How to Do Social Media (When You Don't Know What You're Doing)

I remember my first job as a dog bather when I decided to do social media for the business. Starting from no social media base, I created a Facebook fan page in order to connect with customers.

We racked up 832 likes and 80 positive reviews on Facebook alone (4.9 overall rating) in a few months. Here’s how.

Create Content With What You Have

Create content with what you have in front of you - and what we had were lots of dogs and cats. We began telling customers that we had a Facebook page, and that their animal would be featured on it later that day.

Give Them a Reason to Interact

Doing this shows that we are proud of our work, and puts a face to the business. We regularly interact with the customers on Facebook, and have garnered a lot of positive word of mouth. Creating this social space, and offering pictures of people's animals have increased their propensity to rate our business - on Facebook, on Yelp, and on Google.

Word of mouth is essential to business!

Tell People Where You Are Online

If you have a retail location, use in-store signage to direct people to your social media sites. Print your Facebook or Twitter on your receipts. Put flyers in bags. If you are truly trying to build an online audience, start with your customers.