50 Ways to Use Social Media for Business
If you’re a business person and if you’re reading this blog then chances are you’ve got a social media profile. You may even manage it. There are a lot of articles out there that give you step-by-step instructions on how to set up a profile but very few on how to promote your business once you get there. That’s why I’ve put together 50 different ideas on how you can leverage social media to reach out to your prospects and customers as well as monitor your brand.
We’ve chosen to focus on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn – the three largest social networking sites. Likely you won’t be able to implement all of these ideas to market your business but you can certainly take some of them. I encourage you to especially look at the LinkedIn section because I believe it is the most under appreciated network when it comes to business.
- Send coupons to fans
- Announce new items
- Ask open-ended questions to your follower base
- Broaden the reach of your blog through the use of RSS
- Listen to what industry leaders have to say
- Ask questions of your industry leaders
- Find the blogs of market influencers and begin commenting
- Monitor what others are saying about you
- Respond to complaints with offers to help or fix the mistakes
- Listen what your competitors are talking about
- Observe the buzz-words in your marketplace and respond when appropriate
- Help others by answering questions or directing them to resources
- Use a Vanity URL to promote and protect your brand
- Post links to articles that are relevant to your products, services, and industry
- Use the RSS feature to automatically pull and post content relevant to your industry
- Get insight about a possible new hire
- Ask your fans to participate in discussion
- Allow fans to post on your wall, post pictures, and upload videos (just monitor it)
- Create custom tabs to give your Page a look that matches your brand
- Upload photos from your events and ask fans to tag them
- Post time-sensitive coupons (TODAY ONLY: $5 soup and salad for our fans)
- Get feedback on new products
- Share stories relevant to your industry
- Run ads asking people to “Like” you
- Post excerpts from your blog as “notes” so they’re easier to comment on
- Use the RSS feature to automatically post your blog articles
- Buy ads and do A/B testing to find the most effective copy before paying for Adwords
- Get a vanity URL to expand and protect your brand
- Promote “Fan Only” specials
- Use the “Default landing page” settings to put important content at the forefront of your page
- Use the “Send Update” feature to stay in contact with your fans
- Get an idea of the character of someone you’re considering for a position
- Get a vanity URL for your name
- Add your company website to your personal profile
- Use custom anchor text on the websites you list
- Find strategic partners
- Find out if the salesman you’re working with is reliable or not
- Get recommendations
- Refer skeptical prospects to your LinkedIn profile
- Answer questions in the “Answer” section to establish yourself as an industry expert
- Get warm introductions to prospects from your current connections
- Do research on job applicants
- Use your profile update to announce important business
- Create and manage a group centered around your business
- Create and actively manage a group centered around your industry niche
- Use customized emails when you invite someone to connect – the default won’t do!
- Use customized emails to reply to people who ask you to connect – seize the opportunity!
- Optimize your profile to rank high for the phrases your customers are using
- Ask questions in the “Answers” section to use the collective LinkedIn brain trust to solve problems
- Join groups of your industry’s thought leaders to stay on top of current trends
There you go – 50 different ideas on how to use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to grow your business through social media. What ideas have worked for you?
P.s. Don’t forget to read our 12 Tips to Getting Business Handed to You on LinkedIn!