When it comes to social media marketing, one size does not often fit all. When coming up with your strategy, it’s important to narrow down target users. Who’s your audience? Where’s your audience? If you’re a small local business, you most likely know the answer to those important questions. But how do you reach them online? Build up your social media presence with these helpful pointers.

Optimize your pages on review sites

A study by University of California, Berkeley professors Michael Anderson and Jeremy Magruder found that a half-star improvement on a restaurant’s Yelp ratings contributed to a 19% sales increase. This shows just how influential social media reviews can be. Don’t be left out! Make sure your pages on review sites (e.g. Foursquare, Yelp, Google Plus) have as much information as possible, and that this information is correct. Think: what’s important to your customers? Keep information (such as hours of operation, address and phone number) current, and reinforce your location for SEO value.

Another key factor in maintaining your page is claiming it as a manager and verifying that you’re the business owner. This way, you can respond to customers by addressing any complaints or thanking them for a nice recommendation. As a manager, you may also be able to upload photos and video depending on the site. A more advanced step is to use website analytics to determine which of your review sites get the most traffic and make sure you’re active on them.

Go mobile (Your customers are!)

With more than 1 billion smartphones in the world, mobile access is more important than ever. So what can you do to reach your target audience, a fraction of that 1 billion? An obvious choice is to make an app, but if that’s not an option, at least create a mobile version of your website. Navigating the web version of a site on a phone screen can be frustrating and deterring.

If you can’t create your own app, make use of social channels that already have apps. Sites like Foursquare and Facebook already have location-based features like check-ins. Set up special offers (redeemable upon checking in) as an incentive for people to physically come in to your business. This can encourage visitors to come back and is a nice way to meet the person behind his or her online profile.

Target Local Users

Like we said before, one size doesn’t fit all when you’re building a social media presence. If you’re a local business, you need to target local people. It’s nice to have some followers from Ohio bump up your numbers, but realistically they’re not as relevant to your sales if your restaurant is in San Francisco. A good way to focus on users in a specific location is by inputting target zip codes or city names. When you’re setting up a social media advertisement, make sure you note locations that are most important to you. This is also helpful when selecting Twitter users to follow (and hope that they follow you back!).

https://twitter.com/search-advanced

These few tips will help you build your social media presence around a target geographical community. To get acquainted with location-based social media channels, take a look at Foursquare and get started!

Social media dashboards are designed for easy management of multiple social media accounts. Tools such as HootSuite and Sprout Social allow users to schedule updates, monitor engagement and so much more. But just because you’ve scheduled two weeks’ worth of updates doesn’t mean your work is done. Here are some pros and cons of using social media management software tools.

Pro: Scheduling updates ahead of time is really convenient for a busy business owner’s hectic schedule. Con: Software tools don’t engage for you.

One of the great things about these tools is that you can upload multiple updates at one time and schedule them for a later date. This feature saves you from stopping once or twice or even more times a day to send out a tweet. But you’ll still have to check for engagement once in a while. This means managing replies, monitoring comments and responding to customers personally.

Writing back to customers in real-time serves as instant gratification, but it also has a long-term effect on your page as well. Posting statuses and having a back-and-forth with users helps your page look alive. Don’t let your account look like robots are running it—be approachable! Nurture your social media pages to develop an online presence and a thriving community.

Another reason not to rely on scheduling is that it isn’t conducive to spur-of-the-moment changes such as breaking news. Scheduling updates in bulk ahead of time doesn’t usually accommodate for events like emergency closings due to weather, so it’s in your best interest to have someone who monitors your accounts on a regular basis. This doesn’t mean constantly- notifications are your friend!

Pro: Many management tools provide statistics and analytics. Con: You have to know what they mean.

Social media management software often includes reports on account activity and growth. An advantage of social media publishing tools is that data (e.g. click through rate, reach) will be more accurate. For example, if you sometimes publish manually in addition to scheduling, analytics won’t be representative of all of your activity. But these reports won’t be helpful at all unless you can decode them and understand the results of your hard work. Important questions to ask include:

• Do the number of clicks meet your goal?
• Are you satisfied with the growth of your following/fan base?
• If not, what can you do to get closer to your goal?

Testing is an important part of this process. To get better results, you may want to play with factors such as frequency of posts, time of day posts are published and the day(s) of the week you post.

Social media management tools don’t create content for you.

Neither pro nor con, this point simply means that you are in charge of your content strategy. After all, you know your audience best. Always keep them in mind when you’re coming up with content. Vary your types of posts so your page is dynamic. Your social media plan will be much more successful if you set practical goals for yourself. Create a realistic content schedule, keep it organized and track your progress to find out what works best for you!

It’s been over a year and a half since Facebook launched Timeline, changing the way we experience the number one social network in the world. But are you using its features to their full potential?

Photos

Marketing studies have shown that photos get the most engagement on Facebook. And the biggest photo on your Timeline is your cover photo, with dimensions of 851×315 pixels and no larger than 1KB. Use the opportunity to make an impression. Have fun with it and make it unique. Be creative! You might want to change it seasonally or include your tagline. However, make sure your final choice abides by Facebook’s guidelines.

Don’t forget to include photos in your content strategy. Posted photos get more likes than any other type of post and can be much more compelling than blocks of text. Even better, Timeline has a highlight feature that’s completely free. This feature expands the selected story to widescreen, making it larger and more prominent on your Timeline. You can highlight any kind of story on your Timeline (status, link), but it’s most effective with photos.

Apps

Apps allow you to customize your Facebook page and enhance the user’s experience beyond the Timeline. Below the cover photo are navigation buttons that link to Facebook application tabs. These tab buttons can be customized with graphics (111×74 pixels) and link through to custom pages on your Facebook Brand page. For example, below you can see how Rock Sake uses its app boxes and implements custom graphics. They include photos, a welcome tab, a cocktails tab and a link to their Twitter. If you click on the arrow next to the number 2, you can expand the view to see even more apps.

The app boxes are also a great way to draw attention to a contest or promotion as they’re ideally located next to the About section and beneath the Like button. Think of this area as “above the fold,” like on a newspaper. What are the first things you want people to see when they land on your page? Use your answer as a guideline in improving your page.

General Upkeep

Optimize your page so it’s as exciting, informative and helpful as possible. If your About section is incomplete, add important information such as hours of operation, address, contact information and website. Also, make sure you keep it current if anything changes. Another way of optimizing your page is setting up a vanity URL like so: http://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessNameHere. This makes your Facebook page much more memorable and easier to share. Rock Sake keeps it really simple: https://www.facebook.com/RockSake. To change your page’s username (text that appears after the backslash), go to https://www.facebook.com/username.

Keep in mind that Timeline is meant to help you tell your story. Add milestones like the founding of your company, events, launches—anything! You can even “pin” important stories so they stay at the top of your Timeline (see photo below).

Lastly, keep up with your comments. If one of your social media goals is engagement, remember that it is a two-way street. Address any questions or complaints, thank people for their comments and remember you’re having a conversation.

Timeline gives you great tools to have a strong presence on Facebook. But more importantly, you have to know how to use them. Use these guidelines, and you’ll find success on the world’s largest and most active social network in the world.

Are you one of the many who’s resolved to get in shape in 2013? Do you need a buddy to help keep you motivated? Believe it or not, Facebook can help. With its new feature Graph Search (now in Beta), Facebook can help you navigate the world’s biggest social network like never before.

What is it?

Graph Search is Facebook’s search engine that allows easier discovery of content within Facebook. As opposed to a web search, Graph Search can help users find things or people more relevant to them. For example, narrow down your list of friends by searching “Friends who like running and live in Chicago, IL” to find out who may be your next running partner. Never before have you been able to perform such a search on Facebook. Now, you can find people, places, pages and photos by common factor. Want to see all of the photos you’ve liked since creating your account? With Graph Search, it’s only a click away. And since your Facebook is unique, your search results are personalized and unique from others’ results.

What does it mean for your page?

With the implementation of Graph Search, your business’s page will show up in more search results and reach friends of fans. Currently, your page will only appear in results where someone’s keyword is a close match to your page name. With Graph Search, your page will appear when a fan’s friend searches “Local restaurants my friends like,” making that “like” much more powerful than before.

This new feature allows your page to be found in new ways: geographically (e.g. “Fitness centers in San Antonio, TX”) and by recommendation (e.g. “Hair salons where my friends have checked in”). It also enhances the look of your page as it shows up in search results. Whereas current profile photo thumbnails are sized at 180×180 pixels on your Timeline, your page will show up with a higher photo resolution. However, all these changes won’t help your business get found if you don’t take steps to get noticed.

How can you help your page get found?

The best thing you can do is optimize your page. This means ensuring it’s as complete as possible. This includes having a name, vanity URL (http://www.facebook.com/your-page-name) and comprehensive “About” section. Checking that your address is listed correctly, posting your hours of business and sharing a company description are all things that will boost your page’s SEO value. Don’t forget about your profile photo; dimensions of 620×620 pixels are recommended. Last, but not least, make sure you’re engaging with fans. You worked hard to get them to “like” you, and you’ll have to put in some effort to keep them as fans.

Once, our world was rocked by the introduction of Timeline. Soon, Graph Search will revolutionize the way a billion people explore Facebook. As a business owner, make sure you’re familiar with Graph Search and how it will benefit you and bring you new customers.

Learn more at http://ww.facebook.com/graphsearch.

In 2012, Pinterest exploded on the social media scene as a way to let users collect and organize all of their favorite things. So how can you use Pinterest to make your brand or product one of those favorite things? Use these tips to help your business reach Pinterest’s 20 million pinners and make an impression.

Make Sure It’s Optimized

Pinterest makes it really convenient to integrate your account with other social media channels. They provide coding for buttons and widgets so you can easily share your pins with others. For example, you can add a “Follow me on Pinterest” button to your website to direct users to your boards. Additionally, you have the ability to sync Pinterest to Facbook or Twitter. You might not want to sync it with your Facebook account, as it publishes all of your pins on your timeline. Pinning a lot of things at a time can flood others’ news feeds, which can lead to them unsubscribing from your updates or worse, unliking your page. Twitter is a less intense option for sharing pins because you can select which you want to post.

Keep things simple so users can find your pins. When you create a new board, make sure you choose a category. Rather than someone discovering your pins by keywords in your descriptions, your pins can then be found when browsing by category. You also want to make it easy for users to pin your content to their boards. Pinterest provides a “Pin It” button for your website. This invites visitors to pin content from your website onto their boards. If someone likes something on your website, make the process simple for them to pin it and share it with others.

Be Human

Nobody wants to be “sold,” so don’t pin like a salesman—try to sound like a person! Opt for shorter descriptions rather than longer ones. People can tell when you’re not authentic, so it’s in your best interest to write descriptions that don’t sound like ads. Along the same lines, don’t pin things exclusively from your catalog or brand. If you’re going to sell anything on Pinterest, sell the values of your business and express who you are as a company.

Get Followers Involved

Pinterest allows you to invite others to add pins to your boards. This is a fun way to include followers, forge relationships with your fans and build loyalty. A common use of this feature is to hold a contest where people enter by adding pins to your board. By doing this, you’re inviting engagement while simultaneously getting a feel for what kind of followers/customers you have.

Many businesses are seeing the value in using Pinterest to reach their audience and build up their brand. It allows you to help your company get discovered in a new way. Sign up for Pinterest today!

For coding for the buttons mentioned above, visit http://business.pinterest.com/.

LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional online network of 187 million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. So what can you do to get the most out of this medium?

Engage Followers with Status Updates
Just like Facebook, Twitter and most other social media channels, LinkedIn features a news feed with status updates. This is a great place to casually share news and information with your followers. News can include news coverage of your company, announcements of upcoming product launches and open employment listings. Use status updates to share unique content, which can include company whitepapers, blog articles, press releases and ebooks. Also, don’t be afraid to show a little personality when posting. Statuses are a great way to share search engine optimized updates with a business-minded community. If you’re using the right keywords, your updates will appear in Google search results and direct traffic to your LinkedIn account.

Showcase Your Brand and Services
Make the most of your company page. Though you can’t add wallpaper or import any themes, there are other ways to customize your company page and make it look alive. In addition to having regular status updates, add your company’s offerings on the Products and Services pages. Here, you have the ability to add images (100×80 pixels is optimal) and descriptions. Even better, LinkedIn users have the ability to publicly recommend these services. Just as user reviews have the ability to influence online shopping decisions, LinkedIn testimonials are powerful. Because LinkedIn is a community of professionals, these recommendations are viewed as trusted and highly credible.

Build Relationships
Build your following by leveraging existing communities. Reach out to existing vendors, partners and clients (for whom your updates are especially relevant) and ask them to follow your company page. Have employees invite family and friends to follow your page as well. Once your page has some more substance to it, seek out relevant groups and join them. Then, build relationships with the other users in the group by posting helpful comments and questions. By doing this, you demonstrate your value to the group and build trust. When you establish your company presence, you also establish yourself as an authority and resource from where others may draw knowledge and news. What’s more, titles of discussions within LinkedIn groups are indexed in Google search results, adding SEO value to what you post.

These tips will help strengthen your company’s presence within LinkedIn’s professional community. When brainstorming status updates, keep in mind that members are using LinkedIn for news, information and opportunities. Keeping up with your company page may take a little maintenance, but LinkedIn is a channel that has the potential to yield great results.

While almost all small businesses have company websites, many do not host their own blogs. Creating accounts on popular social media sites is key to expanding your brand’s web presence and reaching consumers, but blogging has its own advantages for small business owners.

Blogs have no character or word limit
Many social networking sites cap the lengths of posts, like Twitter’s 140-character maximum, or their layouts don’t lend themselves well to long posts, like Google+. Blogs are the opposite. With blogging, your content can be as long as you wish and you can put all or part of the post under a “cut,” or a link that clicks through to the entire post. This format allows you space to write about a subject in greater detail, such as a product your business offers, the benefits of choosing our company over others, or the types of service you provide.

Not all Internet users are social media users
Social media is still a relatively new concept. It might seem like everyone with a computer is on Facebook, but many people don’t understand or don’t feel the need to be on social networking sites. As a small business owner, you may not feel comfortable enough with social networking to utilize social media marketing, so blogging is a great stepping stone to learning more about social media. No matter what your target audience is, even the least Internet-savvy individual will be able to type in your web address and find your blog.

Blogs don’t need to be updated constantly
It’s not unusual for large companies to update their Twitter accounts 4, 5, 6 times a day. This calls for a lot of daily attention that small business owners may not be able to give. Blogs, on the other hand, can go for much longer than social media accounts without being updated because blogging content is often more in-depth and lengthier.

Blogging brings exposure to your brand, not to social networking sites
Social media marketing is an essential tool in this Digital Age, but sending users to Facebook or Twitter to receive updates from your company brings more traffic to those sites than to your own. Small business owners who host blogs on their sites drive traffic directly to their own website because blogs play a lead role in improving a website’s rank in natural search engine results. Blogs that utilize keywords and relevant content increase a site’s search engine optimization (SEO) value to bring new customers and exposure to your brand.

Having a strong web presence is extremely important for small business owners, but that doesn’t only mean utilizing social networking websites. Blogging is an inexpensive, user-friendly way for brands to interact with their target audience.

Blogging is possibly the most important tool in your online marketing arsenal. This regular interaction with potential and existing clients offers a chance to advise, inform and connect with the market in a unique way. But in order to maximize results your business should approach blogging with the right mindset and tackle this essential task in the most effective way.

How To Use Blogging Successfully

Your blog needs to be hooked into and accessible through your company website. However, a blog is treated vastly different than a static website is. Your company needs to keep the blog fresh, with new content posted on a consistent basis. It also needs to be relevant and valuable.

Think of the blog as a channel to the daily life of your market, as opposed to it being a sales platform. Sure, you will need to incorporate your business and highlight any current offerings. But that is secondary to the main purpose of this media channel, drawing customers to your business through helpful and timely information about anything connected with your industry.

Setting up a blog on WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger is straightforward. Having that blog managed well is vital and oftentimes requires the help of social media professionals.

Go Beyond Your Own Shelves

Blogging is like a constant conversation. The comment section encourages an engaged audience and that banter will transform your blog into a multi-sided conversation. The trick is to post relevant and readable content that will be found.

Current keywords should be incorporated, so be sure to put the research in ahead of posting time. What is your market concerned about? Are there any special events, holidays and seasons coming up that can be targeted?

These topics will put your company’s blog at the top of the organic search list, creating traffic and helping your firm develop a dynamic online community. Blogging is an essential media tool. Use it well and watch your target market grow.

There are a growing myriad of consumer review websites for small business owners to create accounts for their brands on. However, one stands above the rest as the ultimate weapon for small business owners – Yelp. Yelp.com allows users to search for local businesses and leave reviews of their experiences with its products and services. The site is an important tool for small business to build a brand and grow a community.

Widespread Reach

Yelp is arguably the most well-known and well-frequented consumer review site, boasting over 22 million total reviews. In 2011, it attracted more than 65 million unique visitors each month. Many small businesses are willing to pay extravagantly for this exposure and customer feedback, but with Yelp, it’s all free. Setting up your company page on Yelp.com costs nothing more than answering a simple phone call to verify your affiliation with the business. Yelp also has its own mobile app, making it easier for users to find your business when they’re on the go and in need of your services most.

Creating a Conversation

The main draw of Yelp for users is the ability to leave reviews, good or bad, on businesses and stores they have visited. As a business owner, you have the ability to create a dialogue with your customers to build brand loyalty and integrity. You can respond directly to negative reviews and learn new ways to improve your business. Positive reviews give you a chance to thank happy customers and invite them back to your store again.

Managing your Image

Even if you don’t create a Yelp page for your small business, chances are that someone else eventually will. They won’t have the ability to post special offers, respond to reviews or add certain information about your business, but they will be able to enter company information and leave reviews. If you don’t take control of your Yelp page, users may upload incorrect information, create page spam or negatively affect your company’s reputation. Yelp is incredibly user-friendly, making managing your brand’s image extremely easy.

Social media requires constant thought—keeping information up-to-date, making sure customers are satisfied with your products and services, and trial and error. Keeping your brand’s Yelp page current and monitoring reviews may take up time, but the benefits to your small business will outweigh the time you put into it exponentially.