that much of their success would come from tapping social networks of photographers who they normally could not reach. Through a contest sharing feature, many photographers learned about the contest through social shares and emails from their friends.

By applying a number of effective marketing strategies, SnapKnot was able to gain momentum for their contest and their brand. If you never thought social could give you the boost you needed to kick-start a campaign or grow your pipeline, think again. Given the cash-strapped state of small businesses and start-ups, I think SnapKnot’s use of a Facebook contest to elevate their brand and drive ROI was nothing short of genius. A well-executed contest or social strategy can be the different between profit and failure.

If you haven’t considered contests as part of your marketing strategy, I encourage you to learn more about Facebook related contests and determine how you can leverage them for your own business.

If you’re interested in learning more about SnapKnot, or would like to learn more about their social engagement, visit SnapKnot Facebook Page.

How to Host an Effective Facebook Competition For Your Business

Facebook has become a phenomenon and an invaluable marketing tool.  It is becoming increasingly popular as a space to host competitions and there are some key points to understand in order to run a successful Facebook promotion.

Understand the Rules of Facebook

The key point to understand is that all promotions must be run through a 3rd party app.  This is true in all cases even if the competition simply involves submitting a name.  Even though there are numerous competitions on Facebook which ignore this rule, they do so at the risk of having their Facebook presence shut down completely.  If the cost of using a 3rd party app would be prohibitive, it is possible to use Facebook to promote a contest which is being hosted elsewhere such as on a blog or a 3rd party website.

The 2nd most important rule is that all promotions on Facebook must be clear in their terms and conditions and these must be visible on the front page of the promotion.

Understand the Goal of the Competition

Is the aim of the competition to collect e-mail addresses for a mailing list, to drive traffic to a Facebook page or to guide users to an external website?  What is the current state of the platform and what changes will need to be seen for the competition to be judged a success?

Assessing the current state of the platform could be a good opportunity to see if anything can be done to make it more appealing before the competition starts.  Once the competition is in progress, it is important that no significant changes are made (unless they are connected with the competition). Otherwise, it will become difficult to impossible to judge whether the increase in traffic is due to the competition or due to the improvements to the platform.

Understand that Technology is a Delivery Method - Not a Goal

In many ways, running a successful Facebook competition is essentially identical to running any other sort of competition.

Make the effort needed to enter the competition commensurate with the prize on offer.  Users may leave their e-mail address for a small prize, but are unlikely to go to any great degree of effort unless the prize is very desirable.  A great way to find out what people find desirable is simply to ask current users what they would like to see as a competition prize.

Encourage users to make their friends aware.  Since the number of entrants in a competition reduces each individual's chances of winning, giving free entries in return for referring other people is a common strategy for encouraging people to spread the word.

Make sure that everything works as it should.  This is possibly the most fundamental rule of all; however it is surprising how often it is ignored.  Any questions must be checked and double-checked (both for accuracy and for spelling) and if the answers to them should be found on a website make sure they are there.  Likewise, check that the method for entering the competition works as it should and is regularly monitored for glitches, technical or otherwise.

Special guest post by Amy Harris who is a writer forExpert Marketwhich offers a free service to businesses, providing a sourcing tool for finding office equipment and business services. She enjoys helping businesses discover the best marketing strategy.

Facebook Marketing: Looking Towards the Future

The recent announcement about Facebook going public mean a lot for marketers.  You might be asking yourself whether or not the $38 stock price is a good buy.  Personally, I think the stock price itself is meaningless.  What's significant is the fact that Facebook, much like Google, is here to stay.

It's quite conceivable that Facebook will morph and change significantly over the next few years.  But the reality is that they can.  Companies like FB and Google have something that most small companies do not - resources.  And when you combine social and marketing companies with resources, something amazing happens.  That something is innovation.

If you remember a time before Google Adwords and pay-per-click advertising, marketing was drastically different.  We were more focused on print ads, print advertising, and direct response.  At the time we didn't know how limited we were with regard to user information, behavioral data, and community.  One of the reasons marketing has changed so significantly is because large companies were in a position to bring innovations to the marketing world.

Facebook is in the same boat.  Now they have even greater resources to invest in innovation and taking the marketing community to the next level.  I don't know what they have in store but once thing is certain - they wont stand still.  Begin a public company all eyes will be on Facebook, quarter after quarter and year after year.  This pressure combined with billions in assets gives them not only the incentive to innovate but the resources as well.

It seems like everyday, small companies like Instagram and others come out of the woodwork but the reality is that they are far and few between.  Those you read about are often started in a college dorm room (where I would argue there is little or no risk) or are backed by large investors.  I think innovation would happen without these scenarios but it would take much long and the results would likely be far less interesting. 

Just as Google has brought major changes to the online world, so will Facebook.  As is true with most advertising platforms, the systems start off by copying what's already out there.  In time, they develop innovations of their own.  And finally, because the platform has so much of the addressable market, the technology is distributed and soon everyone has adopted a new advertising model.

I believe this is the trend we will see with Facebook.  Look for the blue giant to innovate and raise the bar when it comes to reaching or influencing potential customers.  They have the platform, they have the audience, and now, they have the incentive to innovate.  This is a perfect storm for once again changing how marketing is done!

Making Friends: Social Media Meets Facebook

I don't know about you but it seems like everywhere you turn someone is talking about Facebook.  Individuals, companies, organizations - just about everybody has a Facebook account or fan page.  From a marketing perspective, Facebook has always fascinated me and I've come to the conclusion that it's all about community.

People like to belong.  When you belong to a group, Like a page, or follow someone, it has meaning.  Many people like to judge their worth by the number of Facebook fans they have or number of Likes they receive to their pages.  This seems to be a good metric.  After all, the more fans or likes you have the more popular you are.  Sounds a little like High School doesn't it?  Well, the fascination with Facebook is here to stay and there are a few ways to use Facebook to your advantage. Begin with the following steps:

1.  Create a Fan Page.  Start with the creation of a fan page.  By developing this virtual real estate, you create a community that allows your prospects, customers, and friends to interact, develop user generated content, and gain access to special offers.

2.  Build Your Community.  Having a fan page is great but the real goal is to build a community.  You want people with common interests to interact with one another. The common interest could be you, your company or products.

3.  Create Unique Offers.  You want those who Like your page or become your fans to have access to special content or offers.  This not only encourages them to take an initial action but to keep coming back for more.

4.  Experiment with New Features.  Facebook is continually adding new features and modules.  Experiment by customizing your pages and adding a variety of features that engage your audience and enhances the community.

5.  Promote your Fan page.  If you want to build your community quickly and leverage your fans, you must promote your fan page.  Use your website, blog, emails, and email signature to let people know that you have a fan page and there are benefits to joining.  The more you promote, the more you'll convert. 

The key with any social media is getting started and to keep contributing.  Once you launch your fan page, don't stop there.  You should continually develop the community through original contributions, moderation, and interactivity.  View other fan pages and see how other companies are creating value.

When focusing on creating value, keep in mind the goal of your fans.  Help them solve a problem or learn more about their needs.  Facebook is a great tool for getting closer to your prospects and customers and is a community you can't afford to be without.