Strategy & Social Media
If you’re a small business owner, you probably struggle at times with social media. In fact, over 93% of small business owners say they struggle with social media.
Common issues include:
which social media platform is right for my business?
what’s the best social media marketing strategy for my brand?
how do I engage and relate to my audience?
how do I create effective content?
Pictured: Downtown Denton, TX
Which social media platform is right for my business? This first question could be a blog post all on its own. There are a lot of options for social media, but which one makes sense for your business? First, you need a Facebook presence. It’s the largest social media platform with over 2.8 billion active users. Many people go straight to Facebook to search for a business where they can quickly find business hours, what services or products are offered and even reviews. If you don’t have Facebook, finish reading this and go set yours up.
Instagram is also wildly popular with over 1 billion active users. The demographic is 50% female with 71% of the American users between the ages of 18-29. If your business allows for the use of great visual images, you can carefully curate a page of your most useful products and services.
Twitter is a great place to have a voice on your particular field of business and demonstrate your knowledge and expertise.
This is not an exhaustive post on which one is best. These are just the most popular options currently, and a good place to start.
What’s the best social media marketing strategy for my brand? There are 5 things that comprise a good strategy for social media marketing. First you need a complete profile page that tells a good story and provides good information. Second, you need to post useful content regularly. Engage with your customers and with your competitors. Comment and follow. Third, you need to be yourself or be the best version of your brand online. Demonstrate what’s important to you, put a face with the business name and be authentic. Fourth, regularly show what your business has to offer and add value to the consumer. One caveat is that not every post needs to be a sales pitch. Fifth, include a call to action or ask for the sale. Again, this doesn’t need to happen with every post, but it should happen often.
How do I engage and relate to my audience? Regular introductions of who you are beneficial in engaging with your audience. You can post a few times a year an introduction of how your business started and why it exists. This serves as a welcome to new followers and allows you to engage with anyone who comments back. Next, think of a time when you shopped somewhere in person or online and the person went out of their way to help you or be kind? It left you feeling valued or at least happy in some way. Be kind. Look for ways to answer questions posted on your content that adds value to the consumer without giving away your expertise completely for free. Being nice goes a long way.
How do I create effective content? Your business provides a service or product. Why did you create that service or product? You created it to fill a void or need. Create content that reflects an answer to the problem you originally had and how your product or service answers that question. Sometimes your content will just be a great photo of the product. Sometimes it will be answer to questions. Sometimes it will be a question and answer session where your audience can get involved and you provide feedback.
Help! If social media marketing strategy, content, platforms, and engagement is stressful or overwhelming, you’re in the right place. Flywheel is a full service social media marketing company focused on helping small businesses grow. We are here to help you find the right platform, the right strategy, and even create great content. We provide a free consultation of your current social media with just the click of a button. We would love to work with you!