Social media is a critical part of marketing strategies. But, social media for small businesses can look different than a corporation or big company due to limited resources and budget. Despite this difference, social media marketing has repeatedly proven its benefits, especially for small businesses.
Are you ready to learn more about the benefits of social media and how to kick off or elevate efforts for your small business? We cover some of the basics of social media for small businesses and give you a few strategies to get started.
Why Social Media is Important for Small Businesses
All businesses know the importance of social media but for small businesses, it can be a valuable tactic for business and revenue success. Here are some ways social media is beneficial for small businesses:
- Generates Brand Awareness: The more you post relevant, engaging content, the more your reach broadens and awareness of your brand, products and services increases.
- Generates an Audience and Following: As you begin to build your social media presence on the platforms of your choosing, one of your main goals should be to build a following.
- Generates Leads: The more your brand awareness increases, the more interest people take to your product, service or solution. Doing this will also help you turn those who are interested to leads.
- Allows You to Showcase Your Brand Personality: Social media is a great way to highlight your brand personality. While your website can show much of who you are, what your products or services are and what your mission is, social media can take things a step further and allow you to highlight your mission, employees, company initiatives and so much more.
How to Establish Social Media Goals for Your Small Business
Before thinking about implementing social media for your small business, it is important to establish your goals. The SMART goal-setting method is a useful tool in this situation. Here is a breakdown of how to get a better understanding of what you want social media to mean for your small business.
- Specific: Think about a specific reason as to why you want to be on social media.
- Is it because you want to increase traffic to your website?
- Do you want to connect with customers in a new channel?
- Are you trying to share more content on new platforms?
- Measurable: Think about some ways you can track your goals.
- Is it through analytics on your website or one of the platforms?
- Is it the number of new followers you gain per month?
- Attainable: Think about if your goal(s) are attainable.
- Given the current resources and budget you have available, do you think you will be able to meet your goal(s)?
- What are some things that might pose as obstacles?
- Relevant: Think about the goals you have as a company.
- Does your goal(s) on social media support your company goals?
- If not, how can you adjust them to fit more closely?
- Timely: Think about your current resources and when you would like to reach your goals.
- Is this timeframe possible?
- If not, how can you adjust to make your goal more easily achievable?
Social Media Platforms for Small Businesses and What to Post on Each Platform
With the variety of social media platforms out there, it can be difficult to choose which ones to use. As a small business, focusing on one platform, or a few, to start with, should suffice. Understanding your core target audience and what you want to post will also guide your decision. Here are a few things to consider for a few platforms small businesses can utilize and ideas for content to post:
- LinkedIn
- About: This platform is popular for B2B organizations and for connecting with professionals directly.
- Content to Post: Thought leadership content, company news, team culture content.
- Facebook
- About: This platform is popular to reach a general audience and topic-specific groups.
- Content to Post: Team culture content, employee spotlight, awards won.
- Twitter
- About: This platform is popular to reach a wide audience and use various media elements to broaden reach.
- Content to Post: Content with hashtags, thought leadership content, media elements such as images and short videos.
Elevate Your Social Media Through Powerful Content Marketing
Social media is heavily influenced by your organization’s content. Without content to share and promote on social media, it can be a challenge to meet your goals. Looking for a way to build a content marketing strategy and plan that makes an impact? Check out our online marketing course, Build a Breakthrough Content Marketing Strategy and Plan. Through self-paced, on-demand courses, interactive exercises and templates and the opportunity for one-on-one coaching sessions, this course is a complete experience that will give you everything your small business needs to establish strong content marketing foundations, and subsequently elevate your social media marketing! Learn more today or contact us with any questions.
