Shortcuts Use behind-the-scenes social media content to promote your small business Start a conversation with your customers Educate your small business customers with valuable social media content What you give is what you get: giveaways and awards Hop on the bandwagon with social media trends If you own or manage a small business, social media is crucial to your success. However, you’re probably wearing many hats. It’s not easy to make sure you’re posting awesome social media content while handling customers, orders, and other business aspects. In this article, we’re going to show you 5 great social media content ideas for local small businesses. Let’s attract more customers! 1. Use behind-the-scenes social media content to promote your small business Customers love seeing what happens behind the scenes of local small businesses. You’re adding so much value in terms of personality already. We’re willing to bet you know the names and preferences of all your regulars. So why not add that thoughtfulness to social media, too? Pic: Instagram @jordannaashlee_cake Depending on your business type, you can: Announce new products Show how you create your products Introduce your customers to your staff Post appropriate jokes and humorous posts Show customers your workspace through images and videos Invite customers into the conversations taking place at your business Explain how you got started with your business, and what motivates you For example, you can interview your team members. This is especially important if they often deal with customers; they’re celebrities in their own right. You can even share daily tidbits that make customers feel like they’re a part of your team. The more relatable your content is, the more customers will it attract. However, it’s important to understand your audience and their preferred communication types. For example, younger demographics are more informal, and they respond well to jokes. However, if you’re dealing with other businesses, then it pays to be more informative and formal with your social media content. In that case, you can emphasize your company culture, your product quality, and other relevant factors. 2. Start a conversation with your customers Every social media post should contain some form of CTA (call-to-action). CTAs invite your customers and prospects to connect with you and engage with your small business. Pic: Instagram @sugarvaultdesserts For example, this bakery invites customers to visit them. You should adapt your CTA to your social media content. For example, if you shared a picture of your workspace, you’d invite your customers to tell you what they think, or even ask them to share pictures of their workspaces. Conversely, if you were talking about your products on social media, you’d likely ask them which products they like the most. Social media polls are also a great way to learn more about your customers, or simply show them how fun you and your business are. You can poll your customers about their favorite products, habits, and much more. You can also hold Q&A sessions on social media. Invite your customers to ask the things they’ve always wanted to know about your business, your industry, or your team. You can set this up as a post, or you can hold a Facebook or Instagram live video session. Getting and celebrating feedback from customers is another way of starting a conversation with them. It also shows other customers that you’re open to feedback. This goes for negative reviews, as well. If you’ve received a negative review, you can improve, and then write a post about it. There’s nothing like improving that shows your customers you’re a brand that cares about customer experience. User-generated content is a great way to engage your customers! Invite your customers to share how they use your products. Just make sure you’ve obtained their permission to re-share their content to your profile. Finally, if you’re on Facebook because your customers use it, don’t forget about the power of Facebook Groups. If you only own a page, not all of your followers will see your posts. But when you own a Facebook Group, your posts are prioritized in your customers’ News Feeds. Just make sure they’re fun and useful! 3. Educate your small business customers with valuable social media content People turn to social media for information, so why not use it to promote your small business? You don’t have to create your own content all the time. Curate and share content from other sources. Have you found interesting information regarding your industry or a neat tutorial that’s relevant to your brand and your customers will love it? Share it! Pic: Facebook/ Intrepid Travel If you have a blog, you can share your posts on social media: How-to's and tutorials Business and team updates Opinions on trends and recent developments You can write about anything, as long as it’s relevant to your customers. The more helpful you are, the better! The more helpful you are, the better! For example, if you own a bodega and your customers love your fruit and vegetables, why not share a recipe with them? If you sell sewing supplies, you can offer handy tutorials and help your customers make the most of their materials, as well as attract new prospects to your store. Similarly, you can interview your customers for their tips and tricks, then share it with your audience. 4. What you give is what you get: giveaways and awards When you’re a local small business, your customers want to be a part of your journey. So if you’re hosting an event, make sure you share it to your social media profiles. For example, if you’re running a sale, notify your customers through social media. You can easily create beautiful posts with free image editors like Canva, and attract even more foot traffic to your business! The same goes for local festivals. If your business is participating, share the details with your customers, and invite them to join you. Giveaways are one of the most effective ways to promote your small business with social media content. You don’t have to give away a lot. Just make sure it’s interesting to customers. For example, a popular product is a great choice. The point of giveaways is to attract new customers, so invite your existing customers to share your posts, and leave comments. This way, they’ll be sharing your giveaway with all of their social media friends. Finally, if you’re receiving an award or participating in a charity, share it with your customers and tell them how they can support you! 5. Hop on the bandwagon with social media trends Finally, it’s important to adapt to social media trends. You don’t have to use every platform. Instead, opt for platforms that your customers use the most, and use it well. For example, Twitter often has hashtag trends such as #TBT (Throwback Thursday). Show your business in the early days, or simply joke around with your customers as Volkswagen does. Adapt to seasons with your social media content. For example, you can have Valentine’s Day-themed content in February, and Christmas-themed posts in December. From there, you can branch out into questions, videos, tutorials, and even events like sales. Inspire your customers with #MotivationMonday posts, or simply by sharing a lovely quote that fits your brand. And while social media can sometimes be intimidating, don’t forget that it’s all about starting a conversation with your customers. So have fun and stay social! For an easy and fast tool to share and schedule your social media posts, you can try the Hookle App. Download Hookle now for free!

Shortcuts Conduct a time audit Schedule everything Make time to do nothing Manage energy levels Follow the two-minute rule Eat the frog Delegate and outsource when possible Set and honor boundaries Hookle was born from the need of entrepreneurs to save time and streamline their social media marketing processes. For both those who are new to the game of entrepreneurship and those who are long-time business owners, it’s not uncommon to struggle with time management. Luckily, there are strategies one can use to be more productive and use their time well. Read on for some effective time management and productivity tips entrepreneurs can use to stay on task and get more done. Common time management challenges The specific time management challenges one faces will vary from day to day and from entrepreneur to entrepreneur. There are some issues that are more common than others, though. Do any of the following sound familiar? Feeling Overwhelmed. No matter what kind of business they run, entrepreneurs wear lots of different hats. Because of this, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of where to begin when it comes to tackling one’s to-do list. This, in turn, can lead to them spinning their wheels and not doing anything at all. Procrastination. Lots of entrepreneurs also fall into a bad habit of procrastinating. They might procrastinate because they don’t know where to start or because they simply don’t want to deal with a particularly difficult task, so they put it off until they absolutely have to deal with it. Wasting Time on Low-Level Tasks. Some entrepreneurs spend so much of their day working on low-level tasks like answering emails that they find themselves feeling exhausted when the time comes to actually address big-picture matters. This, in turn, can lead to procrastination, overwhelm, and difficulty to actually take steps to move the business forward. Distraction. Entrepreneurs are just as vulnerable to distractions as those working traditional jobs. From texts and tweets to requests from friends and family members to get together in the middle of the day, giving in to distractions can easily put them behind schedule. Tips for better time management Whether an entrepreneur struggles with the specific challenges outlined above or some variation of them, there are plenty of tools they can use to get on track and feel more productive. Here are some of the most effective options to consider: 1. Conduct a Time Audit To become better at managing their time, entrepreneurs first need to get clear on how they’re spending their time. It’s easy for people to assume they’re being productive, but their behavior might not match up with their beliefs. This is where a time audit can come in handy. A time audit involves writing down every single thing that a person does during the day, as well as making note of how long it takes them. A time audit helps entrepreneurs to hold themselves accountable. It gives them a more holistic view of what they’re doing during the day and which activities are sucking up the most of their time. A time audit involves writing down every single thing that a person does during the day, as well as making note of how long it takes them. 2. Schedule Everything Some people initially dive into the world of entrepreneurship because they like the idea of not being beholden to a schedule. This might work for some people. The reality, though, is that most folks are more productive when they have some kind of schedule to follow. For those who feel they’re not using their time in an effective manner, writing out and sticking to a schedule can be very useful. It allows them to know what they should be doing and how long they have to do it. There’s a lot of room for flexibility when it comes to the type of schedule one uses. They could try an hour-by-hour (or even half-hour-by-half-hour) schedule, or a time-blocking system, for example. 3. Make Time to Do Nothing When creating their schedule, it’s important for entrepreneurs to make sure they’re including some time each day to relax and do nothing. For business owners, there’s always more work to be done, and it can be hard to switch off and focus on other things at the end of the day. That’s why blocking off time to visit with the family, exercise, or relax and watch Netflix is so important. This gives entrepreneurs time to recharge and rest. That way, when they go back to work, they can feel refreshed and be more productive. 4. Manage Energy Levels Everyone has certain times of the day when they feel energized and excited to tackle difficult tasks. They also have times of the day when they’re tired and don’t want to do much of anything. Some entrepreneurs find themselves trying to white-knuckle their way through these periods to get more done. In reality, though, they’d be better off scheduling their day to manage their energy levels and take advantage of the natural ebbs and flows they experience. Entrepreneurs should be honest with themselves about when they are the most productive, even if that’s not the time when experts say they should feel the most productive. If they have their best ideas or are the most energized in the evening, they should design their schedule to take advantage of those times instead of trying to turn themselves into a morning person. 5. Follow the Two-Minute Rule The two-minute rule can be very effective for a lot of entrepreneurs. It’s simple: If something can be completed in two minutes or less (a quick email, a response to a text, filing a document, etc.), it should be done right away. Many entrepreneurs find themselves putting off these little tasks because they can be done anytime. Why not do them as soon as possible, though, so one’s brain can be cleared to focus on other, more important matters? If something can be completed in two minutes or less, it should be done right away. 6. Eat the Frog As was mentioned earlier, procrastination is a common time management challenge for entrepreneurs. They often push tasks until later in the day because they’re difficult or boring and they don’t want to deal with them. For entrepreneurs who struggle with this issue, “eating the frog” can be a good alternative. This time management principle involves doing one’s ugliest, most difficult task first. Doing this can give a strong sense of accomplishment and helps gain the momentum needed to tackle the rest of the to-do list. After all, if you’ve already eaten the frog, everything else seems easy by comparison. Eating the frog time management principle involves doing one’s ugliest, most difficult task first. 7. Delegate and Outsource When Possible Delegation and outsourcing aren’t always accessible to entrepreneurs. Those who are brand new to the business world might not have the resources to outsource tasks to others. For those who do have assistants or who work with others, it’s important to avoid the mistake of trying to tackle everything alone. They shouldn’t be afraid to ask someone else to handle tasks that they can’t complete. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, especially if it frees one up to focus on things they are good at that will help the business to grow. Tip to delegate social media workload: try out social media teamwork using Hookle App with your colleagues! 8. Set and Honor Boundaries Finally, entrepreneurs need to get good at setting and honoring boundaries. This is especially true for entrepreneurs who work from home. The lines between work life and home life can get blurred very easily for business owners. They might find themselves responding to personal messages from friends or family during the workday, for example, or trying to answer emails during family time. To avoid this issue, setting clear boundaries in one’s schedule is essential. It’s also important to communicate those boundaries to others. Entrepreneurs should let friends and family know when they are and aren’t available. They should also use autoresponders and away messages to let clients and colleagues know when they’ll be able to get back to them. Setting boundaries can lead to more freedom and make it easier for entrepreneurs to sustain their lifestyles long-term. Put these tips to the test today For those who are having difficulty when it comes to time management in entrepreneurship, these tips are definitely worth trying. Even implementing just one or two of them could have a big impact on one’s ability to stay focused, manage stress, and make sure everything is getting done on time and in the most efficient way possible. For more efficient and time-saving social media management, you can try out free the Hookle social media management tool.

Shortcuts Evaluate Social Media Goals Understand the Target Audience Understand the Competition Consider the Brand & Industry Analyze Existing Traffic Sources Understand Effective Content Types Consider Management Bandwidth Worldwide, the average person spends approximately 136 minutes per day on social media. That means there are tons of opportunities for business owners to market products or services to these people and pique their interests. The key here is to focus your energy on what works for your business and to use the right channels Promoting their business on social media can help companies grow to become industry powerhouses. The key here is to focus your energy on what works for your business and to use the right channels. Listed below are some guidelines that small business owners can use to determine which social media channels are right for their marketing strategy. Why Social Media Matters for Small Business Marketing Photo by Mikael Blomkvist These days, a lack of social media presence is practically a death sentence for small businesses. It can be tricky to maintain a presence across multiple platforms, but the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. Here are some of the primary reasons why social media is essential for small business marketing: Grow your customer base Engage and communicate with customers Learn more about what customers want to see in the future Stay ahead of the competition and remain relevant Having a strong social media presence can also help businesses boost their search engine rankings and gain more organic traffic to their websites. This, in turn, can lead to more sales and revenue growth. Best Social Media Channels for Businesses It should be clear at this point that social media matters. Some social media platforms are better than others for businesses that want to make a name for themselves, though. The following are the top platforms businesses can use for their marketing efforts: Facebook: Facebook is the most popular social media platform, and its shares have the greatest impact on Google search engine results. Twitter: 64 percent of Twitter users are likely to buy products from brands they follow online. LinkedIn: LinkedIn allows business owners to connect with other professionals and gain access to relevant groups they can use to grow their business. Instagram: Over 5 million images get uploaded here each day, and it’s an easy way to show people a behind-the-scenes look of a business. YouTube: YouTube is the internet’s second-largest search engine (with 800 million active daily users) and a great tool for engaging with an audience and boosting search rankings. Pinterest: Average users spend about 89 minutes per month on Pinterest, where they’re exposed to products and services from all kinds of brands. Google Business Profile: Having a Google Business Profile has quickly become a "must have" tool for any small business owner. This gives them an opportunity to increase their search engine visibility and it helps consumers to find the business’s physical address when using near me searches. Google Profile is free and provides lots of customer insights, too, which can allow for better tailoring of marketing campaigns moving forward. Read more on the benefits of setting up a Google Business Profile. Tip: A quick guide on how to set up different social networks for your small business How to Choose the Right Social Media Channels Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash There are tons of different social media platforms businesses can use to grow and connect with their audience. Some businesses assume they need to be present on every single platform. For businesses that have lots of employees and a strong marketing team, this isn’t a terrible strategy. For those working with limited resources, it’s best to choose platforms wisely and focus energy on a few For those working with limited resources, it’s best to choose platforms wisely and focus energy on a few of them instead of trying to spread themselves too thin. You can always add more platforms later on for your company if needed and you feel it's reasonable. For small businesses that fall into the latter category, here are some tips they can follow to figure out which social media channels need them the most: 1. Evaluate Social Media Goals. One of the first things business owners ought to consider when choosing social media channels is their specific social media goals. What do they want to accomplish with their online presence? Are they trying to build brand awareness? Do they want to promote a specific product or service? Are they interested in lead generation? The answers to these questions are essential, as they can help marketers narrow down which channels are most advantageous to their goals. For example, for lead generation, LinkedIn is one of the best tools, especially for those who are in the B2B world. Facebook and Twitter are also known for being very powerful when generating leads, but many businesses also see success when using Facebook and Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) when it comes to building brand awareness and promoting specific goods or services. 2. Understand the Target Audience. In addition to getting clear on their goals, business owners and marketers also need to get clear on the people who make up their target audience. Who are they trying to reach with their social media posts? How old are they? Where do they live? What’s their income level? The answers to these questions will have a huge impact on where a business chooses to focus the majority of its social media-related energy. For example, if they’re targeting young internet users, platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok are very effective. On the other hand, older customers might spend more time on Facebook and will have no interest in Tik Tok ads or videos. 3. Understand the Competition. It’s not enough just to understand where one’s audience is spending the bulk of their time. Marketers also need to know which platforms their competitors are using. Identifying where a competitor is spending the majority of their time can provide a small business with lots of opportunities to learn from their successes and mistakes. Identifying where a competitor is spending the majority of their time can provide lots of opportunities For example, if they see that a competitor is spending a lot of time on Twitter and doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of returns on their investment, a business owner may make the decision to avoid Twitter and focus on other platforms. They may also choose to take a different approach when it comes to promoting their business on Twitter to see if it’s more effective for growing an audience and accomplishing their specific social media marketing goals. 4. Consider the Brand and Industry. Business owners need to think carefully about their brand values and their industry as a whole before making social media marketing decisions. They should consider which social media platforms best align with their brand values and make the most sense for the types of products or services they sell. If they have a B2C business, for example, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest that allow for easy shopping might be a good fit. If they have a B2B business, though, LinkedIn will likely provide them with greater returns and will be a better option for the type of customers they’re trying to reach. 5. Analyze Existing Traffic Sources. Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash Sometimes, businesses get so caught up thinking about what they can do better that they forget to address what they’re doing well. When fine-tuning their social media marketing strategies, business owners can learn a lot by looking at their existing website traffic sources. This practice helps them figure out how the majority of visitors are finding their website. This, in turn, will make it easier for them to decide where they should place more energy and resources in the future, as well as which platforms they should consider avoiding (or at least using less often). Google Analytics is one of the best tools marketers can use to analyze their current traffic sources. It provides them with easy-to-read graphics to understand where traffic is coming from and how it has changed from month to month (or week to week). 6. Understand Effective Content Types. The “where” matters a great deal when it comes to social media marketing, but so does the “what”. When marketers are having a hard time figuring out where to direct their energy, it helps to think about what types of content are most effective. Does your target audience respond more to pictures? Videos? Long-form articles? Does their target audience respond more to pictures? Videos? Long-form articles? Certain platforms are better suited for different types of content. For example, YouTube is the place to go for video marketing, while LinkedIn provides businesses with a great place for sharing blogs and informational content. Assessing competitors’ content can be helpful, too. If a competitor never posts any videos promoting their products or services, another small business could beat them to the punch by placing more of an emphasis on video marketing using YouTube. 7. Consider Management Bandwidth. Last, businesses need to be honest when it comes to their social media management bandwidth. How large is their marketing department? How many platforms can they reasonably create high-quality content for and use on a regular basis? How many platforms can you reasonably create high-quality content on? If the responsibility for marketing activities is on one or two people, expecting them to handle seven different networks could be overkill. It might be better to pick two or three to manage very well than to ask them to handle more in a subpar way. This is especially true for businesses that are just starting out. They should remember that they can always add later, but they’re likely better off starting small until they get their bearings. Become a Social Media Master Today A strong social media presence is essential for every small business marketing strategy. It’s important to note, that some social media channels are more effective than others. By utilizing the channels listed above, businesses can build a following are promote their products and services to the people who are most likely to invest in them. Looking for a tool to help you handle the social media marketing in your small business? Hookle helps you to save time by publishing and scheduling posts and monitoring your social media performance effortlessly on one mobile app. Download Hookle now for free!

Photo by Hookle Shortcuts Post consistently Choose the right time to post Save time and stay focused Increase the value of your social media content Posting to social media might sometimes feel a bit daunting. Maybe you don’t have enough time, or just don’t come up with anything to post when you do have the chance. That’s when scheduling comes into the picture. Scheduling your social media posts is one of the most powerful social media marketing practices - it saves you time, nerves and increases the value of your content. Scheduling your social media posts is one of the most powerful social media marketing practices - it saves you time, nerves and increases the value of your content. Here we introduce you four reasons why you should try scheduling your social media posts, and give you tips on how to master reaching your customers on social media: 1. Post consistently Photo by Hookle Whichever social media networks you choose to promote your business, it is important to keep those channels active and timely. If a potential or existing customer bumps to your page, they will only want to follow your business if they see interesting or valuable content. That’s why posting daily, or at least several times a week is recommended. And not only to draw in new followers but to keep current ones engaged and entertained. When you plan and schedule your posts beforehand, it will help you to be consistent without the need to come up with new content every day. When you plan and schedule your posts beforehand, it will help you to be consistent without the need to come up with new content every day. The optimal posting rate varies a bit depending on the social media network and the nature of the platform. As a general guide, the optimal posting rate for a small business on: Facebook 3-5 times a week. LinkedIn 1-2 times a week. Twitter from 1 to 30 times a day. Instagram 1-2 times a day. Note, that on social media consistency often means more than frequency! So when deciding how often you should posts, consider what is realistic for you and your business and try to stick to that. So posting just 1-2 times a week to your platforms consistently all the time is way better than e.g. forgetting posting at all for a long time. 2. Choose the right time to post Photo by Tyler Harris on Unsplash Now that you can schedule your post later in the future, you can also easily choose the optimal time to publish your post. Your followers, and generally all social media users, are more active at certain times of the day. When should you post on social media then? A good general rule is, that mornings between 8 to 12 a.m. on Monday to Wednesday are the safest times to post. To find the best time to reach your audience, you can test out different times and days of the week. By following the success of your different social media posts and even the analytics offered by the native social media accounts, you can see if certain timeframe or weekday suits you best. Even testing out a bit unexpected times might work. For example, do you think posting during the workday is a bad idea because no one has time to browse social media? Try it out and you might be surprised. Social media planners might be a great help for experiencing and planning your content in the calendar - learn more how a planner works. Social media planners might be a great help for experiencing and planning your content in the calendar You can also read more of the best time for small businesses to post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn (with Infographic). 3. Save time and stay focused When you’re running a small business, you don’t always have time to constantly create and look for new social media content. Social media marketing should definitely not be a task that interrupts your daily work and messes up your flow. Scheduling allows you to dedicate one block of time per week to spend creating content so you can focus on the job at hand. This means you don’t need to plan daily, which can often take you away from other important tasks. So to start scheduling, try to take a time slot every week to create and schedule your content for the upcoming week. You’ll improve your online presence in no-time. Scheduling allows you to dedicate one block of time per week to spend creating content so you can focus on the job at hand. You can also try out social media teamwork with your team mates. Thus you can easily share your workload and get your team also involved while planning social postings and the strategy for your business! 4. Increase the value of your social media content Like said earlier, frequency is not the most important aspect of social media content. Consistency and quality of content rule over flooding your followers with content any day. Scrambling to craft posts at the last minute can lead to irrelevant or low-quality content that your followers won’t appreciate. Scheduling makes it easy to plan and create your content beforehand without a rush. Scheduling makes it easy to plan and create your content beforehand without a rush. If you’re not sure what to post, think ahead on upcoming events and promotions. What national holidays or local events that are relevant to your customers are coming up? Do you have any special promotions or new services you want to introduce? What fun behind-the-scenes happenings you want to share? You don’t need to come up with all your content by yourself. Pay attention to other websites and sources that are relevant to your audience and share their best content as well. Hookle is a social media planning and scheduling tool, designed especially for small business use. Get started for free and download your Hookle on App Store or Google Play now!

Shortcuts Brand recognition Marketing cost savings Increased web traffic Prospect tracking & lead generation Communication with customers Higher sales Make social media marketing work The days when social media platforms were simply a vehicle for sharing cute photos of cats and keeping in touch with high school friends are long gone. Today, over 3.5 billion people worldwide have at least one social media account. And within that group, over 54% use social media to browse and research new products and services. Social media marketing is a cost-effective, simple way to build a brand quickly. Entrepreneurs have a unique opportunity that their predecessors of even a decade ago didn’t have: a rapt audience of billions of people who come to the same place every day to consume information. Social media marketing is a cost-effective, simple way to build a brand quickly. Over 97% of the world’s businesses are using social media as part of their overall marketing strategy. Here are some of the top reasons why. 1. Brand recognition It doesn’t matter the product or the service; today’s marketplace is crowded. New competitors emerge almost every day. So how do entrepreneurs fight through the noise to surface their brands to potential customers? By putting their brand directly in front of the right audience, again and again. Social media is the ideal venue to ferret out prospective customers. Brand reach grows exponentially as content is posted and then shared by interested viewers. As that reach grows and branding is presented numerous times to the same audience, the messaging takes root in their subconscious, and they naturally call to mind that product or service when they have a need for it. With nearly 2.5 billion active Facebook users alone, social media has become an effective accelerator for new brands to find their target audience and create stickiness with their messaging. 2. Marketing cost savings Entrepreneurship often requires a certain level of bootstrapping. Cost per lead is carefully monitored, and only the most valuable tactics get consideration by the marketing team. Social media marketing often produces one of the highest returns on investment because of its broad reach and its relatively low cost per lead. With organic social media marketing, businesses can post content and product information straight from their profile without incurring any ad costs. Of course, the drawback is that the content is limited mainly to the company’s current followers and their network (if they choose to share or repost the content). Ad targeting is another way to promote content on social media. While it comes at a cost (set in the form of a simple ad budget), it can narrow the focus of the audience to specific demographics or geographies to increase the likelihood that the viewer will click on the ad and respond to its call to action. 3. Increased web traffic Websites are a necessity in today’s uber-digital, always-connected world. Interested buyers conduct their own research online before even engaging with a salesperson or contacting a company. And e-commerce business owners know that a polished, intuitive website is the lifeblood for driving online sales. The best website in the world, however, is useless without traffic. Social media marketing is an effective conduit to drive more traffic to business websites. According to a recent Hubspot survey, 80% of marketers report that social media posts have a direct impact on increasing web traffic. By linking to landing pages and home pages in social posts and pointing followers to blog pages and promotions, businesses keep readers engaged with their website and spending more time browsing through it. 4. Prospect tracking & lead generation What better way to target potential customers than a networking platform that makes it possible for businesses to engage on a one-to-one level with users. For example, a company might track its competitors’ social pages, and when an unhappy customer reports an issue with a product or service, they could reach out directly and offer their solution. That same business might search for hashtags or posts related to their offering and create a targeted ad to reach a particular audience. Social media influencers are another great outlet for creating leads and building brand recognition. In exchange for a discount or free product or service, influencers promote a brand to their network of followers. Those followers, in turn, may purchase the product or service based on the recommendation. 5. Communication with customers It’s no secret that the public is generally liberal with its feedback on social media. From product reviews to angry Tweets, the internet is brimming with customer communications. Entrepreneurs can use social media as a way to engage with their customers (and test messaging and new products with prospects). Business owners shouldn’t be afraid to ask for the opinion of their audience, and they should be thick-skinned enough to receive it. In addition to public posts, social media allows customers to send direct messages to brands and vice versa. If an issue arises and a customer posts about a product defect or service problem, the business can reach out directly to the customer with a solution in time to save the sale and retain that customer’s loyalty. In fact, 54% of consumers say that they prefer to receive support over social media than traditional methods like email or phone. 6. Higher sales The goal of any business is to turn browsers into buyers and leads into conversions. Social media doesn’t just serve as an interactive catalog for products and services, but it also works in tandem with the other benefits in this list to convert leads. Brand recognition, higher web traffic, and proactive customer support are key drivers in increasing sales. As brand awareness grows and a company’s reach expands, each post becomes more valuable because it reaches a larger percentage of the audience and drives even more web traffic. 7. Make social media marketing work Entrepreneurs who are new to social media marketing may not know where to begin. With so many platforms to choose from, a lot of new businesses feel like they have to have a dominant presence in all of them at once to be successful. The key is in choosing one or two platforms that cater to the brand’s target demographic and mastering those before moving on to others. The next step is to create a library of great content and post it frequently. Many new businesses make the mistake of posting with frequency at first, but gradually tapering off until their audience barely hears from them at all. Followers will quickly lose interest in brands that don’t deliver consistent, engaging content. One super-easy way to increase engagement is to set up a recurring posts system, which is a massive time saver. You can set certain static posts, such as events, product posts or happy hours, to be automatically repeated so that you don't need to think about scheduling or posting them separately for months or even the rest of the year. Finally, businesses must make sure that their website is prepared for the traffic that social sites will drive to it. The company blog should be prominent, current, and linked back to social platforms. Branding should be consistent between the website and social sites so that prospects recognize the brand right away in every single place they see it. As consumers continue to turn to digital resources to research and choose products and services, social media will only gain momentum as a focused marketing strategy. For entrepreneurs, there has never been a better time to capitalize on social media’s global audience and far reach. With the Hookle you can handle your social media effortlessly with less time - all your social networks in one mobile app. Try out Hookle now for free here! Want to evaluate apps first? Check out our article The 10 best mobile apps for social media management or even more comprehensive list of 500+ best social media tools 2021.

Shortcuts What is Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). Why you need Google Business Profile. How to set up your Google Profile. How to optimize your Google Profile. These days, we don’t ask our friends: “Who’s doing your hair?” or “Who’s your mechanic?” Instead, we ask Google. In the past few years, there has been a notable increase in “near me” searches. People are turning to Google to find the best hair salons, grocery stores, boutiques, plumbers, and other small businesses in their vicinity. And yes, that means that all of these businesses are getting free traffic from Google. They don’t spend a dime on advertising. How? With a little help from their Google Business Profiles. Here’s what you need to know about using Google Business Profile as a small business owner: 1. What Is Google Business Profile? Google Business Profile is Google’s free service that provides business owners with profiles that appear whenever someone searches for them, or for keywords related to their business. So let’s say you ran a hair salon in Detroit. If a potential customer searched for “hair salons Detroit” on Google, your hair salon would appear in the maps view of all the hair salons registered for the Google Business service. Similarly, if they searched for your salon by name, they’d come across your full profile. Your profile would show them everything they needed to know: - Your address and working hours - Pricing - Reviews - Your photos and offers Now, they could find all of that on your website, but here’s the truth: the majority of your potential customers have gotten so used to Google Business Profiles that if they don’t see your Profile, they won’t bother looking for your website. And that’s just one of the reasons why you should claim your Google Business Profile as soon as possible. 2. Why You Need Google Business Profile In addition to people thinking you’re not in business if you don’t have a Google Business Profile, there are a few other reasons why you need to claim and touch up your listing: a) Your customers are making decisions based on their local searches. According to a recent study, 82% of smartphone users conduct “near me” searches. It makes sense; no one wants to go all the way across town to get the products or services they need. Not if Google is showing them all the businesses near them. So if you don’t appear in the local Google results, you could be losing a lot of customers. b) If you’re on Google, you’re everywhere. Having a Google Profile is a great way to improve the digital visibility of your business, and generate more foot traffic. After all, if you appear in the “near me” search results, more prospects will know about your business. c) Directly communicate with your customers. If your customers have a question, they’ll see your phone number and get in touch with you immediately. You can even message them through the Google Business platform, as well as state your email address and the most important information of them all: directions to your location. Depending on your business type, you can even process bookings and reservations directly through Google Business Profile. This is especially handy for restaurateurs and other similar businesses with a local presence! d) Give your business legitimacy. A nonexistent or poorly optimized Google Business Profile can turn away customers. After all, it’s a sign that a business isn’t serious about what they do. In contrast, a fresh, touched-up Google Profile gives you credibility and shows your customers how much you care. e) Increase your revenue. Finally, Google Profile is a great tool for attracting and retaining customers. With the new Posts feature, you can alert your customers to new offers, discounts, and other business updates. And if you get enough positive reviews, you’ll even appear in the local 3-pack: a list of the best 3 businesses like yours in an area. 3. How to Set Up Your Google Profile Setting up or claiming your Google Business Profile is easy: Simply navigate to your listing (search for your business name in Google – if a listing appears, click to claim it) or to Google Business. Then, enter the NAP information (name, address, phone number). If you have a website, you can link to it from your Google Business Profile, as well. Your NAP information has to be consistent with the information stated on your website, social media profiles, and so on. Make sure you specify your service area. If you ship products globally, tick the box. If you operate in a certain area, then select the pertinent option. Verify your business. You can choose between a few options, but verifying it by phone is the easiest (if available). However, most businesses need to verify by mail, and it might take up to 2 weeks to get the verification code to your business address. Pay attention to the “Description,” “Category,” and “Attributes” sections. Your description is the first thing your (potential) customers see, so make sure it’s enticing. In the Category section, choose a category that narrowly describes what you do. For example, if you run a nail salon, don’t use the “health & cosmetics” category. Instead, choose the “nail salon” category. The more accurate you are, the higher will Google place you in relevant search results. Attributes differ by industry. For example, if you run a hotel, you’ll be able to select attributes describing amenities such as pool, parking space, complimentary breakfast, etc. Make sure you select the attributes that accurately represent your offer. Add photos. Google Business Profiles with photos (profile, cover, other photos) are more compelling, and searchers click on them more often. Add your logo, and a few photos of your business. If you use third-party booking tools, connect them to your Google Business Profile. Google Business has a handy option if you’re using software like Calendly. You can process reservations directly through it, so the customer doesn’t have to navigate away from Google. Connect your Google Business Profile with Hookle. You can connect the Profile even it is not verified yet, and there is a link "Verify now" to verify your business. Hookle helps you to keep your profile active with the latest events and offers. With Hookle you can post directly to your Google Business Profile, as easily as on any other of your business’s social media channels. And there you have it! Now it’s time to take it a step forward and make the most of your Google Business Profile. 4. How to Optimize Your Google Profile While even a basic Google Business Profile is better than no Profile at all, if you truly want to attract more customers searching for businesses like yours, it’s time to touch up your profile. a) Post updates on your Google Business Profile. Google lets you use the posts feature to inform your potential customers about: Events: If you’re running an event at your business, inform your customers about it. Whenever they search for your business or click on your Google Business Profile otherwise, the post will pop up for them. Offers: If you’re running a sale or you have new offers, it’s a good idea to create a Google post. You’ll also be able to add more information and state the price (range). Products/services: Finally, you can create posts about your products on your Google Profile. This way, a potential customer that has found your profile will be able to see what you’re offering. In this way, Google allows small business owners to get even more customers by turning their profile into a virtual storefront. Posts on Google Business Profile should be fresh, timely, and relevant as your latest posts are visible on Google Maps and Search among the first search results for your customers. Thus it is important to make an update regularly. The easiest way to do this is scheduling your posts in advance using scheduling tools, like Hookle. Additionally, every post type comes with action buttons so potential customers can immediately click through and perform desired actions (e.g. call you, book an appointment, and reserve a table). b) Read and respond to reviews. Reviews are prominently featured on every Google Business Profile, and for a good reason: 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and a staggering 89% of users read businesses' responses to reviews. So in addition to aggregating reviews, it’s important that you respond to them on your Google Business Profile: Be professional and friendly Thank the customers for visiting and voicing their opinion Invite them to come back again The etiquette is simple when it comes to positive reviews. However, if you get a negative review, don’t panic: Determine whether the review is legitimate or not. If it’s legitimate, respond to it. If it’s not (e.g. the reviewer never visited your business, it’s spam or a competitor), you can report it to Google. Stay professional and show empathy. Strive to understand the reviewer and what their problem was. Explain how you’ll rectify the situation. Did they buy a product that broke down? Offer to have it repaired. Be diplomatic. It’s not only the dissatisfied customer that’s reading your response but potential customers as well. Fix the problem and notify them of it. Don’t try to write a review for yourself. Google monitors IP addresses and device IDs, so it’s much better to ask your customers to write a review. c) Understand your customers. For this, Google offers a handy “Insights” feature. With it, you’ll be able to see how your potential customers find you; through the web search, or maps. You’ll see what search terms they’re looking up when they come across your business profile, and which actions they take (e.g. call, visit your website, book an appointment). All of this will help you improve your Google Business Profile even more. And after you’ve set it up, it’s time to wow your customers! Read on more how to be seen on Maps and Search and getting the most out of Google Business Profile. Connect your Google Business Profile to your Hookle App to publish and schedule posts effortlessly from your mobile phone.

Shortcuts Establish your online presence Create an editorial calendar Post content regularly Provide value Encourage engagement Over the years, social media marketing has gone from a fresh new idea to an absolute must for any business. Yes, that includes small businesses, too. After all, social media is the best way to connect with both loyal fans and potential new customers. Without it, you’re missing out on reaching an audience that’s willing to connect with your brand. However, getting started on social media can be daunting for small business owners, especially if you don’t have any experience using it. Where to start? Which social media platforms to use? Does it take a lot of my time? The good news is that you don’t need to have a slick marketing campaign or thousands of followers for social media to have a positive impact on your business. Social media doesn’t need to be scary, nor expensive! To help get you started, here are five easy steps for you to kick-start a social media marketing strategy for your small business. You’re welcome. 1. Establish your online presence Perhaps you haven’t yet created any social profiles for your small business. Or maybe you’re set up on just one. Let’s say Facebook, for example. If you’re set up on one social media platform – great. You’re heading in the right direction. But using one social media platform alone isn’t enough to maximize your reach and draw in those customers. Even small business owners need to establish a strong presence on social platforms to reach as much of their audience as possible. These social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Snapchat to name a few. But before you rush off to create a profile on every platform listed, you must understand your target audience. This will help you decide which platforms to focus on. With a wide and varied audience, focusing on Facebook to start with is a safe bet as you can assume your target audience has a presence there. Facebook is still one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, so rest assured that it’s not going anywhere for the time being. After setting your business's Facebook Page, you can now start evaluating what other platforms are relevant for your customers. Do you run a B2B company? Then LinkedIn is the social platform for you. That’s because 80% of leads generated by B2B companies come from LinkedIn. Or is your primary audience Generation Z? If so, you might want to head to Snapchat or Instagram to find the right followers. This is because 71% of Generation Z uses Snapchat at least six times a day! But if you’re trying to create leads from baby boomers, for example, it wouldn’t make sense to prioritize Snapchat. How to choose the right social media channels for your business? Read our tips here. 2. Create an editorial calendar To help you stay focused on your social media marketing strategy, creating an editorial calendar helps a great deal. After all, scrambling to craft posts at the last minute can lead to irrelevant or low-quality content that your followers won’t appreciate. Plus, a lack of organization can lead to all sorts of bloopers, such as repeated posts (oops!) or a forgotten presence on one or more of your social channels. A social media calendar helps you avoid those mistakes and assists you in planning a strong, useful, and relevant content strategy. They can also help you reach goals for your social media strategy and track your progress toward them. To craft a content calendar, use a regular calendar for each social media channel you use and plan your posts accordingly. There are plenty of templates available to download for free online, or you could simply create your own using Google spreadsheets. For each post, you can include hashtags, links, images, and any other content you plan to include. That way your content is ready to post each day without any extra work. When you feel more comfortable using social media, you may be interested in trying out a social media tool like Hookle. This enables you to easily schedule posts in months or weeks in advance. Scheduling also allows you to dedicate one block of time per week to spend creating content so you can focus on the job at hand. This means you don’t need to plan daily which can often take you away from other important tasks. Read our 4 quick tips on how to schedule your social media posts here. 3. Post content regularly Once you have your social media profiles ready, you need to make sure those accounts are active and engaged. After all, if a potential customer stumbles upon one of your profiles and sees there’s been no activity for a month, they aren’t going to follow you. Because why would someone follow a brand that doesn’t post regular or consistent content? Would you? That’s why posting daily, or at least several times a week is recommended not only to draw in new followers but to keep current ones engaged and entertained. Think about it – the followers you do already have aren’t likely to search your brand just to see what you’re up to. They need a prompt – an exciting and informative piece of content that will appear on their timeline or homepage. Posting daily can work well with your content calendar. By planning ahead of schedule, you can make sure there’s content ready for every day and can spot any missing gaps. Have a look at how often your competitors are posting too. If they’re only posting weekly or a handful of times a month then this is a great opportunity to stand out. Likewise, if they’re posting quality content daily, then you know you need to keep up so you don’t get lost. If you post daily, then every time your followers see your brand pop up they’re reminded that you exist. And when they get to a point where they need or want the product you’re offering they’ll think of you before any other competitor. If you’re not sure exactly what to post, be creative and mix it up. Share blog articles, videos, and images that are relevant to your industry. Promote a special offer you’re currently running. It doesn’t always have to be a big piece of content, sometimes just sharing a relevant article can pique the interests of followers. One super-easy way to keep active is to set up a recurring posts system, which is a massive time saver. You can set certain static posts, such as events or happy hours, to be automatically repeated so that you don't need to think about scheduling or posting them separately for months or even the rest of the year. 4. Provide value This leads us to the importance of sharing content that provides value to your target audience. After all, there’s no point in posting daily if it comes across as spam or holds no relevance to your followers. Create content that your audience will find useful. It could be a guidance article or a video that makes them laugh, for example. Anything beneficial to them in some way. This is what helps draw the right customers to your small business and will make them want to follow you on social media and spread the content you’ve shared. Share the right content and you can connect with your target audience and grow a loyal customer base. One mistake that many small businesses make is treating social media too similarly to regular advertising. While self-promotion is necessary – it’s the aim of the game, after all – you shouldn’t blatantly promote your business in every post. When you do promote your business, make sure you mix it up and do it sporadically. Many marketers go by the one-in-seven rule, suggesting that for every one obvious promotional post, there should be six others that are content-based. You can still mention your brand and services in these other posts, just be careful not to sell too hard and don’t make your brand the focus of the post. Visual content works especially well on social media. For example, video content is ideal for drawing the browser’s attention as well as conveying your personality to customers in a fun way. 5. Encourage engagement Once you’ve started posting, the work isn’t done there. Social media should, of course, be social so you should interact with followers as much as you can. Ask questions in your content, so people are more likely to engage and leave a comment. Then, reply to their comments and slowly build a rapport. Generally, people find it more encouraging and authentic when businesses reach out and respond to their customers via social media. While you should always try to draw in new followers, it’s important to focus on the followers you do have that are interested, loyal, and engaged. These are the people who are more likely to repost your content and become customers. Once you’ve built a community of loyal followers around your brand, these people will interact and engage with one another, working together to help promote your content and brand. Ready to start marketing on social media? Following these five easy steps, promoting your small business on social media doesn’t have to be difficult or overwhelming. Remember that to stay relevant today, your small business must have an active social media presence. And that having one social profile alone isn’t enough if you want to maximize your reach to potential customers. Hookle is a tool created to help you keep your business active and engaging on social media. With Hookle you can keep an eye on all of your business’s social media networks, publish post effortlessly and see the impact of your activity - all on one app. Download and try out Hookle now here. With time, you’ll soon grow a following that you can engage with and hopefully convert into customers. Ready to get started? Good luck!