Social Media for Small Businesses - Guide
A Guide To Social Media For Small Businesses
Social media is a great way for businesses to interact with their consumer base. It can massively increase sales if done properly. It’s become such a ubiquitous way of advertising that some companies have based their entire business model around social media. Here are some tips to make quality use of social media as a business.
1. Pick a platform that suits you
The platform you pick depends on what kind of audience you are aiming for. Age is one factor you should take into account when picking. Different age groups will vary in how much they use certain websites. This can be misleading at times. You shouldn’t assume things based on current trends. For example, just because millennials are more likely to use Snapchat and Instagram, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a presence on Facebook.
People of all ages use Facebook, so it’s a surefire way to start off your social media campaign. Moving from there, you can create official accounts on websites like Twitter and Instagram. This doesn’t mean you will apply the exact same mantra on those websites, though. You should still apply different strategies based on the age group you’re targeting. If your goal is to reach as many people as possible, you have to adapt your message.
2. Relationship building
Social media lives up to its’ name. With an account, you can communicate with just about anyone you please. This is a great asset that businesses should take into account. Engaging with customers on social media is a great way to make them feel valued by the company. Just advertising things in a bland way is too impersonal and it won’t make you stand out. Reach out and message your followers on various platforms.
People will often engage with your organic ads and this is a great time to reply to them. It helps build trust in a rewarding customer relationship. Another good idea is creating a Facebook group. It can build a sense of community between the buyers. Influencers can also be beneficial to a business. People with followers could spread the message about your brand and increase traffic to your social media pages and website.
3. Share visuals
Social media is an experience for all the senses. Writing text posts won’t make them stand out much. You have to show visual creativity along with your other content. Compelling visuals will pique people’s interest. Tweets were shown to be more effective if they had related gifs in them, for instance. Using social media to share images can do wonders. People will make travel plans or visit a restaurant if the location looks interesting in photos.
Social media websites like Instagram and Snapchat are at the forefront of this. They mostly deal with pictures and other visual media. Without good visuals, nobody will read the text that accompanies posts on these sites.
4. Quality over quantity
There are countless social media marketing options for your business to choose from. It can almost seem overwhelming at times. However, you don’t have to use them all. It’s way more important to fill a couple of key channels with quality content. Having a presence on every possible platform is nice, but you should avoid that unless you can provide the same quality on every one of them.
Make sure all of your posts provide some value. People will notice if all you do is advertise something for them to buy. You can’t fake authenticity online. Social marketing is about building a relationship.
5. Use the tools provided
There’s a lot of things you have to do in order to maintain an effective presence on social media. Wouldn’t it be great if some of them were automated? Luckily, there are aspects you can delegate to machines. Everything from the visuals to connections can be improved with some apps. There are applications that will monitor all messages aimed at your social media profile, letting you know what people think and giving you an opportunity to reply in a timely manner.
If someone tries to steal your content, there are systems in place that will detect copies of it and inform you. Once this happens, you can request that the social media site takes down the offending accounts. This requires you to have an official and legal claim to your intellectual property. Trademark lawyers and similar companies can help you acquire things like IP protection and provide you with anti-counterfeiting programs.
6. Use your time wisely
Social media is a powerful tool, but it can only take you so far. All the effort in the world won’t work past a certain point. Creating content every single day might oversaturate your page and decrease the quality of the content. Another thing to consider is the time it takes to fill all those social media pages. Create a system that works for you and save time.
A calendar would be a good idea. Have a set date and time you will post on social media, and stick to it. The calendar will also help you remember special days to take advantage of, like holidays. Scheduling your content will give you more time to engage with consumers and improve the buyer-seller relationship.
Conclusion
Social media is a powerful tool for spreading awareness about your business. It is unmatched in its ability to connect a business with its consumers. If you aren’t careful, it can simply be a way to waste time and resources with no results. Keep these pointers in mind when designing your social media campaign.
