The Importance of Social Media

Create a Website 

When promoting a business or brand, the easiest first step to take is creating a website. Some great, easy to use website builders are Wix.com and WordPress.com. The most essential parts of your website is explaining or showing what you do, putting different pages highlighting your services, and put your contact information/bio. Next, create hidden pages that aren’t accessible through the tabs, called blog articles. These are accessible by using key words to utilize SEO or Search Engine Optimization. For example if you type into Google, “Oakland Restaurant Marketing” most of the links on the first page are on PAC including #1, #2, #3. Some successful tips for utilizing SEO are:

• Leverage keywords and location
• Put keywords in URL, header, and title
• Publish relevant content
• Link other posts/pages you’ve made to each new page

Create Social Media Profiles

Social media accounts are an excellent way for you to promote your brand, as well as showcase your product or service. Showing people what you do in an interactive way helps them see what you do or how your product works. A great way to interact with your followers, as well as receive demographic data, is to create a contest. An example would be an Instagram giveaway. Say you’re a clothing company; a good contest would be to give away a free clothing item to the first 15 people who posted a picture in your clothes and tagged your company in the photo. This is great publicity and free promotion from your customers. Important social media platforms include:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook

Events

Going to events is an excellent way to new meet people who you can work with. PAC and Professional Connector hosts over 50 events a year, ranging from networking events to expert panel Q&A’s. An easy way to gain exposure is to sponsor an event and set up a booth to promote your product or service. This type of exposure might lead you to meet new customers, business partners or even future investors.

To start to promote your brand, a great way to increase your popularity is to host your own events. When hosting your own event, the goal is promote it on every social media platform possible. Common social media platforms we use at PAC are Eventbrite, Meetup, Facebook, and Twitter. The more people you invite to your event, the better your chances are that guests show up. It is important to include what the event is, where it is, and why to attend. When checking guests in for the events, ask for their business cards to send them a thank you email the following day.

The most common question we receive regarding events is “What should I bring?” Here is a list of how to be successful at networking events:

• Bring your business card – enough to hand out
• Dress to impress – you never know who you’ll meet
• Have a goal – ask yourself “Why am I going?”
• Bring a positive attitude – make a good first impression
• Bring your social skills – remember what you are there to do

Customer Engagement

Action Steps

1. Create your website:
   • Include your bio, contact information, information about the company/brand
2. Create your social media accounts:
   • LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
3. Go to events:
   • Events can range from networking, mixers, panels, conferences, etc.
4. Meet people at events:
   • Find people you want to work with
5. Create your own events:
   • Promote the events and be prepared

Common Pitfalls

Don’t Neglect Social Media Accounts

Check your accounts daily. There is no purpose in making social media accounts and not checking user engagements. Have a goal to post once a day for the first month of your new account to put yourself out there. As your accounts become more popular, you can start posting less. This will make a good habit of checking your accounts from then on.

Don’t Host Events if you aren’t Prepared

When hosting an event make sure you:

• Double check you are booked with the venue
• Promote on all your social media accounts
• Print out the guest list
• Bring a sign to make your event easy to find

Don’t Overwhelm your Customers

We advise you to send out a monthly email newsletter, updating customers with news about your company. This does not mean spamming your email list constantly with new information. Your customers and guests want to hear from you, but not everyday. We encourage to you to post accordingly on social media, but limit the mass emails to a minimum.

Questions of Concerns?

It isn’t easy to create brand awareness, but that is what we are here for. These tips and tricks are meant to help you get started. However, if you find you are struggling or need more help, feel free to contact us. Set up a free introductory phone call to see if we are the right fit for one another to work together. We hope the advice was helpful and we wish you the best of luck.

Looking to Grow your San Francisco Business?

Piedmont Avenue Consulting creates new ways for companies to market the company’s brand and reputation by differentiating the areas of expertise in the San Francisco Bay Area market and beyond. We provide a variety of services to businesses in San Francisco Bay Area including Brand Awareness and Positioning, Relationship and Reputation Management Skills, Internet and Online Marketing, Business Development Consulting, and Leadership Skills. We work with Bay Area businesses to increase Customer Loyalty, Sales Growth, and Business Efficiency. We have worked with businesses and companies of all sizes in San Francisco and Alameda County to expand marketplace presence with creative business development efforts. We have integrated new technologies and performant systems into their Bay Area business and conducted 200′s of business workshops.