Social media is really catching on fire. Last week, Skittles pushed social media marketing to the max by featuring their various social media channels on their company site. Yes, social media took over their company site!
A small business owner, with all the great success stories of social media marketing by big companies like Dell, Starbucks and Skittles being the latest, might be intimidated and have the false perception that social media marketing is only for companies with an established brand.
There is no doubt that prior branding efforts of these companies amplified their social media marketing results. However, this doesn’t mean that social media marketing cannot be done on a small scale by a small business.
In this social media marketing blog post, I am going to share 8 Ideas for Small Businesses to Launch Social Media Campaigns. For small business owners who are already embracing this type of new media marketing, kudos to you. For those who haven’t, I really hope this blog post can get you started.
Talk to Customers About Social Media
How to get followers on Twitter and fans on Facebook for your small business? Not many people know your business and those who will definitely have an idea about it are your customers.
Next time when you are serving your customers, whether you are giving them a haircut or having a light chat with them, don’t focus on the weather, focus on their social media activities. To get the conversation rolling, “Do you have a Facebook account?” or “Everyone is on Facebook nowadays.” does not sound intrusive at all.
Start from Family and Friends
Ask yourself, if a close friend invites you to become a fan of a company, is there a higher chance of you joining rather than having the company itself spamming your inbox, asking you to participate?
Often times, your family and friends have their own network on social media sites. Asking for their help to get the word out about your business’ latest social media marketing campaign is an easy way to start getting attention from the community.
Employees Participation
If you do have a few employees in your business, you should get them involved in your social media campaign. Don’t force them but instead, ask for their inputs right from the development stage of your social media marketing plan. Getting them involved in the initial stage triggers their interest and passion towards your social media campaign.
Social media works best for both big and small businesses when the people handling the campaign are passionate about it. Employees should have fun doing it but at the same time, they should know their boundaries.
Business Cards, Email Signature and Introduction Piece
Business cards, email signatures, face-to-face introduction lines and more are some of the tools that you can use to broadcast your social media presence. The chances of a potential customer looking up social media platforms to learn more about you are higher than them visiting your office or giving you a call.
Whether it is on a promotional gift to your customers or an appreciation card to your suppliers, a one line mention of where they can find you on social media sites is enough.
Useful Content
Useful content in different formats (text, audio and video) that are posted all over the Internet with a link back to your site will lead prospects that are interested in your business, products or services to you. Being helpful towards the members of online communities that are related to your niche is another way to get attention.
Helpful content posted on your company blog prompts visitors to subscribe to your newsletter which allows you to further interact with them. These followers will become the first few people that know about your social media campaign and they will be the ones that can help it to catch on fire by telling their friends and online networks.
Building a large follower base using content alone is achievable because it builds trust and adds value to your community.
Buzz Worthy Content
Informative is no longer enough. In order to get noticed, you must stand out from the crowd and get people’s attention.
The above was quoted from Dean Hunt and Barry Dunlop’s Lame to Fame report and you should get it. Follow them for buzz marketing advice as well.
The Internet is already being flooded with a lot of content, even those that your prospects are looking for. Apart from being helpful, your content needs to grab attention.
What will get people’s attention? Is your content hilarious, emotional, unbelievable, disgusting, futuristic, controversial or scary? Content that goes beyond conventional facts, which by the way can be created easily, is usually able to prompt sharing easily without having to ask for it.
Pitch Influencers
Influencers in your industry like bloggers can give a big push to your social media marketing campaign. Your pitch does matter but most of the time, they care more about what you have to offer. Other ways to get them involved in the campaign includes sponsoring prizes to hold competitions on their blog. Read more about how to pitch bloggers.
Apart from industrial bloggers, you should notify social media experts and business consultants (like me 
) about your campaign as we are always on the lookout for more examples to share with our followers. However, you must keep in mind that we are not your target market so avoid crafting your campaign around us.
‘Friend’ Social Media Users
Months prior to your social media marketing campaign launch, you should start interacting with communities that you wish to leverage later on. ‘Friend’ (it’s a verb 
) users on content sharing sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Mixx. A quick look at their voting history will tell you whether their interest is parallel to your business. You can also vote their content if they give you a shout out.
Use Twitter to converse with users or prospects. Add value by tweeting value adding content, answering questions and interacting. All these contribute to a better relationship which you can leverage to create buzz for your social media campaign later on.
Piggyback Trends
Use Google Trends as a tool to monitor periodical trends that heat up the whole Internet. They may provide ideas as to how you should build your campaign and how you can promote it. Also, getting attention from your audience will be much easier.
Instead of trying to create your own wave, which can be very difficult, why not ride the wave that are created naturally by your community?
What is Your Idea for #10?
Do you notice that there are only 9 ideas? I want the 10th to come from you. 
What some other things, apart from the above, that you can do for the build up towards your social media marketing campaign launch?
Feel free to share your ideas and thoughts with me in the comments section.
If you like my advice and tips above, do subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com Newsletter for premium content by submitting your first name and email address below.
Photo Credits: amberbow92 and philcampbell
