Optimizing social media for small business will enable you to connect with your audience in real-time.
7 out of 10 American adults are active on social media. Therefore, it’s crucial for businesses to create strategies to better engage with their target audience on social platforms.
We’ve put together a list of social media marketing tips that will surely help you reach out to your target audience, increase engagement, and heighten brand awareness.
10 Best Social Media Tips For Successful Business
Tip#1: Make A marketing plan
Social media tools are easy to use and even may tempt you to just wing it and start posting content endlessly to get organic traffic. However, if you truly want to leverage social media, you need to have an incredible marketing plan for your small business.
When you don’t have a clear marketing plan, you won’t be able to achieve anything. Therefore, take your time in developing a marketing plan that ensures your efforts come to fruition.
If you don’t know where to start, here are some of the bonus tips that might help,
· Set SMART Goals
Your goals should follow the SMART methodology. That means the goals you set must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. So, whether you want to increase brand awareness or conversions, this method helps you stay on the right track. That, in turn, will help you achieve your goals in the most effective manner.
· Analyze Your Competitors
Analyzing your competitors and observing their approach is the most effective way to sustain and thrive in any competitive industry. When you research your competitors, look for their weaknesses, and see where they are lacking. Leverage their weakness and turn it into your strength.
· Evaluate Your Social Media Performance
When you have a social media presence, you need to evaluate the performance and look for any opportunities and anomalies. Make changes to improve your social media and also look for imposter accounts. Sometimes, your competitors create fake social media accounts to tarnish your reputation.
Tip#2: Use Data to determine Your Platforms
When you’re about to make a strategic decision of choosing a platform, always prefer data over your instincts or hearsay.
For instance, you might hear that Facebook isn’t the right platform to target millennials. However, when you look at the data, it shows the complete opposite.
According to the Pew Research Center, 84% of millennials are active users of Facebook. So, you know how social media marketing for small business can positively impact your brand’s social presence.
Although many published research may certainly help decide the right platform. However, it doesn’t seem necessary that you shouldn’t conduct any research on your own.
When you conduct your own research, you will find more detailed and comprehensive information about your audience you want to target.
That brings us to the next tip.
Tip#3: Understand Your Audience
For the successful execution of the social media strategy, it all comes down to how well you know your target audience.
Again, you want data to get to know more about your existing and potential customers. You should also use social media analytics tools to have a deeper insight into who your audience is and how they interact with your business.
For instance, Imperfect Foods leveraged Pinterest to gain prominence in selling produce boxes for fruits and vegetables. When they put their content on Pinterest, they used generic but relevant keywords related to their business nature. Such as “fresh,” “healthy,” and so forth. But when they did a deeper analysis, they found that their target audience was also interested in finance. So, they changed their approach and include the financial benefits of reducing food waste and the benefits for the environment.
Tip#4: Develop Lasting Relationships
One of the biggest perks of using social media for business is that it helps you develop lasting relationships with your customers.
According to Global Web Index, over 40% of online customers leverage social media to look for new products or services.
So, when your target audience interacts and engages with your content, you should also engage back. It will give rise to a loyal fanbase where your content keeps growing with more impressions and engagement. As a result, your engagement will turn into sales in due time.
Tip#5: Post Visually Appealing Content
Visual elements are the prime factor of content that generates buzz.
According to eMarketer, the majority of millennials and Gen Z claim that their buying decision of fashion was based on the image they viewed on social media.
All major social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat are known for their visual elements. If you want to gain traction with your content, ensure to add aesthetically appealing visuals.
Also, learn how to create a comprehensive small business website.
Tip#6: Never Compromise On Quality
It may seem quite overwhelming to stand your content out with a sea of content on social media. However, it doesn’t mean you should also post content endlessly.
On the contrary, you need to put out your best marketing efforts to create quality content on a specific platform to have a strong and lasting social media presence.
Most importantly, refrain from direct selling on social media. It will push even your loyal followers away.
Keep in mind, social media is a platform where you build relationships. So, when posting content, ensure to include a personal touch, fun, and engaging element, and offer credible information.
Credibility is the key to having a strong social media presence.
According to Stackla, 86% of consumers claim that credibility is the prime factor of their preference for brands.
It’s difficult to dive into every social media platform. So, it’s better to start with one channel where you can easily reach out to your target audience. And once you’ve got the hang of it, you can utilize the same strategic skills on other platforms and expand.
Tip#7: Utilize The Right Tools
You need to have the right set of tools to stay on top of your social media. These tools help you streamline your work and improves productivity. Once you have mastered these tools, you can run a social media account by yourself without the need for a dedicated team.
These dynamic tools include,
· Engagement Management
The social media engagement management tool helps you gather all the social engagements under one dashboard. So, you can respond easily without the need to log into your social media account each time.
· Analytics
Analytics tools help in providing an in-depth report of your social media performance. You can find how many impressions or engagements you receive on a given post.
· Graphics
There are various graphics tools that can help you make visually appealing content on your social media platforms. Some of the prominent tools include Canva and Piktochart. These tools make personalized visual content that is crucial for Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook marketing.
· Content Curation
It’s quite challenging to develop unique and engaging content for your social media on a regular basis. However, with content curation, you can share quality posts of others. Even though you have to give credit to the curators, but still, help add value and build a strong social media presence.
Tip#8: Actively Involve in Social Listening
You already know why you should engage with your target audience on social media. But it doesn’t have to be limited to social media.
There are other platforms where you need to listen, respond, and engage with your target audience more humanely.
For instance, if you’re running a coffee shop. Customers love having coffee at your shop, but they aren’t fond of your bagels. Some customers say they’re always stale, some say batter isn’t freshly made, and some offer another opinion. Now, you have all the feedback to make your bagel better.
You made preparation for the batter based on the daily sales of bagels. So your batter will not be staled, and the bagel will be fresh when it’s served to the customers.
Thus, the power of social listening has helped you deliver what the customer wants.
Tip#9: Set Up A Content Calendar
When you’re regularly posting content on your social media, it’s better to set up a content calendar. The content calendar provides an efficient way to post content.
For instance, with the content calendar, you’d be able to schedule your content and dedicate a day to create content in advance.
So, once you have created content for the week or month, you can put out your resources on other social media activities.
Here’s a video of how to set up a content calendar for your social media.
Tip#10: Track, Monitor, And Finetune Your Performance
Once you have formulated and implemented your social media strategy, it’s now time to track, monitor, and finetune your overall performance.
Social media analytics will help you gather all the data to provide an overview of marketing activities. You can also apply the A/B testing method to find out which activities work and which needs improvement.
Have a look at this video to learn more about tracking your social media performance,
Final Words
When you follow these social media tips, you will be better able to leverage social media to increase brand awareness, engagement, and find new and loyal followers.
The best approach is to start small, gradually expand, and reach out to the wider audience.