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6 WAYS TO GROW A BUSINESS FOR FREE
Decide which platform is best for your business
Social media is a great place to start if you're thinking about branching out and exploring new marketing avenues. Instagram is an excellent way for businesses with visual products (like clothing or jewelry) to showcase their work. Twitter can be a powerful tool for building relationships and customer service. Facebook is the most popular platform on the web, so it's worth experimenting with. Not only can you create a Facebook page for your company and post updates, but you can also build a community around it by liking pages related to your work. This will bring in new followers who are interested in your industry.
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Develop a social media calendar
Start by researching your competition on all the major social media platforms. Look for what they're doing, how often they post and what their posts look like. By reviewing their work, you'll be able to determine if you want to emulate them or branch out on your own. Once you've found a strategy that works for you, create an editorial calendar with specific day-to-day tasks and goals outlined. You should be updating your social channels throughout the week rather than just once per week. Posting more often keeps people interested and leads them back to your site.
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Stay up-to-date on trends
One of the best things you can do for your business is to stay in tune with what's happening in the digital world. Read blogs, magazines, books and publications about new technologies and innovations that will be relevant to your industry. Join groups, attend events and network with others working in the field so that you can stay current on which consumers are using new channels.
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Host a contest or giveaway
Create a contest or giveaway that is centered around your product or service. Make it simple and easy for people to enter by using a form on your website. You can run this contest or giveaway on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. If you are giving away a physical prize like a t-shirt or mug, ensure the shipping is included in the item's price. Consider setting up a timeline with milestones so customers can see how they're progressing through the different levels of the competition. Let them know how many more entries they need to get before they reach their next milestone. For example, when a customer has five entries, tell them they need ten more to win a shirt!
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Collaborate with other businesses or influencers
Collaborating with other companies or influencers can be a great way to leverage one another's following and increase exposure for both parties. The key is finding a pairing that makes sense and is relevant to the industry. For example, if you have a beauty salon, partnering with a hairstylist would make more sense than partnering with an accountant. Not only are they in different industries, but they also don't target the exact demographics of people. Other companies that may pair well with yours include those in similar fields, such as trade show vendors, suppliers and manufacturers.
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Make sure you include strong calls-to-action
One of the best things about social media marketing is that it allows us to create one call-to-action per post, as opposed to one call-to-action per page (like we would do on our site). It's essential that you put yourself in the shoes of someone scrolling through their feed — how does this post look from their perspective?
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In conclusion, the most important thing to remember about any business is that it's a living, breathing entity. One of the best ways to keep your company alive is by using social media as a tool for marketing. Posting on Facebook and Twitter can help you stay visible and fresh in the minds of potential clients. You should also use other platforms such as YouTube, LinkedIn or Google+ if they fit your company's needs.