1. Know Your Audience

- What time they check Facebook, what content they’re interested in.
- Target those specific people who ‘liked’ your page.

Knowing your audience will help your business tremendously down the road. It’s not enough to have a great product these days. You need to find those people who are your target audience and know what they want to see, their interests, likes and dislikes.

2. Engage with Your Audience
- Make posts specifically to your target group.

Once you’ve figured out their likes and dislikes, it’s time to put your knowledge to work.
Think about it - a follower is more likely to like or share a post if it is relevant to them or if they find it to be something they can stand behind.

3. Provide Great Customer Service

Once you have figured out your target market and how to get their attention, you need to keep it! Keep up on your social media; it shouldn’t be on autopilot for too long. Notice when someone comments on a post of yours or better yet, shares your post. Respond to your audience; people like to know that who they’re following is responsive and actually cares about them.

In short, nobody likes to be ignored. If people comment on your post or have questions, acknowledge them! It’s easy to become automated with managing your Facebook, but don’t forget that Customer Satisfaction still rules and will go further than any boosted post ever will.

4. Customization
You can schedule when your FB status is posted weeks and months in advance, specifically to better fit your customers' schedules. When you go to make a status update there is a drop down box next to the "Post" button that gives you an option to schedule your posting. Use this free trick to optimize your social media!

5. Boost
You can also use the “Boost” button, which places your posts higher in the News Feed, so there’s a better chance your audience will see them. Although there is a charge to boost, but you can choose your own budget. The more you put towards your budget, the higher your boost.

Stay focused and use Facebook's free platform to your advantage!

Social media can be intimidating - especially as a small business owner with limited time. We've put together a series of steps - a recipe - to get you started! Let's get cooking!

PREP
Strategies are the bread and butter of a social media campaign. How do you develop one? Start with your target audience.

• Interview your current & potential customers. Find out their age, gender, interests, profession, etc.
• After defining the audience, develop your message. What are key problems and concerns of your ideal audience that you can address in your message?
• Based on your target audience, develop the key marketing message you want to communicate.
• Find out which social networks your target audience is using and start there.

ORGANIZE

• Coordinate your message on all your marketing outlets. You want your message to be consistent.
• Pushing people to your website is beneficial. It allows you to display your message on your website and push people from various outlets to one place. It also helps to automate coordination of your message – saving you time!

USE
Start using social media - but start small and build.

• Limit your time. Spend 15-30 minutes per day on social media for your business. Schedule this time so you don’t forget – set reminders on your phone or calendar. This will help you incorporate social media into your daily schedule so it doesn’t get neglected.
• Choose 1-2 outlets to get started. Don’t pressure yourself to be on EVERY outlet. That’s why in step one we found the outlets best suited for your target audience. Start with those, and then eventually you can expand – when you feel you’re ready.
• Create a content calendar (here’s a free example!) to manage your posts and plan ahead. These calendars make social media easier to manage. But, be careful, over automating can be bad – spontaneity is vital to your success. So use content calendars wisely.

RELATE
Listen to your followers. Comment and respond – even to negative, especially to negative, feedback. Be relatable. This helps build relationships – which is the essence of social media. Share others posts. Just like you communicate with people on your personal page – communicate with them via your business page (just keep it tasteful and professional – remember this creates an image for your business!).

EXPERIMENT
Track and analyze your posts. Experiment with different times and days to find the best time to post that will elicit responses from your customers. Find out what types of content get the best results. Social media is constantly evolving, so your content should be too!

BONUS

• Be authentic. Just relax and be yourself. Be personable. Try to avoid sounding like a textbook – people want to connect with a PERSON not a book. If technical jargon is imperative to your post – explain what it means in a non-condescending way.
• Enjoy yourself! Remember you’re competing with real world activities! You’re competing with puppies and babies! Think about how you can phrase and post things so that they are compelling.
• Be visual. Use pictures, graphics and video. They draw a much higher response than text only posts.
• Positivity is always best. But, negativity is better than neutrality. Being neutral is boring, and boring posts will lead to failure.
• Don’t forget a call to action. Tell your followers what you want them to do. Your response will almost always be higher.

Comment below with comments or questions! Please, share our posts with anyone you think would find it helpful!

Yesterday we started a list of guidelines to help you improve your marketing efforts, today we're sharing the rest of the list! You can view Part 1 here.

Follow Up
Once the schedule is established and responsibilities have been assigned, make sure all is going according to schedule. Check to see what your customer response is to each advertising effort. If you don’t already have a way to register response to advertising, set something up. Better yet, set up more than one way to track response. Ideas: include discounts for mentioning the ad; at the time of purchase ask your customers how/why they chose your place of business, mail special offers and track response.

Evaluate Customer Response and Effectiveness
Develop a tangible method to determine the effectiveness of your advertising efforts. Develop a short questionnaire for customers or include a response vehicle on your website. Use the results to tailor future advertising efforts. Advertising must be responsive to your customers and prospective customers needs. It must be ever changing and speak clearly to do its job.

Bonus Tips:

Copywriting
Clearly state who you are and what it is that you have that customers will want, especially in terms of its benefit to them. Point out why your product or service is preferable to others. Don’t make promises you can’t fulfill. Remember, there is usually someone else offering your product or service. Give your customer reasons to come to you and keep coming back.
One common mistake in copywriting is that companies tell their story first. The first thing your customer wants to know is how you can answer their need. What product or service do you offer that will help them accomplish their goals?

Design
Buy the finest quality you can afford. Quality speaks best for quality. When you see poor quality workmanship, you don’t expect much from the company, and you certainly don’t expect to pay much for it. Good design should make it clear to your prospective customer that you are the best place to come for the products and services they need. If your customer can’t find your contact information or if your ad needs further explanation, it is a lousy ad.

Think of your customer first and you will develop great advertising to promote your company. 

For more great marketing tips like us on Facebook!

This week I want you to define your target market. Every business has one. Your target market includes demographics like the main type of person that does business with you. Think about the distinct age group of people you serve. Are your customers more male or female? Are your customers other businesses or the general public? Where do they live? Can you define the region where you do most of your work? Defining your target market helps you know where you need to be advertising. Think about your target market this week and think about what kind of advertising or marketing will best reach your unique target market.