Sometimes posting content to your social media networks isn’t so easy. What can you post if you have a service-oriented business and you don’t have sales or specials? Does social media still work for your biz? You betcha’!  There’s a local train service in the SF Bay area, Caltrain, used mostly by commuters. Caltrain offers a very useful service, however they don’t sell anything (besides tickets), they aren’t a retailer and they don’t run specials. But they ‘ve embraced social media and seem to be having fun with it. Here are two social media networks they use and how your biz can too:

Twitter – Twitter is a great social network for a service-oriented business. People can tag your business and ask questions, or you can provide real-time updates about anything going on. Caltrain posts about special events people can take the train to, such as baseball or hockey games, special trains they may be running, new services they offer and anything else that may be of interest to their customers. They also answer questions, like the very common “what do I do with this thing I found on the train?” and “what if I  forgot to tag my pass?”Are all the questions from happy people? Of course not, we’re talking about public transportation here, but Caltrain tries to be transparent and help everyone, which is a good approach for a business to take, especially one that offers a service. If you can quickly help someone on social media they’ll love you for it, you’ll look great and could win some new business.

Instagram – Did this one surprise you? Instagram has pages that you can use for your business, so people can find your page and post pictures to it. And Caltrain has done a fab job of it. They have fun pics from around the yard for those train aficionados out there, plus their riders post pictures they take from the train and can tag it with a hashtag. How cool is that? The pictures are fun and really engaging. And their business definitely offers plenty of opportunity for photos.

Also, Caltrain sends out emails with updates about anything going on in their system and once a week they include a link to the tweets and Instagram of the week. So not only can we follow them on their social networks, we can also get info from their emails. Good job keeping everyone updated Caltrain!

Do you have a favorite social media network you like for your service business? Let us know!

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