10 Flavors of Small Business Social Content To Share

Generate visibility with customers with these 10 types of social content your small business can share

Businesses of all shapes and sizes understand that social media communications is an effective way to build customer relationships and build a business presence. Whether your business involves sitting behind your computer offering virtual accounting services, driving around in a gourmet food truck, repairing that same food truck or a myriad of other business your social media presence can have a solid impact on your business or not if you don’t get it.

One of the most difficult things to figure out in social media engagement and communications is just what content you should be producing and where you should be showcasing it. It seems a daunting task to know what to say and when and where to say it. However, it may not be as difficult to create content as you think. The content you need is often right in front of you, part of your everyday life, just waiting to be used.

In business as in life timing is everything. However, it is impossible to hit the right timing with every client all the time so what can you do? Share on a regular basis and position your content to be there, become comfortable and familiar and when the customer is ready to hear your message they will remember you.

Start With Your Social Networks

Begin by identifying your favourite social networks and identifying the ones where you customers may be looking for you or your type of information. Popular social networks, of course, include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, Vine, Flckr, meetup and Ask.fm. You may be able to survey your customers or ask your staff, children, friends and family if they know of any new or emerging ones. You do not need to select them all, but pick ones you believe you have the interest to sustain.

Once you have identified your social networks determine your best times for sharing. Consider your customers and when they are online. There is a lot of research available that provides you insights into time of day social sharing. Don’t be afraid to share something more than once and on multiple networks. Keep in mind, however, that the conversation (tone, messaging) can vary from Facebook to LinkedIn, from Pinterest to Google+ and so on.

Now the big question is what should you share? There is so much to share. You can share brief statements, tweets, updates, blog posts, images and more. Here are a few ideas.

10 Types of Content You Can Share In Social Networks:

1)     Your Celebrations: Your business has milestones, anniversary dates, new hires, big business deals, your 200^th customer or 500^th day in business. A simple, genuine message celebrating your company milestones can fit onto almost any social network. A simple Tweet, a LinkedIn posting (your personal LinkedIn account or your business account), a Facebook share and so on.
A message as simple as: ‘Today we served our 1000^th customer we are celebrating with a special deal, 10% off for the remainder of the day’.

2)     General Celebrations: Did you know there was a ‘No News is Good News Day?’ A ‘National Teddy Bear Day’? ‘Collect Rocks Day’? Both traditional and fun days are ways to celebrate with your community. If you can find fun promotions to go along with these days you can build them into your marketing strategy.
A message as simple as: ‘Today is National Collect Rocks Day bring in a rock and you receive a free coffee’

3)     Quotes, Famous Sayings, Motivational Sayings, Poems, Jokes (the appropriate kind): Who does not love a good motivational quote.
A message as simple as: ‘Payton Manning said: “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing”. When was the last time you were in the Zone?”

4)     Recommendations: Social media networks are full of opinions and recommendations. While you may not want to share recommendations on everything, sharing recommendations that relate to your business is great, but sharing recommendations about books you like, movies, attractions and more can connect you with your community (watch your credibility and be able to back why you made a recommendation).
A message as simple as: “Our mechanic loved the new Julia Roberts movie, who knew! Tell us what you thought about ABC movie”

5)     Meet and Greet: Sharing information about your staff, vendors, community organizations, famous people tied to your industry or business and more can be a way to build community relations. Gather an image of your accountant baking and share the recipe, profile a member of your community by posting a Q and A.