If you’re not promoting your business via social media, you’re really missing out on a marketing gold mine. Last year we talked about the benefits of social media for your small business, click here to review if you missed that post. According to an article by Peter Roesler for Inc.com there is much to be gained from using social media. Roesler gathered statistics from various studies to illustrate his point. For example, 78 percent of small businesses attract new customers through social media. Seventy-five percent of online Americans said product information found on social media influences their shopping behavior and enhances brand loyalty. For more details, read the full article here. If you’re not among that number, you need to be, but there are a few things you need to know before you dive right in and start posting.
ICYMI FYI HTH
If that looks like gibberish to you, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Chances are you got at least one of those acronyms though. ICYMI- In case you missed it. FYI - For your information. HTH - Here to help or Happy to help. These are good to use if you are posting on twitter where character limit is a concern.
AFAIK IDK FWIW
These could be especially useful when replying to customer comments. AFAIK - As far as I know. IDK - I don’t know. FWIW - For what it’s worth. Be careful, while IDK is an honest admission that you don’t know the answer, IDC means I don’t care, which isn’t the best response to a customer question or concern. IMO (In my opinion) and IMHO (In my honest opinion) are also good responses if you are offering your personal belief as opposed to facts. As you start to gain followers and build relationships online with your customers they may look to you for positive reinforcement and other advice regarding their purchases. The more they trust you, the more likely they are to recommend you and your business to others.
Of course, for every positive, helpful acronym out there you will run into another not so friendly saying. Beware of using any acronym that you aren’t sure what each letter stands for. You can also look it up online before you hit the send button. Remember, you are social media to create relationships and build your brand, not to offend and alienate your customers. Many small business owners will entrust a younger employee with managing their company’s social media presence. It makes sense, many young people are more familiar and comfortable using the technology and they are happy to take on the task. Before you turn them loose, be clear with the image that you want them to portray. If you are comfortable with them using profanity, even in the acronym form - let them know that’s not okay. In many cases they might not even consider the fact that they are using profanity because it has become such a socially acceptable acronym. It’s important that anyone representing your company is projecting the proper image at all times.
Facebook posts aren’t restricted like Twitter so you don’t need to abbreviate everything, but both forms of media love their hashtags. A hashtag can be an acronym, word or even short phrase added to the end of a post used to identify messages on a specific topic. For example, if I were to tweet about this blog I might say “ICYMI new post on social media for your small business #Stockpilerocks” so that you would know that we had a new post and that it was part of our inventory management series. We could also use hashtags to identify posts are being related to a specific topic such as #location or #addinginventory. Hashtags can be very useful in getting your message out there and improving its effectiveness.
Social media is an inexpensive way to market your small business. Done correctly, the benefits can be huge. Like any good marketing campaign, your social media blitz needs to start with a plan and stick to it. Remember, think twice before you tweet, post or hashtag anything. When in doubt - LOOK IT UP! I almost used an acronym WID to mean when in doubt, but after a quick search I found that WID is commonly used as slang for ‘with’, this is why it’s so important to check first. It’s all too easy to say something other than what you intended which could create serious backlash for you, your company and your overall brand.
One area of your business that you don’t have to tread so carefully, is inventory management. If you’re using Stockpile, our free inventory management solution, you can rest assured that any mistake you make can be fixed. Anyone can enter information incorrectly, so we make it easy for you to edit records as needed. You can access your data anytime, from anywhere so it’s always easy for you to catch those errors. Relax, you’ve got Stockpile so you’ve got your inventory management needs covered. FTW - For the win! Check back with us soon for more tips on using social media to grow your small business. Don’t have Stockpile yet? Get started today!!
