Small businesses must adapt their approach when leveraging digital resources, particularly on social media. As a small business, you don’t have the gigantic marketing budget that global and national corporations have, but that doesn’t mean you can’t compete within their niche.
All businesses and organizations, big or small, can benefit from the opportunities an online presence offers. Social media has transformed the way businesses market and connect with their customers, and it has become an essential tool for small businesses to succeed in the current digital landscape.
I prepared this post to help you figure out the best ways to promote your small business on social media. Before we start, let me break it to you: social media isn’t optional anymore.
Why Social Media Matters for Small Businesses
1. Increased Visibility and Brand Awareness
Let’s say you run a small local bakery in your town. Before social media, the only way to gain visibility and attract customers was through word-of-mouth or traditional advertising channels such as flyers and newspaper ads.
Social media gives you a wider reach, going beyond your local community. By creating an online presence for your business, you can introduce your brand to potential customers who may not have found out about it otherwise.
Folks who regularly see your posts and come across your social proof may not engage immediately, but you’ll be first in their thoughts when hosting their next event.
Did you also know that social media activities affect SEO? Here are three social media strategies you can use to boost SEO.
2. Cost-Effective Advertising and Promotion Compared to Traditional Methods
Before social media, you’d need to pay costly fees to radio and TV stations as well as billboard companies to advertise your business. Most small businesses simply wouldn’t afford it, and huge corporations would find it easier to outcompete them in their towns or cities.
Small businesses now have an edge that the bigger fish can’t take away from them. Social media weaves society together in a way that allows anyone to reach out to consumers. With just a click of a button, the message you want to convey can go viral and reach millions of people.
Yes, social media currency is time, creativity, good manners, a helpful attitude, and engagement. You don’t need a huge budget to reach your target audience.
The options are diverse, and my favorites are Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, which I use to promote my brand and services.
Social media platforms also allow you to set up and run targeted ads. These ads allow you to refine your target audience based on interests, location, and behavior.
3. Direct Access to Customer Feedback and Engagement
Small businesses also find growth within social media platforms because of the direct access to customer feedback and engagement. Social media platforms thrive when users engage maximally, so they encourage businesses to create posts, polls, and other interactive content that keep their followers engaged.
In turn, small businesses receive real-time feedback from their customers. You get notifications every time someone comments, likes, or shares your post. It puts you in a position to manage emerging issues promptly to stop negative feedback from going viral, giving your business a better chance to maintain a good reputation.
4. Grab the Market Share Before It Becomes Loyal to Competitors
It’s simple psychology; whoever is first to convince and satisfy a customer is likely to keep their business for years unless other compelling factors come into play. Customer loyalty is a double-edged sword, though. You keep your satisfied clientele, but it’s exceedingly challenging to win over loyal customers from competitors.
Here’s why I say social media isn’t optional anymore. You may ignore it or keep procrastinating, but other small businesses in your niche are taking full advantage of social media.
They’re:
- On all suitable platforms.
- Armed with creative content strategies and calendars.
- Identifying and utilizing keywords that users employ when seeking recommendations.
- Promoting ads and sales on social media.
- Participating in Facebook groups, discussions, and other social media communities.
- Using private messages to connect with potential customers directly.
- Tracking their social media metrics to see what’s working and what’s not.
- Improving their products and price structures based on social media feedback.
How could you grow in the same niche as such a competitor if you’re not even using any social media platforms?
Key Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
1. Define Goals and Target Audience
Looking inwards should be your first step when mapping out a social media marketing strategy. Clearly define your goals and target audience, which should form the short-term and long-term objectives of your business.
You also need to have intimate knowledge of the people you are trying to reach and what they want. You need such data when creating content so you can tweak the messaging to speak to them as in a relatable way.
You need to solve their problems, fulfill a need, or make their lives better in some way.
2. Create a Content Calendar, and Stick to a Posting Schedule
A reliable posting schedule helps to build an engaged audience. You also stay organized and ensure that your content is being shared regularly. How do you curate an effective content calendar? Start by mapping out important dates, events, and holidays relevant to your target audience. Next, plan the type of content (blog post, social media post, video) you’ll share each day leading up to those dates.
Leave room for spontaneous posts or news-related pieces that may come up. Stick to your schedule as much as possible, but make adjustments accordingly.
How can you keep an audience engaged if you’re inconsistent? The algorithms won’t distribute your content widely unless you’re consistent.
3. Utilize Visuals and Storytelling to Build a Connection
Unlike websites, where text dominates other multimedia, social media thrives on visuals. People are attracted to aesthetically pleasing content, and they are more likely to engage with posts that have eye-catching images or videos.
Long, creative, or helpful posts also do well, but you’ll fail miserably if you don’t spice up your timeline with visuals.
Use your brand logo for consistency and familiarity. Use animations, GIFs, or other images to ensure that your posts stand out from the sea of content shared daily on social media.
The best storytellers on social media win. Today, they use photos with catchy captions. Tomorrow, they’ll post a funny skit, and the day after tomorrow, it’s a short, catchy text story with a graphic or an interesting infographic.
4. Balance Between Promotional, Educational, and Entertaining Posts
People like buying stuff that solves their real or imagined problems, but they detest being sold to. You’re on social media to promote your business, but avoid being too obvious and annoying. If all you do is sell, people will tune out and unfollow you.
Aim for a balance between promotional, educational, and entertaining posts.
Promotional posts can include announcements of new products or services, promotions or discounts, customer testimonials or success stories, and behind-the-scenes content. Use these posts sparingly, but ensure they get maximum reach when you go for them. Consider sponsoring them too.
Use educational posts to solve common problems among your target audience and gain their trust. These posts build credibility over time, and you should embed popular search phrases to increase their visibility in search engines. You can post tutorials, tips and tricks, and how-to guides.
It’s also important for your posts to be likable and reliable so your audience doesn’t take you for a stuck-up teacher or a preachy know-it-all. Show your personality, engage in conversation with your audience, and be authentic.
People can quickly sniff out fakeness, which will only harm your brand. Post entertaining and relatable content, respond to comments, and show a genuine interest in your audience’s feedback and opinions.
Don’t forget about cross-promotion. Network and do collabs with other bloggers or brands to gain a wider audience.
Social Media Tips for Small Businesses
Before we go over these tips, you may want to digress a bit and go over tips for creating a successful small business website.
1. Be Authentic and Consistent
I’ve already mentioned these two qualities, but here’s extra emphasis. Authenticity and consistency can make or break a social media presence for small businesses. As mentioned earlier, people can quickly tell if a brand is being disingenuous or not.
For instance, if people can tell that AI bots generate all your posts and comments, how will they trust or connect with you?
You also can’t be hot and cold, here today and missing tomorrow. You must consistently post and engage with your audience to build trust.
2. Respond to Comments and Messages Quickly
One of the most underrated social media hacks is responding to comments and messages quickly. It shows that you value your followers’ input and are interested in what they think.
Responding promptly also helps prevent negative comments from spiraling out of control. You can diffuse any potential issues by showing you take customers seriously.
Quick responses can lead to increased engagement and loyalty from your audience. Remember, online users are impatient, spoilt for choice, and conflicted between varying content forms. Showing a genuine interest in your followers can go a long way.
3. Use Relevant Keywords and Local Phrases
As I mentioned before, social media platforms strive to display relevant content to different folks depending on age, location, interests, and activities. Using local phrases and keywords can help you reach your target audience more effectively.
For example, if you are a coffee shop in Seattle, use phrases like ‘best coffee in Seattle‘ or ‘Seattle’s favorite cafe‘ in your social media posts. The social media algorithms will show users specifically looking for coffee shops in the area.
This strategy increases your visibility and attracts the most qualified audience to your business. Also, use hashtags related to your location, such as #SeattleCafes or #CoffeeLoversSeattle, to connect with a larger community and potential customers.
4. Partner with Entertaining Creators
Various social media platforms pay creators to post helpful and entertaining content, especially videos. Partnering with these creators can give your business a boost in exposure and credibility.
Look for creators who align with your brand values and have a strong following in your target audience. You can work with creators to put out:
- Sponsored content.
- Product reviews.
- Events.
These creatives thrive in creating loyal communities and engaging with their followers, so it’s a great chance to reach potential customers more organically.
5. Track Analytics and Adjust Based on Performance
Keeping tabs on your online interactions and influencer marketing helps you understand their effectiveness and make necessary adjustments.
- Use trackable links: Provide unique trackable links to each influencer so you can measure the click-through rates and conversions from their specific content.
- Monitor engagement: Keep an eye on the likes, comments, shares, and overall engagement on posts featuring your brand.
- Measure ROI: Figure out the return on investment (ROI) for each campaign. How much did it cost you to work with the influencer, and was it worth it?
Based on these metrics, you can adjust your strategy to maximize your results.
6. Use Post Scheduling and Time Optimization
It’s possible to map out and prepare posts in advance, then schedule them to go live at specific times. You can schedule and spread out a whole year’s worth of posts in advance, saving you tons of effort and time.
Do it for the consistency, and theme posts around calendar events, such as holidays, seasonal trends, or industry-specific events.
Scheduling posts to go live at specific times so that you can target peak engagement hours. That’s how you get maximum exposure and reach the most followers.
Final Thought? Do It Consistently!
Here are some famous last words to wind up this piece: consistency is key. It sounds like a cliche, but there’s a reason this phrase is thrown around so often. You just have to be consistent for the real benefits.
