Focus on ‘Business’ for your Social Media Business Page
When I owned Canine Splash a decade ago, our only marketing strategy was to use our Business Facebook Page. My business partner and I felt that Billboards and other avenues of marketing were just too expensive for us. And, it really did work well.
We made a conscious effort to post photos and/or videos of the many dogs that came through our door to swim. It is amazing how excited people would become when they saw their dog splashing, jumping, and having such a great time immortalized in photos or videos. They were able to see a different perspective as we would always film their dogs from the end of the pool which allowed us to capture the dog’s faces. In fact, we had a bit of a cult following from people out of town wanting to see all the various breeds, mixes, sizes of dogs. Our Facebook Page did become our main marketing mode and it worked for a few years.
One of the approaches we did not take for our Social Media presence was including personal information. Personal commentary on the owners or the trainers or the interns from a local college Animal Behavior program was limited to introducing them to our followers, that was it. We never mentioned anything personal such as vacations, family members, etc. We did that first to maintain separation of our personal lives and business, second to retain an element of privacy for all, and thirdly, to ensure that clients who could barely afford the cost of swimming their dog would not feel that their money was fueling what might be seen as an extravagance - a sports car, an international trip, an expensive and large home, etc. We did not want to be “tone deaf” to the fact that many swimmers had human parents choosing to spend any extra money they had on the enrichment of their dogs.
If you have social media pages for your business, focus on the business behind the page. Identify projects you may be working on where there is not a privacy issue around disclosing your participation. Followers are always interested in seeing something new and exciting. If you sell products or services to the general public, choose a Product of the Week to advertise and discuss its positive aspects. Followers also want to learn about your business, educate them, they will appreciate that extra bit of information they only garnered because they follow your page. Highlight customers, with their consent, use testimonials from happy and satisfied customers. Retailers will never be short of products to highlight, services to sell, satisfied customers to quote. This is what your Business Social Media Page should be about, sell your business, not your personal life that may be a result of your client’s money. Business to Business firms may not have as many products to sell on social media as Retailers but the same premise can be applied.
Most business owners will also have a personal social media page. That is the place for highlighting that trek to Mount Everest, that flashy sports car you worked so hard for, or the love of your life. Business Page followers are not there to see how much you love your spouse or how your children have accomplished so much, or how many grandchildren you are now up to with a photo of the latest. For all of that, keep it to your personal page and focus your Business Page on your Business, period. Another plethora of posts can be made up of business or employee achievements. The Business won an Award, post it, an employee passed a licensing exam for their role in your business, post it. Accolades for the Business or its employees/vendors/customers are always a welcome, positive source of reading for your followers.
Often less is better. Do not post because you feel the need to post, post with a purpose. Choose to highlight your business - its products, its services, the good it does in the community. Leave the personal posts where they belong, on your personal page. I learned first hand that showing any signs of personal success with customers is often perceived as being tone deaf. Posting your 10th anniversary with the love of your life leaves out followers who do not have that special person, commenting on your trip through the African Bush and showing yourself drinking champagne on the savanna makes followers feel they must be spending too much at your establishment that you can even afford that encounter with the pride of lions. It may sound farfetched but I assure you these type of posts can elicit negative responses towards you as an owner and your business.
So, be like the Border Collie in our Blog Photo, focus on the business at hand. You likely have more than enough to post about your business and continue to celebrate all that makes your followers want to continue to follow you and learn about the growth and excitement of your business itself.
Be well.
