Social media has been the great equalizer online.
You no longer need a massive budget and lots of expensive advertising to market and build your brand. Social media has been a godsend for small businesses.
Even so, marketing through social media can still be tricky. Here are some key tips to help your small business run its social marketing campaigns.
Don’t Overstretch
Social media isn’t limited to Facebook and Twitter. There are many different networks where people gather online.
With so many exciting social networks available to us, it’s common to try and build a brand presence everywhere we can.
It’s understandable, but also dangerous. As a small business, you may not have the resources to give every outlet the love they need.
It’s easy to get overstretched running social media profiles for brands. And if you try to please too many people at once, you’ll end up pleasing nobody.
Will you be able to create engaging content on Pinterest and YouTube? Does your audience actually use Google+, LinkedIn, or Etsy?
Pick a few networks to prioritize for social marketing campaigns. Where is your audience? What format is the best fit for your message?
Don’t overstretch and stay within what you can reasonably do on social media.
Use Photos and Videos
Text updates are not enough to capture the attention of your followers on social media.
With people getting bombarded with so many messages every day, you need to stand out. Including visual content in all of your posts are one way to break through.
Images and video are proven to improve your reach and response on social posts. Posts with photos see a 53% increase in likes on Facebook vs. text. One study showed that tweets with images see 150% more retweets and 89% more likes.
Video can improve your numbers even more. Facebook video gets 1,200% more shares than text and image posts combined.
The statistics make it clear. Make sure you include visual elements in your social marketing campaigns.
Build Relationships
Social media creates a connection that had never been truly possible in the past. No longer are brands only talking at consumers — they are talking with them.
Communication is now a two-way street.
This reality presents a unique opportunity to build real relationships with the people who support our businesses. The importance of building these strong relationships through social media cannot be understated.
Relationships promote brand advocacy. Having people outside of your organization publicly support and defend you is one of the most important marketing tools for any brand.
Risk consultants also believe that building relationships helps you in times of trouble. If your company runs into problems and gets bad publicity, the relationships you’ve built will be valuable. You’ll stay in a better position and can recover quicker from the incident.
Even as a small business, social media gives you a chance to forge a bond with your supporters. Make sure you take advantage of the opportunity.
More on Social Marketing Campaigns for Small Businesses
Having a presence on social media and running campaigns can be hard for small businesses. But by following best practices and having a plan, you can build an online community and grow your business.
For more tips on how to market your small business online, visit our blog.
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