Why is Social Media Necessary for Small Businesses?
Did you know, people are 57.5% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media?
Social media allows small business owners to connect with a wider audience who are interested in your product or service.
If done correctly, social media marketing can make sales skyrocket.
A significant factor for why people choose a small business over a big-name company is because they value the personalised experience and unique character of the business itself.
On social media, you can show off your personality and your company’s uniqueness and really get to know your customers better while also growing your business.
But managing a small business is hard enough without having to manage your company’s social media.
As a small business owner, you know that social media is a powerful tool to reach new customers and grow your business.
But what’s the best way to utilise social media for your business?
Create a Social Media Marketing Plan
Creating a social media marketing plan is the best way to ensure that you’re using social media to its full potential.
Your social media marketing plan should include your goals, strategies, and tactics for social media.
Pick a specific goal for your social media, such as brand awareness, sales/leads generation, community engagement, customer support.
Rather than trying to juggle a range of different goals, pick one goal and brainstorm what exact strategies and tactics will help you accomplish this.
Similarly, your strategies should be detailed and specific too.
Such as, exactly how many followers, likes, subscriptions, etc, do you want to gain in one month, 3 months, 6 months?
It’s also important to consider which social media platforms are most appropriate for your business.
For example, if you’re a B2B company, LinkedIn would be a better platform to focus on than Facebook.
If you’re a B2C company, Facebook and Instagram may be better platforms.
If you try to be active on too many social media platforms, you might spread yourself thin and struggle to have a powerful presence on any.
Engaging Content Creation
Once you’ve created your social media marketing plan, it’s time to start creating content.
Your content should be engaging, informative, and most importantly, relevant to your audience.
If you’re not sure what kind of content to create, consider doing some research on your target audience and their interests.
You can also check out your top competitor’s social media too.
What content are they putting up? Do they use videos, images, podcasts? What topics do they cover?
Another great way to come up with content ideas is to think about the different stages of the buyer’s journey.
The buyer’s journey is the process that customers go through when making a purchase.
It includes three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.
Your content should be created to target each stage of the buyer’s journey.
For example, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness, you would create content that is more general and informative in nature.
If you’re trying to get customers to consider your product or service, your content should be more detailed and highlight the features and benefits of what you’re offering.
And finally, if you want customers to make a purchase, your content should include strong calls-to-action that encourage customers to buy your product or service.
Post Consistently and at the Right Time
In order to see results from social media, you need to be posting regularly.
How often you should post will depend on the platform you’re using and your audience.
Some platforms, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, are more forgiving when it comes to how often you post.
Other platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram, require a more consistent posting schedule.
It’s also important to consider what time of day you’re posting.
If you want your content to be seen by the most people, you need to be posting when your audience is most active.
The best way to find out when your audience is online is to experiment with different posting times and see when you get the most engagement.
Once you’ve chosen how often you want to post and then – create a calendar. There are loads of free social media calendar templates you can download online.
Analyse Social Media Reports
Ensure you’re tacking your key metrics regularly by creating custom reports that show the data needed to see how your company is performing.
Try out some analytic tools to see your engagement rate, how many people are clicking on your products, your bounce rate, keyword report, what hashtags are more successful, and more.
You could even track and compare your social media performance against your competitors.
Social media analysis enables you to see your impact, improve your performance, optimise your budget, create a strategy, and nurture genuine customer relations.
Social Media Marketing at Socia Sheffield
Social media marketing takes time, effort, and consistency to be successful. A lot of it is trial and error until you find something your audience loves. Keep being creative and thinking up new ideas for social media.
But if you’re willing to put in the work, you can see some great results for your business.
By following these tips, you’ll be on your way to social media success.
However, if you’re struggling to keep up with your social media, or you feel like you’ve reached a brick wall with it, why not contact Socia Sheffield today?
We can manage your social media for you, giving you more time to focus on producing and selling your products and/or services.
At Socia Sheffield, we offer a free one-hour consultation with Jasmine, our marketing strategy expert, so we can discuss your specific social media goals and targets.
