7 Ways to Use Social Media to Grow Your Small Business

Every business needs  a social presence in order to create a strong brand presence. It is essential for a business to be present on platforms where their customers are present. Many small business owners think that social media is not beneficial for their business. Lack of social media presence can result in a huge loss for the business.

Social media is a great medium for small business owners to connect with customers. Business owners think that it is difficult to maintain presence online. An effective social media strategy, can result in a higher profit making. Social media is a great way to create engaging content and to attract potential customers. If you are still perplexed about how to use social media or if you are using social media but are not receiving the expected results, follow this step -by- step guide and conquer the world of social media today!

Create a Social Media Marketing Plan:

An effective business strategy starts with a plan. It is essential for a business to create a social media marketing plan. A social media plan will  measure and track the posts, it will ensure that all your efforts result in achieving specific business goals.

Decide Your Platforms:

Don’t make assumptions about your audience spending their time online. Maybe your intuition tells you to eliminate Facebook and focus on Instagram. As per the research conducted by Pew Research Centre, 82% of millennials still use Facebook.

Identify one such platform where your target audience is present and dominate that platform. Claim your profile on other social networks. One needs to be friend-raising by building a community by sharing other people’s content. For every piece of content, you share maintain a four is to one ratio share four pieces of someone else’s content for one piece of own content you share.

Define Your Goals and Objectives:

Identifying the objectives for a business helps in achieving goals for any business. Advertising on social media can be lucrative but it requires a  huge amount of time and money. For example, a small business owner may advertise on Facebook to generate leads whereas another business may use Facebook to create brand awareness. Use metrics like Facebook pixel which help to track and measure results. This will help you to determine if it is worth it or not.

Create a Social Content Calendar:

Maintaining a calendar will help you to plan out your social media activities well in advance and will help you to post your content consistently on various social media platforms. Creating a strategy will help you to achieve better results with very less time and effort. Posting content at an optimal send out will help you to identify and analyse the trends when posts get top engagement.

Add Visuals and Videos:

Attention span of an individual is less than 8 seconds. Always add photos and videos to your social content. It helps to boost engagement. If you are a business that provides customer service consider photos that complement your text. Visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest help businesses to increase engagement. Videos are another way of generating engagement for a business

Find the Ideal hashtags to use:

Hashtags have been rocky over the years, but hashtags are crucial for social media as hashtags help to drive engagement tremendously by reaching out to the customers.

Combine Organic and Paid: 

Combining paid and organic in social media can result in a higher engagement and reach. Paid Social media helps to increase brand awareness.