Social Media for Small Business Archives

Marketing during Covid-19: Social Media and Content Marketing More Important than Ever

Many small businesses, from lawyers to hair salons, thought of online marketing as a necessary evil or a distraction if they thought of social media as marketing at all. Now, during Covid-19, social media, email and website marketing may be the only way businesses can stay in touch with customers. And staying in touch is critical during social distancing.

If social media and online marketing for business are new concepts to you, there are plenty of resources available to help you make the most of your online presence. From setting up your business’s Facebook page to creating content to share, I’ll be providing advice and resources on how to transition your business to an online presence, keep in touch with your customers, and navigate the sensitivities around developing content during a crisis.

Marketing Checklist during Social Distancing

Here’s my checklist to steps you should take immediately:

Update Your Contact Information & Hours

If you have a website or Facebook business page (you should), update your office hours and contact information to let people know how to reach you. People can’t afford to waste time driving to your location only to find out you’ve adjusted your hours or are closed. Keep in mind that just because your business’s physical doors may be closed, there are still many ways to help your customers. Update your online information now.

Update Your Contact and Email Lists

Ask customers for their updated email addresses and contact information so you can keep them informed. You can set a form up on your website to collect their information or even ask them to direct message you on social media with their current contact information. Your website creator or hosting platform likely already has contact form templates to choose from, and it should only take a few minutes to build a form from scratch. Remember to ask for a name, email, and phone number. And be aware of privacy policies and opt-out requirements.

Offer Online Ordering, Curbside Delivery and Shipping

If your business sells products, offer online ordering and curbside delivery on your website and social media pages. This process works great for hair salons, but not so much for lawyers.

Develop Online Content That Will Help Your Customers

Consider answering the most common questions you’re asked. You can post a list of FAQs online, schedule and host a webinar, and/or record and post a video answering common questions.

For example, if you’re an attorney who specializes in employment law, you can offer a wealth of guidance during this challenging time. Employers need to know how they can and can’t handle such things as reductions in hours or benefits, work-from-home policies, sick time, and disciplinary actions. Corporate attorneys can provide information on contract clauses that might help, given this worldwide business interruption. Everyone could use a little enlightening on the new Coronavirus bill.

Businesses of all types can create useful content. If you own a hair salon, develop hair and makeup tutorials. Offer tips on how to maintain your color at home, use accessories and styling to hide roots, or give your family emergency trims at home. Run photo contests for before and after at-home transformations, and offer to fix those haircuts when social distancing requirements are lifted.

Shops and stores, depending on their specialties, can showcase seasonal products or show how shopping in your own home can help refresh spaces and your wardrobe. Show how products can be used in multiple ways with minor adjustments.

Develop Content, Not Just Ads

Businesses of all sizes around the world are having to rethink their advertising and social media surrounding the pandemic. This Adweek article addresses many of those considerations.

In short, don’t make the mistake of automatically jumping to social media advertising. Social media advertising can be cost-effective and a great way to target customers. As a marketer and social media fan, I’m seeing social media ads on a scale I’ve never seen prior to the pandemic. Before you consider placing ads on social media, think about simply staying in touch and providing valuable content. Show you care. It’s the businesses with heart that will survive this crisis best.

Business Continuity Communications: How Prepared Is Your Business?

Posting Original Content: Advanced Social Media Post Ideas for Professionals

Three Essential Social Media Tips for Attorneys, CPAs, and Other Professionals

Take Your LinkedIn Professional Networking to the Next Level

Are you looking to take your social media professional networking or business development to another level? Building on my previous article, Three Essential Social Media Tips for Attorneys, CPAs, and Other Professionals, this article provides simple steps you can take to go from a basic LinkedIn profile to using LinkedIn or other social media for business development and professional networking.

Note: the links in the following tips take you to additional content on LinkedIn for help with the tips mentioned. Use the Help feature in Twitter and Facebook for help with those applications.

Follow the organizations you support.

1. Most people support organizations with monetary donations, volunteering, or sitting on boards. Simply following these organizations on LinkedIn or other social media channels can beef up your LinkedIn profile and professional networking. And you’ll become more aware of the organizations’ activities by following them on social media, opening up opportunities to do more. Reshare their content and like their posts–at least the ones you find most of interest. Your connections will get a feel for who you are beyond your resume. And you never know where that could lead. You may inspire someone else to support the same organization or meet others with similar interests.

Follow industry peers and referral sources.

2. You likely know many people within your industry. Perhaps you attended a conference where someone you know and respect spoke. Be sure to connect with those you exchange business cards and have meaningful conversations with. Congratulate others on their achievements. Like and reshare their content when appropriate. In the legal field, conflicts may bar an attorney from taking on a matter with some frequency. Maintaining connections on LinkedIn can provide two-way referral sources. And down the road, you never know where your career path will take you. Those connections can prove very valuable over the years as a source of business or even a new career.

Follow thought leaders, content producers, and organizations in the areas you rely on for information and expertise.

3. Most of us rely on information from industry sources to stay current in our fields. Whether you rely on information from business publications like Forbes or Harvard Business Review or more specialized content like JD Supra or Corporate Counsel, be sure to follow these sources on LinkedIn. When you find an article or post that is helpful or thought-provoking to you, you can quickly reshare, like, and comment on their content. That activity will then appear in the feeds of those you’re connected to, and those who view your profile will see it as well.

Get out in the community.

4. Are you attending a charity auction or fundraiser, walking or running in an event to raise funds for a nonprofit, or volunteering for a cause close to your heart? Share a post or two about the event. Most event programs also include a hashtag to use for the event. Don’t forget to tag the organization, using @ and the organization name. Just be sure your tag is the organization’s official account. Share details of the event in advance to help boost registration. At the event, take a photo of something of interest, like speakers, sponsorship signage or you with other attendees, and post during or immediately after the event. Again, you never know who you might inspire and the organization and event organizers will likely take note of and appreciate you spreading the word among your connections.

In my next article, I’ll share more tips on how to continue to amp up your social media networking and business development. Sign up to subscribe to all the tips.

Three Essential Social Media Tips for Attorneys, CPAs, and Other Professionals

Many professionals shy away from using social media for business networking. This article is the first in a series, providing quick, easy steps to harness social media to connect with people on a professional level.

Are you using social media for your business development? If not, you should be. Social media doesn’t replace your business development and networking efforts; it simply gives you more opportunities to connect with others. And best of all, you can do it quickly from your phone when you’re away from the office. Here are three easy social media tips you can apply today to keep in better touch with clients and colleagues.

Note: the links in the following tips take you to additional content on LinkedIn for help with the tips mentioned. Use the Help feature in Twitter and Facebook for help with those applications.

Follow and Connect with Businesses and Individuals

1. Follow your clients and connect with client contacts. Once you’ve followed and/or connected with a client or individual, his or her content will appear on your LinkedIn feed. You can then easily like, comment and/or reshare your clients’ content going forward. If you’re unclear on whether to follow or connect, see LinkedIn’s article on the differences between the two.

“You can ask someone to join your professional network by sending them an invitation to connect. If they accept your invitation, they’ll become a 1st-degree connection. We recommend only inviting people you know and trust because 1st-degree connections are given access to any information you’ve displayed on your profile. Building your network is a great way to stay in touch with alumni, colleagues, and recruiters, as well as connect you with new, professional opportunities.”
LinkedIn

Celebrate Your Contacts’ Successes

2. Celebrate your clients. If a client has a milestone like an anniversary, a ground-breaking or good press, offer your congratulations on social media. Don’t forget to tag your client and your client contact.

Share Your Employer and Colleagues’ Content

3. Follow and share your firm’s content. If you work with others, be sure to share their content and like their posts.

Starting with these three easy social media tips will help you get more comfortable with interacting on social media, whether it’s LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook or all three. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing additional social media ideas for professionals. Sign up to subscribe to all the tips.

How Successful People Like Attorneys Achieve Goals and Get Out of Their Comfort Zones

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. In theory, achieving goals should be the same. Point A is your starting point. Point B is your goal. But there’s a catch about measuring shortest distances; the surface has to be flat. Most people’s paths to achieving goals are anything but short and anything but flat and smooth sailing. And without a sufficiently specific goal, a plan and the ability to overcome distractions, we can subconsciously downgrade goal to a four-letter word.

I started my coaching career with a bang, coaching lawyers at the law firm I worked for. I’d had some experience previously in my personal life and career as a coach, manager, and mentor, so the opportunity to get a coaching certification seemed like a natural fit. I ignored the voice in my head insidiously questioning what I could offer these successful, driven, and highly intelligent people. I went for it. And here’s what I learned.

Fleeting Moments of Insecurity and Nagging Fears Shouldn’t Stop You

My own thoughts about my coaching goal were immediately quieted when my first coaching sessions began. I asked what are you most afraid of about setting this goal? And the answers flowed without hesitation. It turns out we can all easily name the things we fear about going after our goals, and the answers are often variations on the same theme. What if I fail? What will other people think? How can I make the time to do this? How much work is this going to take? And my favorite question: can you just do it for me?

I can and will write a whole separate article on my answers to these questions, but the point is even successful, driven, and highly intelligent people have lapses in confidence in their pursuit of goals. But they don’t let those fleeting moments or nagging fears stop them.

Understand that Accomplishing Major Goals Requires Consistent Effort

Goals have a sneaky way of expanding exponentially. Deep down, most people know what they need to do to accomplish their goals. In theory, you can accomplish anything. In reality, there are many steps to accomplishing your goal.

For example, the goal of most attorneys is to develop more business, and they have a variety of ways of doing so from client referrals and networking to advertising and speaking at events. Businesses use the same type of activities. Yet, attorneys and other professionals have been behind the curve in adopting social media to build their businesses and reputations online.

This American Bar Association article points out, “As busy professionals, attorneys have difficulty focusing consistently on things that are important but not urgent.” Don’t we all?

Recognizing the time commitment and level of effort it takes to expand their business development into social media or develop work in a different area of law, many feel it’s not worth their effort. Working with a coach, however, can help busy professionals to maximize their efforts and quell any apprehension they may have about posting content, developing a personal brand on social media, or demonstrating thought leadership in a new area. It’s the same for small businesses.

Talking things through with a coach fills in knowledge gaps on what steps to take and helps organize a plan for realistically moving forward on goals with minimal distractions. Perhaps, most important, a coach provides the accountability needed to stick to your plan and avoid unnecessary detours.