It’s easy to look online and see some of the big name success stories with social media. Companies with huge financial clout can afford to buy strategies that are high profile and high yielding. We expect every TV and print campaign to invite us to engage with the brand’s Facebook page, and an event without a Twitter hashtag barely seems mentioning these days. But what of the smaller companies? Local businesses who don’t have the time or the money to invest in such high profile campaigns? Often these are the organisations that would most benefit from social media success but so many are simply not doing it right. Here are five tips for small business success:

1. Consider your market

Is it appropriate for your company to have a presence on EVERY social networking platform? Probably not. You need to consider the type of content you will be generating and the audience you wish to reach. Spend the time initially to identify who you want to engage with and how you intend to do it, then focus your efforts on two or three main channels. By concentrating your efforts rather than spreading yourself too thinly you will yield much more positive results.

2. Be personal

Whilst it is important to be clear about your business goals with social media, it is also worth remembering how you feel personally when you intereact with other brands and businesses on social networking channels. What do you respond well to? What do you find invasive? Why? How do users from other demographics feel? The more time you can spend considering personal reactions the more effective your campaign is likely to be.

3. Be realistic

Be realistic about how much time and money you can devote to your campaign. If you have the time personally to spend an hour each day researching content, sharing posts, responding to other users, removing unwanted spam and getting your ideas out there then you are well placed to drive forward a dynamic social media campaign. If you doubt whether you will find that time every day but want the peace of mind of knowing it is being effectively taken care of then you should consider outsourcing.

4. Have a Facebook page, not a profile

Time and again we see local businesses set up as a person on Facebook instead of a page. Whilst this may be initially tempting as it allows the user to send friend requests and make those initial connections, it has a number of significant drawbacks. Facebook only allows real people to have a personal profile so you risk being shut down, and whilst a page can have an infininte number of likes, a profile is only allowed to have 5,000 friends so you’re limiting your reach before you’ve even begun. With Facebook’s new timeline coming soon to pages too there are really no excuses!

5. Have fun!

One of the great things about social media is the opportunities it presents for long term engagement with new and existing clients alike. This kind of engagement is most effective when it’s genuine and Facebook and Twitter users are increasingly savvy at spotting phoney intereactions. If you’re genuinely having fun and enjoying your time learning about others on social media while pasionately representing your brand it will show. If you’re hating every minute of your time online that will show too. The bottom line is if you don’t enjoy using social media to build up the conversation around your business, hire someone who does.