One of the things we do here at Technology Therapy Group is social media management. Small businesses come to us with their goals and objectives – let’s say they want to increase their brand visibility and attract more customers – and we help them do that.

Social media management has at least three components, including strategic planning, populating a business’ social media platforms with content, and engaging with comments left by the business’ fans or followers. We’ve found that while most small business owners are really on-board with the strategic planning and customer engagement process, they’re not so sure about the population process. One question that comes up time and time again is “Why are you including links to other websites? I thought social media was all about promoting MY business?”

There are three specific reasons you’ll want to share links to other websites as part of your social media marketing strategy. This is what they are:

• Sharing helpful, informative content from third-parties is a social media cultural norm.

  Social media has, in the 15+ years it’s been around, developed its own set of behavioral rules – a type of etiquette, if you would. One of these rules is “Don’t be too self-promotional!” Social media is all about having quality conversations. If all you have to say is “Buy from ME! Buy from ME!”, you’re not adding much value to the conversation. People will quickly unfollow or ignore you – and they may even turn your site in to the social media platform for being too spammy!

• Sharing content from other sites is a way to provide another layer of customer service.

  As a small business owner, you’ve always heard it is important to pay attention to your customers’ wants and needs. However, meeting those wants and needs may go far beyond the scope of what your business actually does. A florist, for example, might know everything about South American Roses – and next to nothing about how to soothe over a troubled romantic relationship. By sharing an article that says “It’s a good idea to apologize – and sometimes you should buy her flowers too!” that florist is helping their customers get one of their emotional needs met, while prompting them to order a dozen long-stemmed beauties.

• You have to create less content when you share other people’s stuff.

  Creating high quality articles, funny pictures and memes, and other high value content is a time-consuming task. You’ve got a small business to run – and chances are, it’s not a content-creation business! By making strategic use of other people’s content, you’re minimizing the amount of time you need to devote to populating your social media sites. It’s much faster to find and share good articles than it is to write them yourself

Learn More About Social Media Management

Would you like to learn more about making the most of your social media marketing? Jennifer Shaheen, the Technology Therapist, speaks on these topics regularly. Or give us a call – we’re here to help!