I can’t believe how much marketing has changed since I started my first physical business over twenty years ago. Back then, cheap marketing was all about putting flyers on people’s doors and word-of-mouth recommendations. However, the way to increase sales for small businesses today is to connect with your customers through social networking sites. You can “tweet”, “shout”, or even “check in”, all of which would have been a foreign language in the past… But how do you ensure your efforts pay off?

Below are some tips on how to ensure success and get more sales for your business using social networking sites.

Facebook

To promote your business on Facebook, you’ll need to set up a Facebook account and business profile and invite friends to your Page. If you already have a personal Facebook page, you can insert your website details in the “about you” section on your personal page. This will offer a perfect way to drive your followers to your business page.

You will then need to choose a name for your business page that reflects your business, making sure not to use too many generic keywords like “make money from home”. You can use the description, company overview, and mission boxes to provide powerful copy about your business, including relevant keywords. You will also have the opportunity to provide details about yourself within the “biography” section.

The “about you” section has a maximum of 250 characters and your customers can only see the first 77, so be sure to provide your website URL details within the first 20 characters.

Other tips to ensure success on Facebook include indexing your photos with good keywords and linking your Facebook business page to all of your other sites, including your blogs, website, and other social networking sites.

Facebook offers a very powerful way to market your business for free, especially for those with physical businesses, as it offers a great way to increase revenue by providing details of any last minute offers or promotions you may have, for example the A restaurant owner might offer a free glass of wine to the first 20 people to reserve a table that night.

Whether you have a brick-and-mortar business or an online business, the more interesting and compelling you make your content, the more people will connect with you and give you those important likes that can be very powerful in driving sales for your business.

Twitter

Twitter is like one big global chat room where people, including celebrities, can choose who they want to chat with. You can have a global audience or you can select a designated region.

First, you’ll need to choose a Twitter username that is restricted to 15 characters. Once again, you will need to choose a recognizable name for your business.

A tweet is restricted to 140 characters and tweets must consist of a combination of humor, compelling information, and a call to action for your business.

Your success on Twitter, as with all other social networking sites, is based on providing consistent and good content, ideally within 5-7 tweets per day to engage with your followers. You’ll need to make sure you’re not constantly trying to sell on your tweets, as people tend to come to Twitter to socialize, not to buy anything.

When referring to your business within a tweet, there is the ability to use a hash tag to highlight any keywords you wish to use. This is particularly useful for any “thank you message” where you share information about any pending activities with others.

To ensure you connect with your followers, it is recommended that you retweet other people’s content and always reply to any comments they have made regarding your tweets. This information can be seen within the “connect” section.

Interacting with your followers on Twitter will help you build trust with them, which will lead them to want to know more about you and your business, and ultimately, make you more money for your business.

Sign

Foursquare is a very powerful means of marketing for small businesses, especially physical businesses. Foursquare is a mobile app that when you “check in” will pinpoint and detail where your “friends” are at any given time. For example, if you are at a restaurant in London, other Foursquare users can see your location on your mobile app. Users then download and share photos on Facebook or Twitter, for example a picture of an apple pie they are eating at that restaurant and they will share tips (acting as a review) about that particular business.

Small businesses often offer special promotions on Foursquare to attract new customers, as they know how powerful Foursquare can be. The person who registers the most in a business achieves the prestigious position of “mayor” which attracts even more profit. There are also numerous badges that can be earned, such as “rookie” for someone who has registered 5 slots, “adventurer” for 10 slots, “explorer” for 25 slots, and “superstar” for 50 slots.

Some users use a “shout” on Foursquare to gather information, such as whether there are happy hours on a given night.

Within the administrator tools there is an opportunity to provide details of your website, details of Twitter and Facebook.

Foursquare is popular because it offers a fun (almost game-like) way to connect with others. It also offers local business owners a great way to promote their business and build their list in a less aggressive way of marketing.

Even online businesses can benefit from checking into foursquare every day, as it can be an easier way to let your followers know what you do.

interest

Pinterest is relatively new, and it’s a fun way to promote your business.

Users create boards that fall into different categories, for example, social and fun or business ideas.

You can then re-pin an existing pin (image) to your board, or you can download your own. You then have the ability to type some text (including your website details), related to the pin, which will then be displayed for others to view and comment on. This is a fun way to promote your business for free and increase revenue at the same time.

Pinterest also allows you to sell products within your boards, as well as providing great content that can be used on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

All in all, social media offers a powerful way to increase sales for your business. However, to be successful, you’ll need to be consistent in providing good and varied content every day, keep all your URLs where possible, and also make sure you interact with others by always responding to comments made by your followers. . Following this advice will help ensure success and increase profits in your business.