This week on Sprout Social Insights we tackled guides for Facebook, Twitter, and small business to help you better reach your customers with the social tools that make a difference.

Check out our articles below to find out more about each one and how they can help you with your social media goals.

And check in every day to Sprout Social Insights for more how to guides and breaking social media news.

6 Twitter Tools for Local Business

The key to local business success on Twitter is to indirectly market your products and services rather than blast sales messages at your audience. Did you know there is a huge variety of free and paid Twitter tools to help you do just that?

Some tools offer fantastic geo-targeting capabilities, so you can join conversations in your local area and make sure your tweets are seen by people in specific locations. Others help you find influential Twitter users in your area, or help you reach a specific target audience. Many of these social media management tools are free, or very affordable, so you can test them out without breaking the bank. Here’s a list of six incredibly useful Twitter tools (plus 4 extras) for local business. [Read more...]

How Twitter and Facebook Will Help Decide 2012’s Political Campaigns

Arguably, social media’s role in political campaigns was forged during Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Obama garnered a lot of attention for using social media to bolster support among his followers.

Fast forward to today. The social media landscape is a lot different than it was three years ago. Twitter, Facebook, and social media in general are regularly featured on mainstream news channels. Not only do more people know about the social media phenomenon, but more people are participating in it as well. Here’s how Twitter and Facebook will help decide 2012′s political campaigns. [Read more...]

Why You Should Let Your Employees Tweet on the Job

Does your business have its own Twitter account? In addition to your corporate account, do your employees tweet about your business from their personal Twitter accounts? If not, they should — and here’s why. [Read more...]

How to Change Your Facebook Page Picture

Today we’ll show you how to change the picture associated with your Facebook Page.

This one is pretty easy. Just navigate to your Facebook Page, and make sure you’re logged in as the Page, not your personal profile. You can switch between the two by clicking on the subtle down arrow in the top-right corner of any Facebook page. [Read more...]

3 Great Ideas for Twitter Social Media Promotions

Like any good marketing campaign, you should have a goal in mind before you embark upon your Twitter promotion. For example, one goal might be to generate buzz around your Twitter account by increasing your mentions, retweets, or follower count.

Other goals might include driving physical traffic to your local business, or establishing yourself as an authority in your industry. Here are three great Twitter social media promotions that can help you achieve these goals. [Read more...]

How to Promote a Music Venue on Facebook

Music and entertainment brands are inherently emotional and social, so it makes sense that people would want to engage with these brands on the world’s most popular social media site — Facebook. In fact, you can leverage that social engagement to promote your music venue on Facebook in more ways than you can imagine. It just takes some creativity and persistence.

If you haven’t already done so, create a Facebook Page for your music venue. Once you’ve set up your page, promote your music venue on Facebook by following the creative tips listed below. [Read more...]

[Image credit: kimubert, SS&SS, Don LaVange, Brent Moore, vron db]