Small business marketing solutions are the holy grail for many small business owners, especially since the owners are pretty much the bosses of their very own online worlds—or at least it may feel that way. Nobody really has to tell them what to post and say on their Facebook page, Twitter account, even on the blog.
Want to post about the business every waking moment? How about that movie you saw last week and can't stop talking about? Nobody's going to stop you because it's not their page—it's yours. If they don't want to see it, they don't have to follow.
Oh, wait. What about when that really happens? Most small business owners realize social media isn't just a source of industry headlines and real-time news—it's also a valuable (and cheap!) marketing tool to gain business followers and customers. What happens when those customers stop hitting the Like button, or even worse, start to unfollow?
Perhaps a business owner is committing one of the three sins of social media marketing. Not so sure what they are? There's a chance you're turning people off, too.
Snafu No. 1: It's all one-sided
Nobody said you have to make best friends online, and some business owners may indeed be too busy to create back-and-forth relationships with social media users they connect with. However, this doesn't mean online communication should be one-sided because that could be damaging for a business' online presence.
Instead of ignoring Facebook and blog comments or Twitter replies, take a few minutes out of the day to send a quick message back. Answer people's questions, thank them for their feedback or comment, even respond to their hello by saying hi back. It doesn't take much time, but it can be hugely beneficial in keeping current customers.
Snafu No. 2: Wr1tiNg LyKe THiz
Most customers know that small business owners are normal people, so they are mostly forgiving of small grammatical errors, mistakes and even some non-business related posts every now and then. However, business owners can easily commit a social media sin when they frequently misspell words, ignore grammar rules and throw all forms of punctuation out the window.
Social media fans and followers won't take the time to sort through a confusing post riddled with grammatical errors, and business owners shouldn't expect them to. The same goes for all forms of marketing, including emails and web copy.
Snafu No. 3: Hold the spam
This may be totally unintentional on a business owner's part, but it happens time and time again, most commonly resulting in a disinterested audience who can't click the Unlike button fast enough.
Talking about the business every now and then is welcome and necessary—after all, isn't that the whole point of a business's social media account? But simply copying and pasting the same message over and over again for followers will just not cut it. Avoid excessive messages that people will tire of and always try to keep content fresh and interesting, even when it's recycled business updates and promotional news.
