If there’s one powerful tool that can elevate your small business to new heights, it’s Social Media Marketing (SMM). Digital marketing experts worldwide agree that SMM is the best way for small businesses to boost online visibility and capture audiences organically.
SMM for Small Businesses: What makes it an Effective Tool?
The answer lies in five key attributes of social media:
- These platforms are free. So, you can leverage the reach and capabilities of social media platforms to the best extent possible, with literally no investment.
- Social media can widen the top of your sales funnel. So, you can reach more leads within a short span of time.
- They are the best means to boost brand reputation. By engaging your audience on social media with interesting and valuable content, you can build a positive reputation for your business.
- Social media tells you a great deal about your audience. The wealth of data gathered from your audience on social media is priceless. It helps you identify your customers’ likes and prospects’ needs more specifically so that you can address them more accurately.
- Social media allows you to personalize content for your target audience. This creates a huge opportunity for community building, gaining your customers’ trust, and converting them into long term leads.
Importance of SMM for Small Businesses
Although there are a number of marketing channels you can employ to promote your small business, social media marketing offers some unique advantages. Time and again, several reports from Salesforce have revealed that SMM is an unparalleled tool for marketing success.
For instance, in its report ‘Trends and Tactics Driving Marketing ROI’, Salesforce states that most B2C and B2B2C companies use SMM as one of their top 3 customer acquisition channels. And in another survey Salesforce found that 48% of customers prefer to use social media channels to learn about small businesses.
These studies clearly reveal the importance of SMM for marketing success. Moreover, social media helps you learn a great deal about what strategies are being used by your competitors. This can prove valuable when formulating your own SMM strategy. Similarly, SMM can help you build relationships with your customers. Their experience with your social media channels can go a long way in building customer loyalty.
Now that the importance of social media in digital marketing is established, let us understand how to use social media for marketing your small business.
Using SMM for your Small Businesses
SMM can dramatically improve your reach and visibility. Social media platforms are easy and accessible for all businesses, and as long as you are willing to spend a good amount of time and effort, it can prove to be a highly effective marketing channel. Here are some simple steps to help you get on board.
Step 1 – Choose the right social media platforms for your business.
There’s no one right platform for SMM. The best choice of social media platforms for your business would depend on your target audience.
- Facebook is best for short videos, blog posts, and curated content. Videos, especially live videos, perform well. Facebook also focuses on short-form content features like stories and reels.
- Instagram is ideal for visually appealing products such as beauty, food, and fashion. Marketing on Instagram is best for short form video content such as reels, which help you reach your targeted audience easily.
- Twitter is a good choice if you are looking for conversational or real-time engagement, or for sharing quick news and updates. News, blog posts, and quick thoughts, and visual content like images, GIFs, and videos can attract attention and increase your reach on Twitter.
- Youtube is most suitable for posting videos, including tutorials, entertainment, vlogs, music, gaming, and educational content.
- LinkedIn is ideal for professional content and company news. B2B and service-based marketing work best on this platform.
Step 2 – Create an account.
Once you’ve chosen the right platforms for your target audience, create an account on these platforms. Claim your company’s username, and complete the profile with a proper and suitable picture, bio, and website URL.
Step 3- Publish your first post.
Your first social media post is like making your first impression online. So, ensure that your post makes a great first impression, and a positive impact on your audience. It must be engaging and informative. This is the key to quick conversion and retention.
Step 4- Elevate your content.
Find new ways to engage your audience regularly, and discover new ideas to generate interest in your brand.
Following the steps above can help you get started with SMM. To get more conversions and leads, you need to do much more. Here are some tips that can help.
SMM Tips for Small Businesses
- Plan your content in advance. Create an SMM calendar and make a detailed plan, and organize your posts.
- Schedule your posts in regular intervals. Tools such as Hootsuite can help you automate your posting.
- Engage with the community. Never miss responding to comments and messages from your audience on social media. Responding promptly can help build a loyal, long-term customer base.
- Keep up with what’s trending. Always monitor social media trends to create relevant content for your audience. Gather insights using social listening tools.
- Let analytics guide your efforts. Always track your social media engagement using the right tools such as google analytics and OPA. Measure social media ROI, and use all the data to refine your strategy for future posts.
In the current day, digital engagement supplements traditional marketing methods. So, the success of any business now largely relies on the effective use of social media. Therefore, it is important that you create social media accounts for your business, and start posting authentic content. SMM offers great potential for business growth. The good news is that there are a variety of social media marketing tools that you can leverage to promote your business. The only investment needed for this, is your time, and a bit of creative thinking to start filling your sales funnel!