Your Guide to Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Running a small business often means operating on a tiny marketing budget. What if you could reach out to your customer base, form new connections, provide customer service, and promote your business, for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising? You can do it on social media.

Every business should have a social media presence these days. Even the smallest businesses can benefit from having an Instagram account, a Facebook page, or even a YouTube or TikTok channel. Consumers often turn to their favorite social media apps first when they want to look up information about a local business, ask a question, or read reviews. They’ll go to your page to look for news about your business – new products, promotions, operating hours, and more. Here’s what you need to do to get started promoting your business on social media.

Build Your Strategy

Before you get your business on social media, lay the groundwork. Think about what platforms you want to use for your business. You’ll want to consider your core audience – how old they are, what gender they are, what values they hold, and which social media platforms they’re most likely to use.

You’ll also want to consider the nature of your business and the kind of content you want to share. Do you run a business hiring out birthday clowns? Use a platform like Instagram, YouTube or TikTok to share videos of your clowns juggling, making balloon animals, or other silly things. Think about the kind of content you want to create, what times of day you can most effectively engage with customers, and how often you’ll post to achieve your sales goals.

Post Regularly, but Not Too Often

Posting too much can put followers off your account, especially if the content is subpar. But posting too little will also lose your audience’s interest. You have to reach a middle ground where you’re posting steadily and on a regular schedule, without flooding followers’ feeds either. Don’t post just to post – post when you have something valuable to share with your followers, whether that’s something informative, entertaining, or persuasive. Use a content calendar to plan your content in advance, considering things like holidays, seasonal changes, planned promotions, and so on.

Use a Clear and Consistent Tone

It can be hard to nail your social media voice right away, and it might be worth working with an SEO services company in Phoenix or closer to home to develop a consistent and clear tone that will remain recognizably yours across all of your channels. Followers should be able to identify your brand immediately, as soon as they see it, no matter what platform they’re on or what type of content they’re looking at. Of course, you also have to come across as friendly and personable, so work to relate to your audience and connect with them on a personal level.

Dive Into the Analytics

Analytics tools can show you in detail how customers are interacting with your profiles, as well as what demographics you’re reaching and how well your paid advertisements are performing. Don’t shy away from crunching the numbers. It’s the only way you can understand the true return on your social media investment.

Make Customer Service a Priority

If you’re not using social media to provide better customer service, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t ignore follower comments and messages. They’re using your social media page to contact you just as they may have once picked up the phone to call. Respond to messages promptly – engage even with users who don’t appear to have a question or concern but just want to express enthusiasm for your brand. Remain professional when followers post negatively, and offer to take complaints into a private message.

Sell on Social Media

Many social media platforms allow small businesses to sell their products and services right through the app. You can set up a shop right on your social media profile so that followers and potential customers don’t even have to leave their favorite social apps to buy from you. How could making sales get any easier?

Recruit and Hire on Social Media

You can and should also use social media to recruit and hire new employees. People who are interested in engaging with your business are people who might make good employees, and posting on social media is a great way to get the word out about openings in your organization. People will see and share your job posting, helping you reach a wider audience of potential applicants than you might on job sites alone.

Social media can be a powerful tool to help you grow your business, engage with your customers, and provide better service. Make the most of social media, and watch your business thrive.