In recent years, small businesses have heavily depended on social media marketing to reach customers, raise brand awareness, and boost their sales. Social media marketing can help your small business reach its full potential, whether you're just starting out or have been in operation for years. And the good news is: it's affordable. To grow your customer base with social media, you don't need to invest thousands of dollars in marketing — you just need to use it strategically and effectively.
How To Use Social Media To Grow Your Small Business
1. Choose the best platforms
If you're thinking about branching out and exploring new marketing avenues, social media is a great place to start but which is right for you? Let's go over a few...
Because Facebook is the most popular platform on the internet, it's definitely worth trying out. You can not only create a Facebook page for your business and post updates on it, but you can also build a community around it by liking pages related to your work. This will attract new followers who are interested in your field.
Instagram is a visual platform so it's a great marketing tool to showcase your products or services. Take a look at other Instagram accounts related to your field and see what gets the most engagement. Use hashtags effectively to target your desired audience.
TIKTOK
Creating videos on TikTok is an excellent way to grow your online presence and gain more views and engagement. It allows you to show your products and services in a creative and engaging way, catching the attention of the viewers right away. Millennials make up the vast majority of TikTok users so if that's your audience then 100% take advantage of it.
While you can also share photos and videos on LinkedIn, it is best used for networking and building your industry reputation. Make sure you're joining and participating in industry-related groups, as well as connecting with VIPs. You can also share professional tips, interesting thought leaders, and any other information that your audience would find interesting.
2. Make a social media calendar
Begin by researching your competitors across all major social media platforms. Look at what they're doing, how frequently they post, and how their posts look. You'll be able to decide whether you want to emulate them or strike out on your own by reviewing their work. Create an editorial calendar with specific day-to-day tasks and goals outlined once you've found a strategy that works for you. You should update your social media channels more frequently than once a week. More frequent posting keeps people interested and brings them back to your site.
3. Stay trending
Staying up to date on what's going on in the digital world is one of the best things you can do for your business. Read blogs, magazines, books, and publications about new technologies and innovations in your industry. Join groups, go to events, and network with others in the field to stay up to date on which consumers are using new channels.
4. Track and measure growth
Your goal will determine how you measure your progress. Using social media to grow your business will vary person to person. It's important to note that follower count is not the only metric that matters. You should also keep an eye out for:
Likes
Comments
Shares
Direct messages
Impressions
You can choose one of these metrics and set a growth goal for it, or you can monitor them all to see if you're on the right track. Whatever your goal is, make sure to check in on a regular basis.
5. Do a giveaway
Make a contest or giveaway centered on your product or service. Post the giveaway on Facebook or Instagram and set some rules such as like, follow and share or tag a friend. If you have a newsletter or a blog, you could make it a requirement to sign up. The main goal is to increase your traffic and leave a lasting impression. It also gives the winner a chance to try the product or service for free and hopefully spread the word.
6. Consider paid ads
Social media advertising is a low-cost way to increase traffic and conversions on your website. Facebook and Instagram ads are excellent ways to reach an audience that would not otherwise see your content. Targeting based on location, interests, demographics, and other factors allows you to reach out to those who are most likely to be interested in your content. Set up conversion tracking if you're using Facebook to see which campaigns are working best for your goals. If you're using Instagram ads, you can use tools like Google Analytics or Universal Analytics to track how many users visit your site after clicking on an ad.
7. Include strong calls to action
One of the best aspects of social media marketing is that you can create one call-to-action per post rather than one per page like you would on a website. It's critical that you put yourself in the shoes of someone scrolling through their feed — how does this post appear to them?
The most important aspect of any business is that it is a living, breathing entity. Using social media as a marketing tool is one of the best ways to keep your business thriving. Posting on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok can help you stay visible and fresh in the minds of potential customers.
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