Social Media Marketing for Small Business
Do you still believe that your business is good with or without a social media presence? Well, maybe you were okay without it but you have to know that in this era social media presence is very vital.
Your customers might be close to you demographically but you have to understand that social media can help you expand your sales and bring in more loyal customers.
No matter how many responsibilities you hold in your business, don’t overlook social media. This inbound tool is important to your small business and even large companies because it plays a huge role in sales.
You might have incredible loyal customers but you might need more customers. With social media, you can expand your boundaries.
There are several social media platforms that you can take advantage of as a small business. But before we discuss these channels, let’s look at some tips on how to use social media effectively to grow your small business.
Tips on How To Use Social Media Marketing For Small Businesses
Any businesses use social media marketing to increase bran awareness and reach out to more clients.
There are many ways of using social media marketing to your advantage as a business owner. Learn how on the following tips:
1. Use Organic And Paid Social Media Marketing
If you want to become successful in your business, you have to implement both organic and paid social media marketing strategies.
Organic social media marketing strategy is a bit hard because you have to ensure that you create and post relevant posts.
This strategy is time consuming and a bit draining because sales-based posts don’t seem to interest many people. However, you have to ensure that your posts are of high quality to attract engagements. Remember, you are not paying for organic strategy so you have to work hard to be on people’s newsfeeds.
When it comes to boosted or paid social media marketing you get to pay the social media platform to make your visible post visible to your target demographic.
Paid SMM targets the audience that might be interested in your product. You can also make use of the paid ads from social media platforms. These ads usually show up on the newsfeeds of your target audience.
2. Use Images, Videos, and Animated GIFs
Posts that have relevant videos, pictures, or GIFs attract people and they tend to be shared widely attracting more attention to your page.
Try to compare the attention of posts with text only and those with images, videos, and GIFs you will realize that the post with text only doesn’t draw much attention than the one with pictures.
Many big brands have implemented this truck. You cannot find a popular brand posting without images or animated GIFs.
3. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are used as a social media marketing tracking tool. You can use hashtags to measure how popular your product/ brand is or how many people are talking about it.
4. Track the Performance Of Your Posts
It is important to track all your posts to see what works and what doesn’t work. If you are using social media marketing to increase traffic to your site and increase sales, you will definitely want to dump things that block your success.
You can also decide to use ads that will help you increase your success. On Facebook, you can use Facebook insights to track the performance of your content. The tool is absolutely free and is very effective when measuring the depth of your social campaigns.
Twitter and other social media platforms also have these analytical tools that are very helpful because they guide you on what and to post.
5. Proper Timing
If you want your organic posts to have high traffic, you have to ensure that you post relevant content at the right time. A well-timed post can go viral and increase your social visibility without struggles.
Which Social Media Platforms Are Essential For Small Business Marketing
Now that you have the tips on how to use social media marketing you probably want to know which social media channels might work for you.
Social media marketing is one of the best tools, tested and proven to be the best when it comes to digital marketing.
However, with numerous social media platforms available it becomes harder to choose the one that works for you.
Make no mistake of using 6 platforms because they will not only drain your pockets but it will be extremely had to manage all the channels effectively at the same time.
Pick a few platforms, maybe two that will help you get your target audience. We will give you an overview of commonly used platforms by small and also big brands.
With these outlined platforms, you can choose to pick the one that is suitable for your digital marketing demands and can easily reach your goals. These platforms are ideal for small businesses as well as big businesses.
The social media platforms you should use
Facebook is one of the oldest social media platforms and it is a beast when it comes to social media marketing. With Facebook, you can decide to promote your business by using organic posts, paid advertising tools, or both.
Facebook is used all over the world so no matter the demographic location of your business, you can still reach out to your target audience.
When it comes to the age bracket o users, you will find that people of all ages use Facebook. It doesn’t matter if your customers range from 20years-30years or 50+years. People of different age groups use this platform.
Some small businesses prefer using Facebook for their marketing needs than having a website. This approach might well for your business but it might not be a good idea.
Instagram takes the second position because when it comes to social media marketing, this platform can outshine other platforms except for Facebook.
Instagram has been in existence for several years and it also has a huge international following just like Facebook.
The only hitch with this platform is that you might not attain your goals if your customers are seniors. Instagram is a good platform for businesses that target primary Millenials and teens.
If you’re selling women’s products then Instagram is the best channel for advertising your products. Most Instagram users are women. The percentage of Instagram users includes about 65% of women while men are 35%.
If you want to connect with other professionals and big brands then LinkedIn is the place to be.
LinkedIn is a business or rather professional-oriented social media platform that allows professionals to link up with others.
In this media, you have to focus on text posts than media content. LinkedIn has been in existence for a long time now but it is not efficient for big marketing campaigns.
If you are in B2B business in any niche, LinkedIn might be great for your marketing needs.
Twitter is a wonderful platform if you want to market your product to a younger audience.
People and businesses have taken advantage of the heavy sharing feature of this platform making it easy for their posts to go viral.
The only con about Twitter is the limit on the word count of the content shared. On Twitter, you are allowed to tell your audience about your product or brand in just a few characters.
If you don’t possess good editing skills, you will have to include URLs on your posts so that you can reduce the word count and your clients can click on the URL to get more information.
Snapchat
Snapchat was launched recently but it has made so much impact on the digital world.
With millions of users who are active on this media, you will be required to create the best content on a daily basis. Unlike other social media channels where text content is enough, Snapchat requires you to post videos and high-quality photos frequently because the content expires after every 24 hours.
The work might seem too hard especially if you have other engagements to attend to. Because of the constant demand for content on this social media platform, most small businesses prefer to use other channels for marketing their businesses.
Pinterest is another great platform for business marketing. With millions of users who are actively using the platform, it might be a great idea to try out Pinterest to promote your business.
Factors To Consider When Choosing A Social Media Marketing Platform For Small Businesses
Before you choose the best social media marketing platform, you have to consider the following things:
Know Your Audience
For you to make the right choice on which SMM platform to use, you have to know your audience. You should know their age group, gender, educational level, and lastly their income margin. You also have to be specific on what they want from your product and services before you make any move.
Identify Your Goals
By this stage, you know your audience and you definitely have to define your goals. Obviously, your number one goal is to drive in more sales but you must put other goals into consideration too. Different companies use social media for different purposes.
While you might be looking at social media as a way of attracting more customers, some businesses are using social media platforms for customer support only.
Find Your Target Audience
Now that you know your audience and you have your goals, why not find your audience? How do you do that? Find out the type of audiences found on different platforms and how active they are on those platforms.
Conclusion
Social media is a great strategy for digital marketing, but focus on the platforms that matter the most for you.
It’s better to be visible with a great work in a limited number of places, than to be everywhere with bad contents.
