To Be Social or Not to Be Social: 6 tips to grow your small business on social media
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By Jass Elaine
As a small business owner, you are constantly looking for new, affordable ways to market your business and win new leads. Social media marketing is exploding right now and is a low-cost investment for what could be a huge return on investment.
But how?
There is plenty of information online about how you need to post 25 stories a day and spend hours engaging with followers to win a few follow-backs. But, not too many share how to build a follow-worthy presence on social media for your small business while managing the thousands of other things you have to do in a day.
Here are some tips to grow your small business social media accounts, win better engagement, and convert follower to advocates without wasting too much time:
- Tip #1: Create a customized content strategy specifically for your niche, industry and target audience
A content strategy is an overall approach for creating content that drives key business objectives. Essentially, it’s your brand’s game plan for driving traffic, leads, engagement, sales, and other business outcomes through content. Within your strategy, you should have content pillars that are related to your industry and long-term goals for your business. For boutique owners, I recommend these four content pillars:
- Product Promotions - Such as sales and new inventory
- Lifestyle Imagery - Lookbook photos or curated flat-lays
- Fashion Advice - Revelvent trends and how to style your products
- Quotes & Memes - That relates to yur audience's persona
Identifying these content pillars and having a customized content strategy will help you create targeted, more meaningful content fast and without the headache.
- Tip #2: Understand the various social platforms and the cultures of the platform
Each social media platform has a different audience and culture. YouTube, for example, is often a platform audiences use to educate themselves on a variety of topics. Long-form, in-depth videos work well on this platform, as users navigate this platform expecting to spend about 10-30 minutes on each video they watch. TikTok, however, is better suited to snappy, short-form video content.
The same is said for Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Content that works well on Instagram may not work well on Facebook. Make sure you understand the culture on each platform and align your content accordingly.
Pro Tip: When planning long-form videos for YouTube, think about how you might pull out the best clips from your video and remix the conten in short-form.
- Tip #3: Set aside small increments of time
Planning out social media content on the weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly basis can be a daunting task. That's why I suggest setting aside small amounts of time to write down ideas each week so you're not overwhelmed and can remain ahead of schedule on your social media content calendar. Once you establish your content pillars, take the time to write down 3-5 post ideas a week that you can design using platforms like Canva, or hire a freelance graphic designer to help bring your vision to life.
- Tip #4: Practice Mirroring
Research your competitor’s content and social media platforms and perform an audit of their content. Be sure to look for answers to questions like "what's working for them?" and "What isn’t?". This will allow you to understand your competition’s social media strategy, and begin to replicate their successes and avoid their failures.
Your target audience may also give you hints to the type of content they want to see. Think about the following questions as you're doing your research:
- What is your audience sharing?
- Who are they following?
- What does the person they are following post?
All of the above will help you discover content that wins. Draw inspiration from the content that does well by your target audience
- Tip #5: Building your audience from the heart
Your main focus on social media should be building relationships, not making sales. You should be committed to building your audience from the heart, engaging with them and most importantly, listening to what they have to say.
Respond to all of your DM’s and comments, interact with your audience and focus on engaging with them. This will allow you to grow a captive social community that is excited about the value you are bringing to their feed. Remember - 1,000 engaged followers will always be better than 10,000 uninterested followers.
- Tip #6: Lastly, don't be afraid to ask for help
You don't be a the hero... If social media-savvy or content guru aren't the first ways people would describe you, then consider reaching out to a professional for help with Social Media Management (SMM). Social Media Management is the stress-free way of making sure your brand is in tune with all trends and conversations happening online every day without the work of planning, creating, and scheduling.
When it comes to your overall digital strategy, it is best to build a Digital-Task-Force of people with specialized skills such as SMM, graphic design, social/google ads, and website SEO. That way you can confidently focus on the creative planning and authentic engagement with your audience knowing that your hard work creating amazing content will not be lost in the feed or serch results.
Social media marketing is pivotal to ensuring your businesses success. With a low barrier to entry, social media can open a world of opportunities for your business that you would never believe is possible. So, take it one post at a time and get started building your businesses online presence.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jass Elaine is a brand coach, marketing strategist, and design guru for small business owners. She works with entrepreneurs and those aspiring to create, launch, and scale their businesses via 1:1 online coaching programs, social media marketing, and dynamic designs.
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