How do small businesses play social marketing?

When the author (Meghan Casserly) and the small business expert http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/10820.html ">steve Strauss commissioned to write the best-selling book Small Business Bible" In the third edition of the Sgt Business Bible, the publisher of the book had the same question: After the advent of the second edition of 2009, did the business really change so much?

In short, indeed! When he discussed the publication of the book with Forbes reporter this week and a new study (revealing the new thinking that small businesses use social media in their marketing process, of course, in some cases, not necessarily in social media, he laughs: "When I wrote the Small Business Bible, MySpace was the only social networking site at the time. ”

"It's simply that the biggest mistake that small businesses make in using social media is to avoid them," he says, until a recent staples study showed that most small business owners want to use social media (in fact, More than One-fourth of small business owners are unaware of how it can help them expand their business, and more than a one-fourth of them are only at the novice level, as they want to use social marketing more than the Super Bowl's fans of the commercials on Facebook.

In the words of Seth Godin: "We must take advantage of the most momentous transformation of our time, even the hesitation of the day is unforgivable!" In his book, Strauss urged small business owners to fully enjoy the benefits of socialization. In the last few minutes of the interview, he shared with Forbes readers three social-marketing essentials that benefited small business owners.

You can read the advice, or look at Strauss's own examples. When it comes to his own business as a small business owner (he is also chairman of the theselfemployed.com), he readily says, "I hired a 00", and these people who eat, sleep and even breathe are enjoying social media, They may not know much about your business development vision, but they can save you a lot of time so you don't have to worry about learning how to master these new technologies. While they are resting, you can also teach them how to buy insurance.

Similarly, in the recent Staples survey, 85% Small business owners who use social media admit that they are just beginners for managing these accounts, which seems to mean that most enterprising entrepreneurs are doing their own maintenance accounts, because every penny must be spent on the edge, so let's read on.

1, Only Love a

Strauss that the best solution for small business owners is to choose only one social media (from our perspective, we will choose LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest) and then master it. Using too much can be extremely distracting, and a succession of new tasks and technologies can overwhelm you and your team. Just choose one, but keep in mind that the social media that best suits your business is not necessarily your favorite or personal use.

LinkedIn is best for social groups, where they can find like-minded, mutual-help entrepreneurs. On LinkedIn, you can find a lot of people with common interests, they all have the same struggles and entanglements, in the process of chatting and sharing, everyone has a good harvest.

Twitter is a good choice for professional services business. Especially for companies that want to make themselves experts and opinion leaders, and Facebook is better for retailers, especially promotions. Put the free pick in the information and wait

Miracles happen! Strauss laughed again, put in Pinterest. For female groups and FMCG, there is no better choice than this.

2, set the actual goal

Maybe you're tired of selling insurance on Twitter, and after a few weeks of nothing, you decide to let it go? You're definitely not the only one. When new technology doesn't help you achieve your goals, disappointment and frustration follow. But from a Strauss point of view, most small business owners are actually helping themselves: either set unrealistic goals (for example, I'm going to join Twitter and wait for sales to double!). Or too much to be anxious.

How long is that supposed to be a reasonable cycle? Strauss that six months is a reasonable time frame to test whether such social media campaigns are helpful to your business. Keep in mind that what you are looking for is long-term business growth, and it takes a long time to build a good reputation and brand user base.

For setting goals, of course, the more specific the more consistent with their own conditions the better. Rather than setting the goal of "I want to build a loyal user base", it's not as good as "I want to add 100 fans a month and keep interacting with them all the time." Trying to get 10 messages on Twitter every day to interact with cake fans and try to turn five of them into fans instead of whimsical saying I'm going to sell 1 billion cakes on Twitter, the idea is to daydream.

3, 80-20 principle

The 80-20 principle is an important principle that is often cited in social media applications and, of course, is most easily broken. We will be selfish to spend a lot of time every day on the issue of their own or brand-related content, completely ignoring the needs of the audience and consumers. For small business owners, this is even more fatal.

80% of what you publish through the social platform should be about consumers, and these should be the tips they need to be interested in, needing, or solving their life's problems, and only 20% can be about you or your business.

Listening is also important and seems counterintuitive, but in fact it fits another social media principle: only when you know their needs or problems can you win new customers, online or in real life. "Does the 80-20 principle also fit the listening one?" "I asked Strauss," Of course, "he said," If you don't know what they want to buy, then how to sell it? ”