The 5 Rules of Social Media for SMBs

Businesses can give a dramatic spin to their customer engagement activities and increase the customer base by leveraging the power of social media. A right approach to content creation and sharing it in a timely manner on various social channels gives you a better advantage over your competition. You will be more competitive with other companies when you develop more content and make it viral. This requires a well-crafted social media strategy.

To get the job done and spearhead this process, you need to address some social media marketing essentials. From displaying a great sense of quality and style to giving you more avenues for social reach, these social media rules will enable you to build a solid ground to serve customers.

So let’s look at five rules of social media for SMBs.

1. The Focusing Rule

Move out of the age-old adage of “a jack of all trades and master of none.” Create a highly-focused content and social media strategy to establish a strong brand presence. A well-focused approach is better than a broad strategy that intends to cater to all people.

Successful social media requires knowledge of the customer base. After reading the online content that’s targeted at a section of the audience, join discussion forums to know more about their likes and behavior. The idea is to engage in discussion more than to merely interact.

2. The Quality Rule

Quality wins over quantity. Is it better to have 100 brand champions who read and share content or have more than 1000 viewers who just read the content and do not return to your site?

People may ignore you on social media if you are aggressively pushing your product. So consider promoting less and focus on adding value to conversations. Develop relationships with amazing content which will also trigger new conversations. With this strategy, new people will become brand campaigners for your business and begin to promote your product.

3. The Compounding Rule

Consider creating a multiplier effect for your content. One post grows exponentially as it gets more shares. As the content improves in quality, more people will “like” it and share it, which will increase your distribution via social media. ­­­The trick is to share good content with appropriate people who can embrace the law of compounding. This practice also helps you create new entry points for Google and other search engines by making it visible in keyword searches. These searches will vastly improve potential ways for the appropriate audience to find you online.

4. The Influence Rule

An influencer with a quality audience always works wonders for your promotional activities. Find few people who can influence your market, both locally and globally, and connect with them. Eventually, work to build a long lasting relationship for sharing knowledge and posts. If the person has a strong foothold in the local market, then it will work even more favorably for you.

Try to get deep into their value system so that you can also share some information that is liked by their followers. Your authoritative and authentic nature will bring them more followers, and in return, bring you more business. This helps you grow your audience in a win-win situation.

Don’t forget to reciprocate with them. Once they share your post, they too expect the same from you. This action helps to grow a strong and amiable relationship with them. A large portion of your presence on social media should be allocated to spread content posted by others.

5. The Acknowledgment Rule

There’s no place for ignorance in face-to-face interactions. So replicate the same approach via social media and make sure to acknowledge your online audience. The primary aspect of social media marketing is to build relationships, so don’t miss out on acknowledging people who reach out to you.

Make sure to respond to any posts on your content and actively participate in conversations that may arise. Plan to engage with your customer base often so as to retain your current customers as well as to grow your overall business.