Developing strong social media strategies for small businesses eliminates a lot of the guesswork from your marketing strategy. When it comes to social media success, a little planning goes a long way.
In the last ten years, social media usage has risen from 7% to 65% in the United States.
Businesses can no longer ignore social media due to the increased consumer usage of sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You have a lot of opportunities to get in front of potential clients. On average, people spend 145 minutes every day on social media! That’s a big window of opportunity for you to get potential clients’ attention.
Because you don’t have a marketing team ready to tackle every platform, you’ll have to be strategic with your time and ad dollars. Don’t be concerned! Small business owners don’t have to be complicated when it comes to social media; all they have to do is follow the advice in this article.
Rather than avoiding social media, let’s look at how to establish social media plans for small businesses that will help you meet your growth objectives.
1. Make Smart Goals
Many small business owners are aware that they “should” be utilizing social media to build their company, but have you considered why? What do you hope to achieve with your social media strategies? It’s a lot easier to build a plan to reach your goals if you’re clear on them.
Particular, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) is an abbreviation for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This aids goal-setting because you know exactly what you’re trying to do and when you’ll be able to do it.
It’s also relevant to your company if you primarily utilize email marketing to nurture leads and acquire new customers. Make sure your objectives are attainable. It’s unlikely that your social media approach would immediately raise your sales by 10%, but raising email sign-ups is considerably more attainable. Instead of only racking up likes, set goals based on metrics that will matter to your business, such as acquiring customers or increasing your conversion rate.
2. Identify Your Audience
Most marketers will tell you that getting to know your audience is the first step in designing a successful campaign, and the same is true for social media.
Even if you think you know who your target audience is, you may use social data to double-check your assumptions. Using data from social networks or a third-party social media tool, gain a better knowledge of who your social audience is.
It’s all about getting to know your customers and publishing about what they care about when it comes to using social media for small businesses. Posting useful material that helps your clients in some way is the best method to increase your social media popularity. Investigate whose accounts they follow, as well as the posts they enjoy and share. This will give you a better picture of what they value.
What’s the best way for you to join in on the conversation they’re already having? Businesses make the mistake of solely talking about their business on social media. They talk about their products, services, and employees, but they fail to talk about how they can help their clients.
Imagine why you follow certain brands. There’s more to their story than their product, isn’t there? You can apply that same thinking to your business and identify exactly what your ideal client wants from you.
3. Work with people in your domain
Connecting with others in your industry is a terrific method to reach a new audience. Collaborate with micro-influencers and other people in your industry who you respect. Share their material to help you become a part of your industry’s larger community. This does not imply that you must share posts from direct competitors. Make connections with other industry thought leaders.
You can participate in a larger conversation on social media in addition to sharing information with customers. If your product is healthy snacks, for example, why not team up with a food blogger to provide some healthy recipes?
4. Initiate Conversations and Bring Engagement
Join the conversation once you’ve figured out what your audience enjoys talking about.
Your posts should be informational, inspirational, and promotional, with a call to action included in each. Encourage your fans to engage with your brand.
Ask them questions, solicit their opinions, and discuss topics that elicit strong feelings. Whatever business you’re in, there’s a feature of your product or service that’s linked to a sensation or experience that your ideal client desires.
What you’re offering as a business coach is a confidence, peace of mind, and success. All of these themes elicit strong feelings. It’s a terrific approach to connect with your audience by posting about your idea of success and encouraging them to share theirs.
You must continue the conversation whenever someone responds to a question you posed; after all, they took the time to say “yes” to your brand.
Did you know that just 10% of messages and comments made on a company’s social media pages get responded to? Time should be set out in every small business social media strategy to reply to client comments and direct communications.
Social media serves as a sales funnel for your company because of this contact. People will become interested in your content if you post outstanding stuff, but they will buy from you if you have interactions with them. Interact with your customers and build a two-way dialogue with Instagram polls, Twitter threads, and Facebook live streams.
5. Create A Posting Schedule
You’re running a company, therefore every second counts! Consistent posting shows potential clients that you take your business seriously, and that they should as well. Study your insights. Figure out the answers to questions like, how often should I post? At what time should I post?
But how do you maintain consistency when your to-do list is as big as an octopus arm? (Octopuses don’t have tentacles, arms!)
Make technology your best friend by planning out your posts ahead of time. This keeps you constant while also saving you time. You won’t get distracted looking through your feed instead of posting and getting back to work if everything is scheduled.
Your small business’s social media marketing plan should include a day or a few hours each week to sit down and schedule your social media posts. Then you can relax, knowing that you haven’t forgotten anything!
Conclusion
Providing high-quality material constantly is at the heart of effective social media marketing for small businesses. Consistent does not always imply “a lot.” You must discover a rhythm that works for both your audience and you so that you can continue to provide value in an engaging, amusing manner. Make eye contact with them and strike up a discussion with them. Use trial and error; it’s quite acceptable to make mistakes!
For small business owners, robust social media marketing strategies are critical to long-term success. You won’t waste hours of your valuable time trying to figure out what to do with your social media channels if you have a solid plan in place.
Are you planning on beginning social media strategies for your small business? Which platforms do you think your audience primarily uses? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
