My Site is Up; Now What? Part One: Social Media

My site is up; now what?

At UniformMarket, we make it easy for our clients to set up and maintain their online uniform stores. In fact, we make it a little too easy. A new client can provide little more than a company name and which uniform catalogs they’d like to feature, and they’re in business. If that client does nothing more, their store will probably not succeed. And as much as we want our clients to succeed, we can’t force them to make the effort. We can provide the tools and information, and we are always here to give our professional advice and guidance when it’s requested. So here’s our piece of professional advice/tough love for the day: If you ignore SEO, social media, and online marketing, potential customers will ignore you. You don’t have to be an expert, but you have to make the effort. So this week, I’m going to focus on social media, SEO, and online marketing. Today, I’ll give you some easy ways to get your feet wet in the world of social media.

The importance of social media

“I don’t know how to use Facebook.” It’s a good excuse to use when friends pressure you into looking at pictures of their children and cats. It’s not a valid excuse when you own a business. Like it or not, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare and LinkedIn are how businesses and potential customers are interacting with each other. That’s right; I said interacting with each other. I did not say that social media sites are another opportunity for businesses to bombard people with useless information. Social media is about creating relationships with customers that are actually interested in what you’re doing and saying. Users can and do opt out at any time, making it incredibly important for you to provide them with incentive to stay.

Pick a site, any site

It would be a mistake to create an account on every social media site, and then promptly abandon them all. To start out, pick just one social media site that you think is appropriate for your business, and dedicate yourself to keeping it up-to-date. Here are some popular social media sites and what they’re used for:

Facebook: With over 600 million users, Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site in the United States. (It would be the most popular in the world if not for China’s Tencent.) Facebook is a powerful tool for businesses, providing them with the opportunity to share links, photos, videos, and status updates (which can be pretty much anything they want to share). You can also create polls that your followers can vote on. When someone “likes” your business on Facebook, they become a follower, and anything that you share will show up on their News Feed. You can also “like” other businesses, which is a great idea if you’re just starting out. If you are a uniform retailer, you can like the brands that you sell and keep up with what they’re talking about. It may give you ideas about what to share with your own followers.

Twitter: Twitter is a popular social media site where users can share 140-character Tweets that answer the question, “What’s happening?” Users can follow their friends, celebrities, and local businesses, among others. Users can share links (to pictures, videos, news articles, etc.) in their Tweets, but the real focus is on the words and the conversations. Twitterers can use the @ symbol followed by someone’s username to mention them or reply to them. When you use an @reply or @mention, the user that you reference will be notified. You can also retweet, meaning that you can share someone else’s Tweet with your own followers. The hashtag (#) symbol is used in conjunction with relevant keywords to categorize Tweets and make them searchable. Below is a Tweet from Dansko that uses hashtags to reference popular topics- Earth Day, vegan, and shopping.

Foursquare: Foursquare is a popular application (app) that can be used on smartphones, and enables users to “check in” at local businesses like restaurants and retail stores. When they check in, they can earn points as well as badges, such as the Foodie badge for users who check in at several restaurants. They may also get special deals and discounts by checking in. Users then share their experiences and tips with other users. Foursquare users can publish their check-ins to their Facebook page, enabling their friends to see where they’ve been and what their thoughts were. Business owners can claim their business on Foursquare and then offer check-in specials to users.

YouTube: I probably don’t have to explain YouTube to you in great detail. It’s a website where people can watch videos. People can comment on videos, like or dislike them, and share them with others. I think that YouTube is a great tool for uniform retailers. People love to watch videos, and uniform retailers can use videos to showcase and demonstrate products. You can also make how-to videos that you think might be useful to your customers and potential customers, like how to wash a waterproof jacket or how to tie silk scarves in unique ways. There are many other social media sites, but I believe that Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and YouTube are most useful to our clients. If you are just starting out with social media and trying to choose just one social media site, I strongly recommend Facebook. But no matter which site you choose, there are some rules and guidelines you should follow.

Social media interaction 101

Do you like being bombarded by sales pitches constantly? I know that I hate getting very “salesy” messages from businesses all the time. I do, however, enjoy receiving messages from my favorite companies about new products, specials, and events. On Facebook, I follow my favorite companies. I frequently “like” the items that pop up on my news feed, and my friends can see these interactions. For example, I might see that Barco (uniform manufacturer) is hosting a charitable event, and I “like” it. Maybe I’ll even post a comment saying, “This is great! So inspiring!” and Barco might respond to say “Thank you!” These interactions will pop up on my friends’ News Feeds, and maybe my friends will take a look at the Barco website to see what they’re all about.

These are the natural, organic types of interactions that you want for your business, because they help personalize your company and create strong relationships with your customers. Here are a few dos and don’ts for you as you’re starting to use social media:

Do join your chosen social media site and provide as much information as possible. Don’t leave anything blank.

Do sit down with key people at your company and decide how you want to portray your business online. Do you want to play up the fact that you’re a family-owned operation? Do you want to convey a sense of humor? Whatever you decide, make sure that everyone is on board.

Do observe before you start participating. Follow the companies in your industry, and make note of how they interact with each other and with their followers.

Do come up a list of ideas for possible conversation starters. Be creative, and write down ideas whenever they come to you. For inspiration, keep an eye on current events and trends in your industry. Draw from your experiences and expertise. Below is a timely question that Edwards Garment posted on Facebook.

Do be a human. Keep it real. Spotlight an employee of the month. Tell the story of how your company started. Share a joke (an appropriate one) that made you laugh. Below is a very human interaction between Cintas Corporation and Facebook users. Cintas came up with a great, unique way to get people talking, and shared an original video.

Do interact with users in a timely manner. You will receive email notifications when users interact with your company, so there’s no excuse for ignoring these potential customers. If someone posts a compliment on your company’s wall, like “I love your store!”, promptly reply with a heartfelt “Thank you! We love our customers!” If someone shares a negative comment on your page, take a deep breath and/or a long walk, punch a pillow, and then return the computer to say, “We’re sorry that you had that experience. Thank you for letting us know and giving us the opportunity to improve.” You’re going to look like a champ.

Do use analytics and insights provided to you. Most sites provide statistics about how people interact with your page. Use these statistics to measure the success of your efforts.

Don’t keep it too real. A play-by-play of your toddler’s potty training successes and failures can stay on your personal Facebook page (or, better yet, in your own head).

Don’t put quantity before quality. Who cares if you have 1,000 followers if none of them interact with your company’s page?

Don’t recycle everyone else’s content. It’s fine to retweet or share content from other users every now and then, but creating original content is crucial.

Don’t neglect your social media page or think that your job is done once you’ve done a few status updates. Keep at it, and keep checking the insights and statistics to see how your efforts are paying off.

Don’t get too cozy with one social media site. If you’ve mastered Facebook, start using Twitter or Foursquare. Just make sure that you can commit to keeping up with each one.

Your customers are waiting

This might seem like a lot of don’ts, but don’t worry too much. These are just guidelines. The wonderful thing about social media is that you can make mistakes without doing serious damage to your reputation or bank account. Ignoring social media will be much more harmful than making a mistake or two. Give it a try. Make the effort. Have fun! Let us know what you learn. Email me with success stories: emily@uniformmarket.com.

If you are a UniformMarket client, you may be interested in our SEO and SEM services. We can manage social media, blogs, and email marketing for you. Please email me for more information: emily@uniformmarket.com.