8 Must-Know Social Media Strategies for Small Businesses

If you want to make your online marketing efforts that much more powerful, consider adopting a social media marketing campaign. According to the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry report, 90 percent of the 3342 marketers surveyed agreed that social media is important to their business and the majority agreed that social media has been very effective in generating exposure for their business.

Small businesses across many industries are now harnessing the power of social media marketing to connect with current and future customers, increase brand awareness, build a positive reputation in their industry, and also to generate sales. When it's executed correctly, a social media campaign can be a valuable way to generate leads and direct traffic to your small business website.

Here are eight must-know social media strategies for small businesses across all industries:

#1: Be Committed to Twitter

Social networking sites like Twitter can only be effective if you stay active and are engaging with followers frequently. If you're going to promote your business son Twitter, be prepared to post updates regularly, share links relevant to your industry, retweet other people's posts, and respond to queries as quickly as possible. This level of engagement may require additional staff help, so be prepared to allocate time to this project accordingly.

#2: Be Creative with Facebook

Facebook Pages can be a valuable addition to your social media marketing campaign, but you want to set yourself apart from other small businesses in your area or niche by using a custom landing page template, and by updating your status frequently with unique content. You also need to seek out opportunities for people to "Like" your page.

#3: Launch a Video Marketing Campaign

Videos marketing can be a powerful way to engage customers and encourage interaction between the consumer and the business. Whether you use video product demonstrations to raise awareness about certain products or video advertising across social-networking friendly sites like YouTube, adding video to your marketing arsenal can help to boost business.

#4: Use Facebook Events to Your Advantage

Many of your prospective and current customers may be interested in attending an event you host at your location, or when you're sponsoring an event in town. Create a Facebook Event and invite all of your Facebook Page fans. As long as you create a public event, everyone who RSVPs to the event will have the event details posted on their Facebook profile and their friends could follow suit.

#5: Conduct a Shareable Survey

Surveys can be a great way to engage current and future customers, and also build some awareness about your company, products, and services. Use survey sites that allow the user to share their results with their friends on social networks, or even share the entire survey with people they think may be interested in completing it. Offering incentives for completing a survey can help with your promotional efforts.

#6: Make Website Pages Shareable

Include a Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ "share" button or widget on your website pages and blog posts so that readers can share your links within a few clicks. Many people will be willing to share what they just read or found -- all you have to do is make the process as simple as possible.

#7: Create a Posting or Updating Schedule

2010 Postling user data and statistics show that 62 percent of small businesses post on social networks more than eight times per week. Make sure you're posting relevant and useful information frequently, and take the time to reply to commenters and those who are sharing your posts.

#8: Review Social Media Metrics Regularly

You can't measure the success of your social media campaigns solely by the number of followers you've required or fans you have. You need to focus on how many people are engaging with your business on social networks regularly, and ultimately, how many are going back to your site to contact you, buy a product or register for a service. Make sure you have a measurement system in place so that you can analyze what is working -- and what isn't -- with your social media marketing efforts.

Sources:

Social Media Examiner -- 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

Mashable -- Social Media for Small Businesses: 6 Effective Strategies

Social Media Examiner -- Small Businesses Benefit Most from Social Media, Study Says

Constant Contact -- Social Media for Small Business

Soshable -- How Effective Social Media is for Small Businesses