Cat’s amazing friends of Strong Social – Media Blog is a great place to visit as they are a growing PR media site that helps “the little guys” become better at branding themselves as authors, writers, and if you are like me, run a small media marketing and book promoting brand and business.

They know the importance and power of Social Media to help authors build their brand and gain exposure, sales, and reviews for all their books. Let’s see what they are teaching us today about Branding and Using Social Media for your small business …~Cat Lyon

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4 Easy Tips to Apply Social Media Strategies to get your Brand Noticed

Social Media is no longer something that companies can go without. We’ve long past that time when small business owners thought that communicating with their key audience was more of a choice, rather than a mandatory necessity.

It so happens that being present on social networks has become a must in almost every sector of activity, and here are the top 5 social media must-haves for every brand:

5. A Social Media Manager

Sure, it sounds redundant, but trust us. Having a social media manager is mandatory if you want to get optimal results from your entire digital communication strategy. You can start by creating the social media accounts for your brand by yourself and try to keep them constantly updated, but sooner or later, you’ll realize that this activity is taking up more and more of your time.

This could lead to you getting distracted from your company’s core focus, making it necessary to hire a professional social media manager to take care of the work and to take things to the next level.

4. Instagram and Youtube Are a Must-Have

Even if you’re not activating in a very dynamic domain, your brand needs to be present on Instagram and Youtube. Assuming you already have a Facebook and a Twitter account, you should start placing a strong focus on the visual like book trailers or more about your craft as a writer.

When it comes to visual, Instagram (for photos) and Youtube (for videos, of course!) are the key social networks to focus on. More and more companies are shifting their communication efforts to visual content, because, we all know it, people have less and less time to read.

Keep it social with strong visual content!

3. Focus on Understanding Social Media Management Tools

If your brand has a lot of things to communicate, you can easily forget to post certain updates or news because you are present on too many platforms. This is why opting for a social media management tool that helps you organize and schedule posts on different social networks is a life-saver.

Hootsuite is one of the most popular choices out there, but feel free to look around to what best suits your needs, or consults with your social media manager (if you already have one) on what tools you should start using.

2. Try Getting More into The Analytics

Sprout Social is a very special social media solution for every brand. It’s being used by top worldwide companies because not only does it make social media easier to manage, but it also provides detailed-customized reports to help you improve your digital communication. And save time posting by automating your posts on social media by using Buffer (dot) Com. They are an affordable Social Media Management Platform.

“Buffer makes it easy for businesses and marketing teams to schedule posts, analyze performance, and manage all their accounts in one place.”

They both can also be considered strong lead generators for your business if you analyze all the reports carefully and make the necessary adjustments in order to achieve your business goals.

It’s definitely worth giving it a shot!

1. Focus on hashtags

Hashtags are as important today as they were the first time they were introduced by Twitter. It helps people search and index a certain topic, making it easier for you to connect with your core audience.

Use websites like hashtagify.me to get the best relevant hashtags you need to send out your message. Hashtags are one of the easiest ways to make your message visible to a wider audience, so be sure to include them in your updates.

Now let’s talk about to grow your business on Social Media!

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5 Tips on How to Use Social Media for Small Businesses

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It’s no longer a secret that social media helps any business in reaching its targeted audiences. Not only that, but social media has become a must-have for any business, be it big or small. It’s a very fast, efficient and easy to use way of getting in touch with your current and future possible clients.

It helps in raising awareness about your company, it helps in getting leads for your business, and it’s a way of letting people know what your company is doing on a regular basis.

Sure, everything sounds good in theory, but let’s look over 5 tips on how to use social media for small businesses. A more practical approach.

5. Start by setting up a social media plan for your business

First thing’s first. Set up a social media plan where you do an audit of your company and try to figure out which social networks work best for your industry. We’re not going to lie to you, research does take up a lot of time in the beginning. Help is out there, and affordable if you “just want to WRITE,” look to our friend ‘Cat’ of lyonmediaservices.com and she can surely help. WHICH?

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The good news? That it’s worth it and you only have to do it once. At least to that extent. After that, it’s all about her trying to keep you relevant in your field and do constant check-ups on what the competition is doing. Which brings us to our next tip…

4. Research your competition and keep up to date with the latest news

In the digital age, not knowing what your competition is doing is a definite disadvantage. Especially since doing research or checking updates from your competitors has never been easier.

Start by following their social media accounts and see what they’re posting. Analyze their content and try to identify a pattern. See what works with their audience and how they engage with people who approach them. You can even take it a step further, by subscribing to their newsletters, webinars, conferences and so on, just to be sure that you’re always in the loop.

Take whatever works from their social media communication and add it to your plan.

3. Master one social media platform

Spreading too much, too fast is almost never a good idea. Sure, start by creating social media accounts for your business on all the relevant social networks, but try to master one platform before being “too social” on all of them.

Time is a limited resource and most likely, you will not be able to invest the same amount of time on all social networks. Rather than having 3-4 accounts with less developed content, try on focusing on one and get yourself noticed there. After that, it’s easy to scale and take a part of your audience with you. This blends with the next tip we have in store for you.

2. Engage with your audience. See what they have to say

This tip is probably the most important one of them all, however, this does not mean that you should skip all the other steps. Engaging with your audience can prove to be crucial, especially when you are a small business or a company that’s just starting out.

Your customers and the relationship you build with them is all you have. This is why you need to nurture it and put almost as much time in it as you would put in your products and services. Establishing a loyal fan base is key in taking your business to the next level. Answer questions and ask questions. This will get the ball rolling.

1.Create Your Brand Recognition

If you manage to create a strong brand recognition, you can already consider yourself a winner. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should leave your guard down, but it does mean that you will need to put less effort into your communication activities and you can focus on taking your business even further.

You’ll be able to focus more on developing your product, think about scaling up and how to acquire more customers, once your company has established itself as a strong brand.

You’ll be able to communicate more, by saying less. You’ll appear professional, but also close to your audience.

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If you’re interested in learning more about social media management, or if you have any questions about social media for small businesses, do not hesitate to contact our specialized consultants. CAT SURE Highly Recommends Them!!

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