Today’s chat in the office has been about online social media for SMEs, yet again. It seems to be something we come back upon regularly.
I think it’s really important for us business owners to have an online presence and make sure that we are present on the major social media and other online channels such as Instagram, X, Pintrest, FB, ,WhatsApp, YouTube and LinkedIn. If nothing else, this means that we have secured the space for our brand on those sites, even though they may not be our primary marketing channels.
If your customer base is client facing, you may even like to add Skype, Snapchat and Signal so that you can communicate with them. However, if you do this, it’s worth getting a work number that you can switch off out of hours if you need. I’ve taken calls at midnight or 5am from clients in the past because I was the only one they could open up with when they were upset. Yes it was great to help them, but it didn’t do me any favours the following day.
When you’re starting up, it’s important to get your capabilities communicated in the best way possible to market your business. For example, if you make bespoke furniture, it’s worth taking a picture from each side of every item so that you can show the same chair, but in different colours and hence taking different angles allows you to have some variety on your website and also change the pictures every so often.
When taking pictures, try also to make sure that they maintain the same aspect on the screen, and by this I mean that when you’re looking at items of furniture from say 6 feet away, then suddenly scroll down to be faced with one from 1 foot away, it’s almost garish on the eye.
You may find that people suggest you use a social media company to handle your accounts, but unless you are really pushed for time and / or can afford the budget, I would recommend doing this yourself. You know your business best and you alone can communicate that passion; don’t expect it from a third party because you will only end up being disappointed.
If you are concerned about writing something, then start it and ask someone to help you edit it. You can also use this site to get feedback on your posts and pictures online.
You can also use sites to post to all your social media as well as schedule a date and time for this. Which means you can set aside a slot every week and prepare everything in advance for the following seven days.
Also pause to question whether you really need to keep posting news. In a world where people are constantly bombarded with posts, reviews, comments and the like, you are going to be like a needle in a haystack. The social media guru with over a million followers would love your money to promote your brand but at the end of day, if people are following them because they post pictures of cute cats and dogs, they won’t necessarily be interested in your brand or beautiful furniture because their dog chews cushions for example.
Do you think using social media has helped your brand and if not, what has helped you?
