How Small Businesses Can Use Social Media To Great Effect

Not too long ago, social media was considered no more than as a medium where users can connect with other people, make friends, and have casual conversations. Business fraternity never took social media channels, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, seriously to promote their brand online. Most of them trusted their websites and SEO services to become highly visible and noticeable to the target audience.  

However, the easy accessibility to the internet and rapid growth in the number of active internet users worldwide (3.81 billion active users in 2020) made small businesses reconsider and redraft their marketing strategies. 

Considering such widespread outreach of various social media channels, social media marketing has become one of the most effective and widely used mediums for businesses to connect with prospects and customers, and create and build brand awareness. 

Done right, social media can make sales skyrocket. If you haven’t started to promote your small business on social media, there cannot be a better time than now to get started with it. 

Now, contrary to the common notion, getting started with social media doesn’t have to be an expensive affair. I am going to share some tips that are not going to cost you a penny, but can work wonders for your business’ online presence. By implementing 

these easy yet effective tips, your small business can reach new markets, create brand awareness, and drive more sales. 

Social Media Tips To Help Your Small Business Make it BIG!

1. Identify Your Social Audience 

Most small business marketers will tell you that knowing who your target audience is the first step in creating a successful marketing campaign. Whether traditional marketing or social media marketing, this holds true for both. Even though you may have a good idea of who your audience is, you can verify your understanding with social media analytics. 

Ask yourself these questions before you seek out your audience. 

• What’s the category of people your business is targeting?

• What’s the age group(s) you’re trying to reach?

• What’s their average income?

• What are their common values? 

• What are their interests?

• What pain points your customers are dealing with?

• What is their geographical location and time zone?

Once you identify the audience, the next step is to study and understand their behavior. You can identify your social media audience by using your customer database. Another important thing you can do is focus on social listening i.e. hear conversations about your brand to know what your audience really wants. Further figure out which social channels your audience use, and then understand what your target audience would expect from your social media channels. 

2. Determine Which Platforms Are Right For You 

It’s better to use social media channels that your target audience uses the most than choosing those channels that you assume to be popular. Making assumptions about where your audience spends their time is of no use. For example, if your target audience happens to be millennials, your instincts might make you skip Facebook and rather prefer Instagram and YouTube. 

However, the data shows that 84% of millennials still use Facebook. The bottom line is you need to conduct some research of your own to find out how and where your target audience likes to spend their time online. If you want to reach out to a large audience consisting of different age groups, then you can use different social channels to reach different audiences. 

A survey by eMarketer found that more brands use Facebook for customer acquisition, but Instagram for social commerce. You can also use top Instagram followers apps to get the best results and increase your Instagram reach without breaking the Instagram follow/unfollow limits. 

3. Don’t Over-Promote Yourself 

Obviously, every business seeks to promote its products or services at every given opportunity. However, do you know that over-promoting can actually kill your audience’s interest in your brand? Both potential and existing customers will lose faith in your brand if you constantly post about how your brand is better than any other in the market? Your tall claims can backfire and your credibility can take the backseat. 

If you carefully notice you will see that none of the world’s leading brands blow their own trumpet. Yes, it’s good to post about your USPs, unique features, achievements once in a while, but your content should refrain from using biased and misleading words. 

Your customers are looking for value in your content; it should provide a solution to their problems and information they are searching for. If in doubt, the general rule of thumb is 80% content and 20% promotion. You don’t have to entirely avoid mentioning your brand name in your posts, but be wary of not to sell too hard. 

4. Use Compelling Visuals 

It is rightly said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Customers get instantly attracted to eye-pleasing, striking images before they can even have a look at the content. In other words, your quality content should be backed by quality images. More than half of millenials and Gen Z internet users said their recent fashion purchases were mainly based on images they saw on social media. 

Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook are some hugely popular social media channels where online businesses prioritize using stunning or simple yet effective visuals to draw in the online users’ attention. If your images fail to impress the audience, no one will bother to scroll down and read what your post has to say. 

That said, using random images you find online is definitely not acceptable and can land you in trouble. The legal complexities of image copywriting policies can be intimidating. You can use your customers’ photos, or there are many free stock photo sites that you can use freely in your social media posts. Also, there are some free tools to help you create social media images in case you want to showcase your creative side!  

5. Post Content At Optimal Times 

What is the best time to post your content on social media? The fact is there’s no best time to post content on social media platforms for every business. It depends on what type of business you run and who your audience is. 

Every social media platform has its peak time when posts get high engagement. For example, LinkedIn is a professional network building platform where job seekers and employers can contact each other, and businesses post their content in which they directly or indirectly promote their brand. So, the peak time for LinkedIn users is likely to be during business hours. 

On the other hand, Facebook and Instagram are more social media platforms. Users are likely to use these apps in the morning, before they start to work, or late in the evening when they are back home, relaxed, and don’t have office-related work to do. It’s also a good idea to set aside specific time for posting on social media accounts. 

The Final Thought 

One of the main benefits of social media marketing is that businesses of every size and scale can use it easily to better connect with the target audience, reach out to new potential customers, and create or increase brand awareness. Small businesses can leverage popular social media platforms to promote themselves without needing to spend a fortune.  

Remember that as a small business owner or marketer, you don’t need to do it all. Take a focused approach. You can take small steps and start with one or two key platforms, and build your social media marketing efforts gradually.