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Using Social Media For Your Business? Don’t Make These Mistakes –

You have finally decided now is the time to get involved with social media – That deserves an all caps – AWESOME!!

It’s the best thing that you can do for your business and your brand, as long as you don’t make these mistakes…

Social Media Small BusinessDiscuss Controversial Topics

This is at the top of my list and I know you’re reading this and saying – Duh…

I can show you multiple Twitter and Facebook Company accounts that are constantly posting about politics and it will only get worse as election season gets closer.

You don’t do that – Great!

What about on your personal page?

That is just as bad – once you put something online out it can and will be found.

I do my best to ignore those conversations. You don’t want your brand to be known as the next Sean Hannity.

Constantly Post Sales Pitches

Here is some tough love – nobody cares about your white sale as much as you. People don’t go to Facebook to be sold. Your potential customer is hanging out on Facebook to catch up with friends, maybe learn something new or take a quiz to find out which Seinfeld character they act like.

Don’t get me wrong sharing a sales pitch 10% of the time is ok, just make it less in the form of a coupon and more in the way of educating your client.

For example – Explaining the difference between a floor built closet and a hanging closet is great info for anyone looking and trying to make an educated decision. By showing your expertise it might make your phone ring.

Ignore Your Community

The point of social media is to – wait for it – Be Social! Yes you do have to respond to every comment and yes it should be a timely response… Not two days later. Your followers are watching everything that you are doing before they consider calling you. This is how people shop today – if you are not responding or worse respond negatively they will move on to the next company.

Go MIA For Months at a Time

This is almost as bad as ignoring your network. Imagine if you were dating someone and after the second date they disappeared for 3 weeks. When they showed up again – how would you respond? What if after the 3 weeks they showed up and asked to borrow $20? I agree ridiculous…

I have some bad news for you – when you disappear for weeks and than post a coupon or ask people to visit your showroom without establishing a relationship you’re creating the same emotion.

Are you using Facebook / Twitter?

What have you experienced?

Do you have any questions?   Leave them in the comments section below. I love to know what you think.

Thanks for reading.

Filed Under: Facebook, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment

5 Steps to Succeed on Facebook

5 Steps to Succeed on Facebook

We have already discussed annoying Facebook posts and mistakes that many small businesses make using Facebook.

Today I want to focus on a simple plan that will help you succeed on Facebook.

Listen & Respond –

This one sounds easy and yet so many businesses miss it. Listening is the key to success in any relationship – at least that’s what my wife tells me… 🙂

Most companies are rushing to get their message out and forget that social media is all about having relevant conversations.  You must check in a couple of times per day to keep the conversation going.

Tell Other Peoples’ Story –

This isn’t just good karma. Giving a shout out to other people in your network or highlighting your super fans accomplishes two things. First the person that you made look like a rock star will reciprocate. Second others in your network will see that you give back and will also want to help you. This creates a cycle of social media success for you and your network.

The 80 – 20 Rule –

This one doesn’t need much explanation. At most 20% of your posts are sales pitches, more than that and you will lose fans. I pinky promise. 🙂

Educate & Entertain –

The other 80% of your posts should focus on educating and entertaining your fans in the hopes to build a bigger network. Think about the way you use Facebook personally.  You check out your newsfeed to catch up with friends and family, maybe laugh or learn – your fans use Facebook the same way… So give them what they want.

Post Consistently –

I always try to post at least 3 – 4 times per week. Whatever frequency you decide works for you please commit to it.

I hate when a company clogs my feed with a bunch of posts, disappears for a week and shows up again for a few days, then goes AWOL… This strategy doesn’t fly – use software like BufferApp.com to help you schedule your posts.

I always try to over deliver so here is tip #6 –

Change Your Cover Photo Monthly –

This is an easy way to stay top of mind. Take a look at what happens on your personal page when you change your cover photo. Generally that picture / post gets a bunch of “Likes” – this works the same way for businesses.

If you stick with this plan your Facebook community is sure to grow.

Your turn – do you have any to add?

Post a link to your Facebook page in the comments and I’ll be sure to give you a “Like”

I help closet, cabinet and hardware companies expand their business with social proof… Email me if I can ever help you.

 

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

Is Your Facebook Business Page Making These Mistakes?

Is Your Facebook Business Page Making These MistakesIn an effort to increase my presence on Facebook I began researching business pages relating to our industry…

I was shocked at what I found…

I compiled a list of some of the things that irritated me –

A personal page set up as a business page… This is wrong on so many levels.

  • The first problem is that your page can’t be “Liked.”
  • Second problem your page will not appear as a Facebook place which means no one can “Check In”
  • Problem number three – no custom tabs. You might not think these tabs are important, but they help you create traffic to other platforms, give creditability to your page and increase user engagement.

Are you showing up regularly? I know what you’re thinking… Do I have too? YES!

A page that hasn’t been updated in weeks, months or even years (I’m not exaggerating) gives the impression that you don’t care.  Maybe you don’t care about Facebook, but what if your customer does?

Not the best way to make a good first impression.

Believe it or not there are businesses that still have an incomplete profile – really?

There’s that I don’t care attitude again… Not to mention that a completed profile containing keywords benefits you!

Here’s the thing Facebook was created more than 10 years ago in a college dorm room…

The kids that grew up with Facebook are now in their early 30’s and entering the next stage of their lives…

Settling down, building families… At some point all of these kids are going to need your services.

Where do you think one of the first places they look will be??  Ding Ding Ding… Yes Facebook!

Visit my page, what do you think?

What Facebook habits rub you the wrong way?

As always if I can be of any assistance please don’t hesitate to contact me at richdemarco@optonline.net

Filed Under: Facebook, Social Media Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

Are Your Facebook Posts Annoying??

Are Your Facebook Posts Annoying?I love that more and more of my clients are embracing social media – That’s the good news…

The bad news is that I cringe a little when I see some of their posts… Think about how fingernails on a chalkboard make you feel… 🙂

If you would allow me to get up on my soapbox and give you 5 ways you can tell if your posts are annoying –

Your posts are so long that I have to click “continue reading”

I understand sometimes you have a lot to say, but Facebook is not the place for a 150 word rant…

According to Buffer – the ideal length of a Facebook post is only 40 characters… Yes characters not words.

Posts with 80 characters or less receive 66% higher engagement.

Your photos are not the right size.

Most people use their phone to scroll their newsfeed a few times per day.

If your pic is the wrong size not only will it reduce engagement, I think it comes off as lazy.

It’s so easy to re-size your pics.  You can use a free web-based software like picmonkey.com.

If you wondering what the right size is – it’s 500 x 500 pixels.

Your tweets are posted to Facebook.

Twitter is different than Facebook.

Posting your tweets to Facebook once in a while is ok, but I don’t want to see your RT’s or your responses to someone on Twitter in my Facebook news feed… What value does that offer me?

There are better ways to multitask and save time with social media…

Email me and I’ll give you some tricks that I use.

You like your own posts.

This isn’t that offensive… I just think it looks a little desperate.

If you where speaking with a group of friends would you “High 5” yourself?

Sort of the same thing as “liking” your own post.

Every post is a sales pitch.

This is the fastest way to lose a fan.  People don’t scroll Facebook to be sold…

They are looking for info, something funny or entertaining…

If that’s not a good enough reason for you to ditch the sales pitch – Facebook has changed their algorithm so that only the “good” stuff rises to the top and the boring stuff isn’t seen by anyone…

Continually posting sales pitches will hurt you more than it will help.

Remember just because your 19 year old niece knows how to use Facebook, doesn’t mean that they should be the voice of your company… Would you send her on a sales call?

Fess up – How many are you guilty of?

Did I miss any?  I would love to hear your thoughts?

Filed Under: Facebook, Personal Branding, Social Media Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

How we can take advantage of the latest Facebook update…

Yes Facebook did it again…

Last week Facebook announced that if you tag another brand in your post – there is a possibility your post will show up in both your news feed as well as the brand that you tagged…

Here’s an example of one of my posts –

Take advantage of the latest Facebook UpateI tagged Rev-A-Shelf in this update and Facebook may show this to Rev-A-Shelf’s 2000 fans.

Think about how great this is –

You can cross promote with all of your suppliers and professional partners.  

Tagging within the context of your post should have a better return than just adding a bunch of “tags” to the end of your update.

I want to put this new rule to the test –

Last week I posted a photo of a home office, it was one of my most viewed posts.

Take Advantage of Facebook's Latest UpdateUpload your home office photos and tag @TheMayorOfHardware – Let’s see if I can get you a few new Facebook likes this week… 🙂

As always if you have any questions or I can help in any way please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks!

 

 

Filed Under: Facebook, Marketing Tagged With: , Leave a Comment
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