Safety Practices for Small Business Social Media Use

No longer the “New Kid in Town.” Social Media and its marketing resources have gone from a compulsive form of recreation for many to a fundamental piece of any small business marketing plan, large or small.

What is still not readily known by many small business owners and managers is that use of social media by companies and their employees can seriously compromise a businesses’ security.  Very often, when it comes to maintaining safety and security via social media, employees can end up being the biggest issue.

Whether it’s from posting on their personal page about things happening at work, or clicking on things they shouldn’t while using an office computer, employees can accidentally leak information or download mal-ware into your network without even realise they are doing it.

To help avoid the issues that can result in these seemingly small actions, here are some tips to assist you in keeping your business and your employees safe from social-media troubles, both at work and at home.

Advise Employees to Avoid Posting Info About Where They Work

Are You Building Trust with Your Small Business Social Media?

One thing that stands out today in the social media world we live in is that it’s important to develop a sense of trust with your followers. This is especially true for small and medium sized businesses, since the amount of trust between business and follower will only serve to build customer loyalty.

Grab our free Social Media checklist and free training here 

Trust is essential to building your brand, and even the best marketers in the world won’t be able to sell a product without first establishing trust with their customer base. They must create stories that offer a connection with their consumers.

But how do you go about building that trust?

Use Your Content

Using content is the most reliable method you have for developing trust with followers. Create insightful, meaningful content that will provoke emotion and establish a connect with your consumers.

Next, convert the data into graphical form

5 Quick Tips to Boost Engagement on Your Social Media Pages

Before you plan your next post, start using these easy engagement tips to set your pages on fire!

Read on for our favourite social engagement ideas to boost everything from page likes, post likes, comments, shares, followers, to full-blown stark raving mad fans!

Grab our free Social Media checklist and free training here 

1. Instagram - Boost Engagement & Conversions

50% of Instagram users follow at least one business, the app has continued to grow in popularity since being purchased by Facebook in 2012. Making Insta ideal for communicating your brand's message using visual content - however posting pimped up images is only one part of the equation. If it's engagement you're after (and it is... ), it's important to pimp up the captions that go with those awesome pics!

I've curated the main tips below; if you're after the real nuts and bolts see Aaron's full article at Social Media Today.

Write With an Authentic Tone of Voice - Instagram users aren't expecting a serious tone of voice - they're generally using the app in their free time to look at cool visuals and be entertained.

Include a CTA (Call To Action) - 65% of top-performing brands post on Instagram feature products. Directly instructing people to check out your product or make a purchase can work well on this platform.

Your Social Media Strategy Needs These Five Things For Success

So, you are a business with the hopes of making it big, right? Well, before you begin your ascent to the top, you need to really work on every facet of your business's image, and this is certainly the case when it comes to your social media strategy.

After all, social media is the hot thing right now that has everyone communicating, in an instant, about things they like & don't like, as well as what's 'in' or 'out'. If you want your business to be a success, you most definitely want to be 'in'.

But how do you make sure that your business is doing a good job? How do you know you're accomplishing all of your goals? Can you actually tell if you're reaching your target audience? It's these questions, and more, that need to be answered in order to keep from wasting time & money, two of your most precious resources.

Grab our free Social Media checklist and free training here 

So, as you decide it's time to ramp things up with your social media strategy, you'll need these five things to take you to the next level:

1. Defined Business Goals

Rocking Twitter for Your Business

Twitter may seem like an enigma to you but if that is true, it is time for you to get to know how to use it and to embrace all that it has to offer because its potential is vast.

There are the basics and then there are the advanced features 

If you run a business, you probably have some sense that Twitter is a great, effective way to communicate although it limits those communications to 140 characters (with spaces) per tweet. You may be surprised at how effectively you can communicate with such a limit.

You may have a good understanding of the way Twitter basically works. However, at the same time, you may not be aware of all of its capabilities. Once you learn about them, you may be able to take advantage of those advanced features for great benefit to your business.

• Build Twitter lists: When it comes to business, lists are a critical organisational tool that no business person can do without. One important, advantageous list that you will want to build through Twitter is your influencer list. Not only should you list the influencers on your list but you should also add a place where you can make notes about what the influencers want to know. If you have a capability of answering his or her questions, you will be able to build a relationship that will be solid and enduring. The truth is that communications via Twitter seem to move very quickly. That means that there is a danger of your losing some of the information (or some of the information falling through the cracks). However, if you have captured important information in your list, it will be exactly where you want it and where you can access it at any time. Twitter lists are an extremely powerful tool and, surprisingly, fewer people take advantage of that feature than you might expect.

• Get involved in Twitter discussions: 

Top 10 Internet Marketing Tips for Beginners

1. Make a YouTube channel

A YouTube channel is not only very easy to make but also easy to manage. According to most internet marketers, video is the future of traffic as it continues to grow at a rapid pace year after year. So if you are not into blogging yet, you may begin your internet marketing journey by opening a YouTube channel. Additionally, you can repurpose things to your blog from your YouTube channel when your blog is up and running.

2. Build social media presence

Facebook alone has over one billion active monthly users and other social media such as Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest have hundreds of millions of users as well. Social media allow you to connect with your target audience on a whole new level.

3. Create your personal blog/website 

5 Simple Tips For Profiting From Facebook

Facebook has become an integral part of our lives. On any given day a huge percentage of the world's population will find themselves logging in, spending a few minutes or hours) checking on the goings on of their friends, family, and even favourite businesses, authors, and thought leaders.

So the question is, with all this activity on Facebook, have you found an effective way to build a fan page that not only bring in followers, but also leads them to becoming buyers? Have you found a way to profit from it for your business?

If not, or if you've only begun to explore the depths of what you can do on Facebook, then check out these tips on stepping up your game: 

TIP 1 ­ Build a community around you and your business