As an entrepreneur 10 years ago, you sat at a seminar surrounded by your peers to learn how to use social media for marketing purposes. At that point, all any of us business folk really knew about social media was the mere existence of Facebook, Twitter, and My Space, and our disinterest in using it at all. But then some big corporations figured out how to these platforms to talk to customers and drum up some pretty sweet advertising, and of course, we all wanted in. The problem was, no one really knew how to instruct the corporate world on social media marketing savvy because it was all a huge experiment.
Here we are in the present and instead of becoming a simplified process, social media marketing is more complex than ever before thanks to the appeal of mobile technology and FOMO. The greatest change – and in our opinion, the best – is that social media marketing remains experimental, but in an exciting way. We’ve learned that it’s okay to try something new because we aren’t investing $100,000 on a whim, it’s more like $1000 or maybe $100. Heck, everything comes with a month-to-month contract that includes a free trial! The greatest challenge – also in our opinion – is opening our entrepreneurial minds to what social media marketing is.
At this point, we’ve still got Facebook and Twitter (R.I.P. My Space), but now we’ve got e-newsletters, email campaigns, chatbots, Instagram, pop-ups, Google Ads, YouTube, reviews, and brand ambassadors who are not world-famous celebrities. If you can think of a way to digitally interact with your customers, that’s social media marketing.
Here are some social media marketing ideas that you probably aren’t using but you should:
1. Integrating Chatbots
Using automation to get the job done isn’t a betrayal to your staff, and it isn’t a rude way to conduct customer service. Integrating chatbots into your day-to-day can help free up your time so that you and your staff can focus on 
processes that can’t be automated, or to take on a new project. Customers can still contact you, you’re just using the chatbot to answer simple questions.
2. Creating Unique Video Content
We harp on this regularly, because video content is social media marketing gold. It’s so easy to create with your smartphone or a digital camera, and yet so many small businesses are still averse to the idea. At worst, you take the video down, at best, you go viral! Start with a product demonstration and see how your fans react.
3. Asking for online reviews.
It’s in poor taste to offer something in return of a positive review, but there’s no harm in asking for reviews in general. If/when you get a negative review, whether on Google or Facebook or elsewhere, address it with a public comment that engages professionally, invites the customer to contact your company directly to resolve the matter. Leave details out of it. E.g. “We’re sorry that yours was a disappointing experience with our company. Please contact our Customer Service Director at 519-555-5555 and allow us to help make your next experience with us exceptional.”
Social media marketing continues to grow leaps and bounds as customers find new ways to interact, and technology comes up with brilliant new means of communicating online. Contact Jelly Triangle to find out how you could increase your online marketing presence by calling (519) 624-8888.
