Written by Karina Moya
It is no secret that running a small business takes a lot of time and energy. That’s why more than half of small business owners ignore social media efforts altogether. Continue reading to understand why social media is beneficial for your small business.
Market Research
Knowing your target audience as well as your competition is everything to a small business – especially since being a small business, your market and competition are going to be a niche, specific group. Let’s say for example you want to be a coffee roastery that sells coffee beans as well as specialty espresso drinks in a small town. Consider if the area you are going to be in has the right vibes, good/bad financial outcome, and the target audience you are looking for. In addition, with social media, you are able to check out the competition on social media and compare what you have to offer versus what is already being offered and how you can differentiate yourself from the competition.
Engage with Consumers
What better place to engage with new people than on social media? Once you have seen the potential market in the area your company will be, take the opportunity to go on a following spree. Follow anyone that might align with the brand or be interested in what the brand has to offer. Encourage your followers and customers to create content they can post.
Continuing on the coffee roastery example, having customers post videos of your baristas hard at work, the final masterpiece (Americano, Latte, Cappuccino, Macchiato), the roaster being on. When people are posting things like this to their socials, the people that they follow and are friends with are likely to see and could potentially be influenced to try said coffee shop that is all the talk of the town.
Build Brand Awareness
Once you are on social media, you can begin to build brand awareness. Consider if you would prefer an omnichannel marketing strategy or starting off with one social media site to see if that is what is best for your brand and going from there. Every social media site is used in different ways; Facebook is great for ads and building a page for your brand, Instagram for pictures, YouTube for videos, Twitter for news and updates.
Using the same coffee roastery concept, what social media site would be the most beneficial for reaching your target audience? Instagram would be a good option as user generated content (USG) could come from this platform making it easy for word about your brand to spread like wildfire through the people who are posting stories, and pictures marking your specific location. In addition, people are able to look up your brand and see if it is something they are interested in. Someone looking for a quick trip through the drive thru might be able to look you up and see that is not who you are. Which brings me to my next point:
Increase Site Traffic
When your brand is active on social media, people who might have never heard of your brand/company are likely to try to find your website as well. This is due to the curiousness that consumers naturally have as people. In addition to USG helping increase site traffic, social media allows for businesses to run ads. While ads aren’t the cheapest option, especially for a small business, they work.
Remember these four topics when deciding if social media marketing is right for you.
- Market Research
- Consumer engagement
- Brand Awareness
- Website Traffic
Spoiler Alert! It is.
What do you think? Are you ready to show the socials your small business?
Category: Social Media Marketing 101