Social media has become a crucial way of promoting small businesses over recent years. According to Small Business Trends, over 70% of small businesses use social media as an affordable way to promote their business. This is not surprising when you realize how much time people spend on social media. According to Statista, the average person spends almost two and a half hours daily on social media, with Facebook having the clear majority of users at 2.7 billion monthly active users. According to Insider Intelligence, Instagram users spend just over 30 minutes daily on the popular platform.
Social media offers an affordable way for small businesses looking to use digital marketing to grow their business or engage with their current base. Here’s what you need to know about social media marketing for small businesses.
Develop a Strategy
Setting up an account is free, but to use platforms effectively, your business will have to invest time. Step one is to develop an effective social media marketing strategy. The strategy your business uses will depend on what your goals are. Is your company looking to use social media for lead generation or to inform existing customers of new products or services? Not every social media platform works for every business. This is why you need to know who your customers are. It will help you decide which social media platform will be the most effective for your business.
Mix Your Posts
One strategy is dividing time equally with a mix of posts promoting your business, sharing curated content, and involving personal interaction with your followers. Another tactic is using the majority of posts to inform, educate, or entertain, with the remainder of posts targeted at promoting your business.
Consider Automation
Depending on how many platforms you decide to use, free and paid options are available for social media management, allowing you to log in and manage multiple platforms from one dashboard. To save time and money, your business can use social media automation for automatic content posting, basic customer service, and running analytic reports.
Measure Performance
Once you're established on social media, it's a good idea to measure your company's performance. This can be done manually by monitoring traffic volume, number of visits, comments, or liked posts. There are free and paid social media analytic tools available to make this process easier.
According to Data Reportal's July 2022 Global Overview, social media user usage has grown, with over 4.7 billion users worldwide and an incredible 227 new users being added in the past 12 months. This means that it's a great time for your small business to implement a digital marketing strategy using social media to help your business grow and achieve new goals. However, running a small business can be very time-consuming and chances are that you are not an expert in the realm of social media marketing. Thankfully, there are professionals who can assist you through the process and even help manage your digital marketing campaigns for optimal results. If you want to get the most out of social media for your small business, call LPF Hunters today!