Leverage your social media accounts when you’re not familiar with the process can be intimidating. I broke this post out from a more in-depth look at 9 Ways to Clean Up Your Online Presence.
If you’re not typically on social media, do you have an employee that is? One you can trust with your brand? Social media is about connecting with people, not just pushing your products. If you feel “out of the loop” when it comes to social media, possibly have a manager or trustworthy employee manage it while you oversee it.
- Create social business accounts on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Create check-in accounts on Yelp and Foursquare.
- Going back to Start With Why, people need to know why they should follow you. You sell interesting things? You chat with followers, ask questions or start conversations? Have you ever wanted to know “what the people want” but didn’t know how to poll your customers? This would be a great way to do it.
- If you post a link to an eBay item for sale, hashtag the brand, style or activity so people can find your item but don’t go crazy hash tagging every word. Be selective and don’t make every post about the items you sell.
Example: “We have a limited supply of #Garmin Forerunner #Running Watches ebay.com/itm/291078046532“ - Offer discounts only available when someone sees it on a social page. Let customers know that discounts come from following on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. “Knock off 10% of our commission when you bring in your items during April! Mention #AprilCommission when you bring your items in.”
- Try out the check-in services by offering a percentage off when checking in: Foursquare, Yelp, Facebook and Google+. Use the business links above to setup discounts when people check-in. Take it a step further and add these businesses stickers to your windows to advertise checking in. After signing up, they’ll probably send you the stickers in the mail.
“Why use these services?”
When someone checks into your business, that person is advertising to their friends that they use your services - without verbally saying it. - Getting the hang of social media? Take it even another step to start a blog. Setup your website with WordPress choose your own personal look with a template and set it up to show your expertise and WHY people should use your services.
“What am I going to blog about?”
You’re an expert in your division, share some information about certain products that you’ve learned. While selling on consignment, I found out the hard way that certain dolls have their maker’s stamp on their lower back! Never would I have thought I needed to undress a doll to take a photo of the brand. Blogging this experience makes you that much more of an expert in the division of dolls, and can potentially bring more business doing doll consignment…if you want to do that. - Take the link of your blog post and post it on all your social media outlets. Do an email campaign every once in awhile showcasing the blog posts you’ve written up. You want to keep your current customers, customers. Show them your expertise and don’t let them forget about your services.
Feel free to leave me a comment below on what you’ve found helpful! Contact me if you want one-on-one consultation.