by Brittany Farb Gruber

Consumers like value and promotions. The ability to more easily offer special pricing, unique products, combination deals and more are several reasons why micro markets are such a fast-growing segment within the industry. Here are five tips to inspire you to do more with promotions and make it easy.

For most businesses these days, merely having a social media page is not enough. Today, social media has become an essential tool for companies to engage consumers and drive business due to its potential to easily reach so many consumers. In fact, according to the International Telecommunication Union, there are more than 3 billion Internet users and over 2 billion of them have active social media accounts. But just producing a “like” or another follow is no longer the sole purpose of social media and instead, programs are increasingly becoming revenue generators.

Here are several tips for micro market operators looking to reap the benefits of social media:

1. Always respond, even when a comment is negative.

Similar to a customer service agent engaging with a less-than-satisfied customer, responding to negative comments on social media is essential. Since the complaint was made in a public forum for all of your followers to see, offer an apology in response to the comment on your page then take the conversation offline, whether that’s by private message, e-mail or telephone. The private conversation should then mirror a typical discussion with a dissatisfied customer.

2. Don’t over-engage publicly.

Similar to the concept of moving a conversation offline when receiving negative feedback, offer to talk over the telephone or through e-mail in response to customers who reach out via social media with specific questions and comments that are not necessarily relevant to your entire social media audience. Not only does this prevent inundating your page with too much random content, but it also provides an opportunity to personally connect with followers and fans to hopefully increase their loyalty.

3. Offer refunds or freebies when appropriate.

Offering perks such as refunds, promotions and other freebies is customary when dealing with unsatisfied customers in customer service. However, this also proves useful with social media. Contests and promotions are great ways to increase engagement on your pages. Perhaps a consumer was not convinced enough to make an investment in your product without an incentive, but may be convinced to become a customer after having the opportunity to try out your product. Additionally, offering deals and promotions solely on social media will incentive those who do follow or like your page to keep checking out the social media platforms and engage in the brand.

4. Don't be afraid of using humor.

Higher numbers means greater competition. With social media becoming increasingly prevalent among businesses every day, using humor is a great way to separate your page from the growing pack. Appealing to your audience’s emotions greatly helps your brand by making your company memorable. Merely using social media pages as self promotion is counterproductive and could turn potential followers and fans away. For example, perhaps post a funny meme to accompany a post or use humor in a response to a post.

5. Schedule posts in advance.

With busy schedules and essential priorities other than managing social media, forgetting to tweet or posting on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram pages can be common mistakes for busy operators. Scheduling posts ahead of time through programs such as Buffer, Hootsuite and Postfity allow users to plan out time-appropriate messaging while also avoiding the pitfall of forgetting to post to social media altogether as a result of a busy day.