Tuesday, February 27, 2018

5 Social Media Strategies For Small Businesses


There’s no denying that good marketing is the key to business success, but many small businesses struggle with marketing simply due to a lack of budget. But even without a lot of money to pour into marketing, there is a lot you can do to help your small business grow.

Social media is an excellent low-cost option when it comes to marketing. It allows you to spend as much or as little as you like while still giving you access to millions of potential customers.

1.      Decide What Social Media Channels Are Right For You

Different social channels provide different benefits, but trying to work with all of them as a small business will likely leave you with lackluster content. Instead it is better to choose several social media channels that will resonate most with your business practices and reach your target audience.

Facebook certainly has the largest reach and is excellent for sharing news, blog posts, and reaching a large audience. Facebook also allows for remarkable customer targeting that is easy to use.

Instagram is becoming increasingly popular with younger social media users. Sticking to specific filters can make it easier to keep your brand image consistent, and hashtag campaigns can be very effective.

Twitter is still a relevant platform with plenty of active users. It is a great way to share concise information about your brand and an excellent place to engage with your customers.

Pinterest is all about saving content for the future. Use it to create boards that your customers may be interested in. Pin some of your own content but also make sure to pin plenty of other people’s content as well.

Youtube can be a great option for businesses as well, especially if you sell products that would benefit from how-to and installation videos.

2.      Create A Schedule

Creating a social media schedule seems overwhelming, but it will actually save you a lot of time in the end. How detailed it is will be up to you. Start by brainstorming ideas of the content you want to share on your social media pages.

You can then schedule your social media posts using free tools like Hootsuite. This will take the pressure off posting to social media manually and can make it much less overwhelming.

Don’t forget to take some time to use social media impulsively. You don’t want to let a schedule stop you from jumping in to relevant conversations.

3.      Vary Your Content

Make sure the content you are sharing across social media isn’t only promotional. Not only will algorithms penalize this, but your followers aren’t using social media to see photos of your products, they’re using it to be entertained.

Use social media to engage with your customers. Give them a taste of the work you do behind the scenes. Link them to guides that will help them with their problems. Of course don’t forget to promote yourself, but that shouldn’t be the bulk of your posts.

Sharing relevant content, even if it is from a competitor, isn’t a bad idea either. It will show that you are committed to giving your followers the best information out there.

4.      Respond To Comments

Yes, replying to comments does take time, but comments mean audience engagement, and the more engagement your posts have on social media, the more people will see them.

Posts with a lot of likes and comments show that the content has value. Communicating with customers using the comments is an excellent way to build conversation and drum up interest in your brand and products.

Remember, social media isn’t about selling, it is about being social. Connecting with your audience builds trust in your brand which should bring about increased sales.

5.      Repurpose Your Content

If you need to sit down to create brand new content for every single social media platform, you’ll never get anything done. Learning how to repurpose your content multiple times and across multiple channels is essential.

For example, if you’ve created a “How-To” guide, you may start by linking to it on your various platforms. You can also create an infographic based on this information that can be shared on Facebook and Pinterest. Then, make a video that goes into further details that you link to via Twitter and Facebook.

This cuts down on the amount of original content you need to create from scratch.

Of course these are only a few basic tips to get you started. There’s a lot to learn about using social media for business, but trial and error is all part of the process.