How to use Social Media for your Small Business
Getting started with social media can be overwhelming for small businesses. Social media is one of the best ways to connect with your audience and potential customers.
Social media is no longer optional for small businesses. If you don’t yet have a social media presence, then surely you are missing out a great opportunity to reach and connect with your potential customers. Most of the small businesses don’t have the time, resources, money or energy to invest in marketing efforts. And that’s completely understandable.
However, using social media is not rocket science and neither it is expensive for your small business. You will just have to keep up with the latest social media trends and apply them to your business.
1. Start with a plan
Every good business strategy starts with a good plan. Without a plan, you have no way of knowing what you’re trying to achieve with your social media posts. So you must have marketing goals.
Create goals and objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, timely, and relevant for your business. Specify your goals on metrics that will have a real impact on your business, which can be either lead generation, brand awareness, or customer engagement. Whatever your goals are, make sure they are clearly defined.
Once you have set goals for your social media marketing, it will get a lot easier to figure out content for your page.
2. Give consumers a reason to follow you
Once you have your original market niche, you need to have lots of followers and then it will become easier for you to convert your followers into customers.
Some tips on why people would be interested in following your small business on social media:
- Invite friends and family to follow your brand.
- Try to invoke curiousness about your products or services among your followers.
- Offer exclusive promotions.
- make your content entertaining.
- Run a contest, offer flash sales and discounts.
3. Attract potential clients
Use Facebook and Instagram to attract potential new clients. By using Facebook targeting options, your business can reach out to new potential customers who can be interested in your products and services. Make sure to use the geotagging feature on your Facebook and Instagram pages.
You can use tools to help you monitor and respond to local conversations about your business, and build relationships with other local businesses in your area.
4. Diversify your Marketing Efforts
If your business has a social presence on only on a platform such as Facebook, then it alone won’t be enough to maximize your reach. You need to establish your presence on multiple social media platforms where you can also find your relevant audience.
If you are not sure which social network to be on, they start with some popular ones that most businesses use:
Before you rush to create a profile on all the channels listed above, first try to know where you can find your target audience. For example, LinkedIn is more beneficial to B2B companies.
Once you’re sure which social network you’ll use, then you can cross-promote the content across every social media page you have. By diversifying your online marketing, you will expend the reach of your business further than you can even imagine.
5. Drive Traffic to your website or blog
Your website or blog is the place where your potential customer will go when they are deciding what they want from your business.
Use the following ways to drive traffic to your website
- Create a tab to capture leads by using tools.
- Add links to your profile page.
- Pin a post to the top of your page
- Create exceptional visual posts
- Use Facebook and Instagram ads
If you want to drive a significant amount of traffic back to your website/blog, don’t rely on guesswork. Do your research and plan accordingly.
6. Share compelling visual content
People are attracted to social posts that include a visual component. Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat, in particular, are visual-first networks. If your content doesn’t look good, no one will stop scrolling to read what you have to say. 
It’s important to use great imagery in your social posts to increase engagement. You can use several visual elements like videos, live videos, photos, infographics, or gifs.
You can greatly benefit from broadcasting live video content on social media platforms. Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram have the option to do this. You live stream will boost your engagement metrics.
7. Take the advantage of ephemeral content
Ephemeral content is different from a regular post. This type of content is only displayed for a short period of time, such as 24 hours. Basically, this type of content is that you post as stories. The most common social media platforms to post ephemeral content are Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. It is highly recommended using a story to promote your business. If you want to post several times per day, do it on your story. This won’t spam the timelines of your followers.
8. Use the right tools
To effectively use social media, take advantage of tools that automate or simplify much of your work. There are many tools available to help boost your productivity for the marketing efforts of your small business. For a small business owner, the right tools can be their best friends. They will help you get organized, save you time and money. Some of the tools that you can use are Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Relay, Canva, Buzzsumo, and Pocket.
Conclusion
Social Media will help you better connect with your audience, reach new potential customers, and increase awareness of your brand. These small changes can make a huge impact on the success of your social media marketing. You just need to prepare a good strategy and use the right tools to amplify your efforts.