With billions of active users, social media is getting bigger by the minute hence it’s here to stay. When it comes to marketing, it’s a cheap and effective way to reach lots of people. But with so many other businesses already out there on the internet, it might be tough to stand out. Therefore, achieving social media success as a small business requires knowledge of the right platforms, a comprehensive strategy, and persistence.
And that’s why you’re here today. We have prepared a list of tried-and-tested strategies that will help your business grow using social media marketing.
Social media should be treated in the same way as any business function. There needs to be a purpose and you need to establish what your objectives are, plus what you want it to achieve for your brand. This will enable you to build up an effective social media marketing strategy. In addition to this, it is prudent to review competitor profiles and research relevant content. Brands can also take advantage of seasonality with content, so consider what’s coming up on the calendar and plan your posts to be relevant.
There’s a variety of tools that can help formulate your content and make regular posting much easier. For instance, If you create a business profile on Facebook, you have access to free publishing tools and post insights, and for other platforms, Later HootSuite and Buffer are examples of free-to-use tools that will help you schedule content. Overall creating a social media content calendar will ensure you are always posting consistent and relevant content that will encourage sales.
Another social media marketing tip to boost engagement, get more followers and increase sales is to add your social media feeds on your site. You can utilise widgets to cleverly showcase your social media content directly on your sidebar or footer. In this way, your social media posts can always be visible to people on your site. And what’s more, since more people see your posts, you’ll get more interactions and followers.
It’s always a good idea to have a direct connection between your website and social media pages. Instead of just telling them to follow you or share your posts, you’re showing them interesting content and giving them a reason to follow you. By doing this, you also get “free” engraining photographic content for your website, without having to add more pictures to your website that could gradually decrease website speeds. Lastly, always make sure you have UGC (User- Generated - Content) on your feed such as testimonials or photos of your customers using your products in order to increase the trustworthiness of your product and will convince prospective customers to purchase from your store.
Social media has now become the ultimate tool for promoting your brand, increasing public awareness and nurturing a connection with your target market. A great way to show your appreciation towards your customers is to host a contest or giveaway. By giving people something to win, you can easily motivate them to engage and share your posts.
Contents and giveaways are an easy way to increase your followers as the participants of the giveaway will have to follow to enter the competition. They will have to tag their friends in the comment section which will increase word-of-mouth conversations regarding your brand. Correspondingly, collaboration giveaways always tend to be a success as this leads to double engagement and following rates. The prizes don’t need to be expensive either. You can give promo codes, free trials, discounts, gift cards, and similar small prizes. In the long term, the campaign will definitely pay off with more followers, interactions, and sales.
Building a following requires interaction, so while content planners and strategies are important, reacting to the conversation and engaging with influencers is essential if you are to make your mark. By interacting with people on your page, you are creating a positive impression of your brand. Then, they’re more likely to engage with you and even promote you on social media. It also helps you build a relationship with your followers and learn more about them. So, it’ll be easier to turn them into dedicated customers. In fact, when you ask your customers for their opinion, they feel valued and appreciated by your brand thus strengthening brand loyalty.
There are different ways in which you can interact with your audience. For example, you can start discussions, answer their questions, create polls to ask them questions in return, and the list goes on. Interactions can be as simple as sharing, retweeting, and commenting on their posts when they are relevant to your business. For example, you can share social media posts of people interacting with your product.
80% of marketers have said that video content helped them boost sales. This leads us to the last social media marketing tip for small businesses which is video creation. Instead of just telling people about your products with a text post, you can use videos to show them.
Facebook averages 100 million hours of video use per day. But while the potential for video content seems extremely promising, not every video is successful.
With so much content available online, customers on the go are in a rush and tend to skip to the next video if the initial one doesn’t capture their interest in the first three seconds. Therefore, when creating video content, you need to keep in mind the three-second rule to maximise the return on investment. Additionally, there are a plethora of video types you can create such as announcements, tutorials, reviews, testimonials, and more. Nowadays, videos for social media can be easily created via mobile phones which are very cost-effective.
And that’s it! Those were our social media marketing tips for small businesses. Hopefully, this will show you how you can get more followers, boost engagement, and turn people into dedicated customers. Always remember, that in the beginning social media requires a lot of trial and error. However, if you continue to keep track of analytics and search for popular relevant keywords your content will become stronger than ever! From uncovering new customers to increasing the value of the ones you already have, the amount of creative business opportunities available to small businesses on social media is seemingly endless.
Best social media tips for small businesses and independent shops: