There’s what you “could do” and what you “should do” when answering this question. You should listen to what your clients / customers are looking for in a social media campaign. You could offer a coupon discount or special pricing, but you should just say “HI” sometimes. Don’t always try to sell something. Remember this is social media, would you talk to a friend like a customer every time you saw him or her, NO. Then you should do the same with social media marketing just talk to your clients / customers and watch the results.

1. Understand your customer. (talk to them)
2. Find out who they are and what they buy
3. Find out why they purchase from you

   Try using social media channels like facebook, twitter, etc, message boards and blogs to get the information. Also direct feedback from your customers or clients is a great way to find out how their experience purchasing from your business was (testimonials).

B) Have special promotions:

1. Use social media (facebook, twitter, etc.) to launch your promotion or special
2. Use eMail blast to notify customers or clients of a promotion or special
3. Blog about an upcoming discount on a product or service

   With any or all of these try using coupons. Coupons are increasingly vital, and there is a major rise in the desirability of online coupons even for use at brick and mortars.

C) Try new things:

1. Don’t just rely on specials or promotions you did in the past.
2. Ask your employees if they have any promotional ideas, you might be surprised at their answer!
3. Check what your completion is doing.

   Don’t miss the boat. Times are changing and they always will. What was good enough yesterday might not be good enough today. Always stay on top of what is current. An old looking web site with static content will turn off a customer / client in seconds.

D) Freshen up your web content:

1. When was the last time you updated the content on your website?
2. Since your website is generally the first place potential customers /clients go to learn more about your business, it’s crucial the sites look and feel are current.
3. Have someone or yourself follow a logical path from your website through each step in your sales process, and make sure all materials and messages they encounter flow seamlessly from one to the next and are correct.

With more shoppers than ever browsing the Web utilizing these 4 steps can be a great help to increasing your web sales. Remember to ESTABLISH, PROMOTE, TRY NEW and KEEP FRESH.

You need to know why and how you may or may not response to what you are listening to before embarking on a social media marketing campaign. Many companies don’t even know what is being said about them in the social media world. Google your company to find out, you might be surprised with the results. When you start a social media campaign you need to respond to any and all complaints or problems that arise via Twitter, Facebook, etc. You have the ability to instantly engage the customer / client and try to resolve the complaint. Remember bad press can hurt your business worse than good press can help it!