If you are a B2C business model, social media is probably near the top of your list for reaching your customers. If current statistics about social media are to be believed, about half the world’s population now uses social media.
However, for small business owners, knowing how to effectively use social media to promote your business can be daunting.
But which one?
The number one rule for choosing where to promote your business with social media is to know where your customers spend their time online. Although Facebook is still the most popular social media site, it may not be the favorite site for your customers. The preferred social media site varies by age, lifestyle, geography, and gender. For example, if your target market is younger, you may have better success finding them on Instagram or TikTok, as they view Facebook as the platform where mom and grandma hang out.
Even if you think you know where your customers go to engage in social media, make sure to experiment with a few different sites. People often go to more than one site for different reasons. For example, they may go to Twitter for news, but Instagram for finding trendy products.
Keep in mind that social media is a moving target. Where your customer go today, may not be where they go in six months. It is critical to keep up with these trends.
DIY or outsource?
As social media has gotten more and more complex, even small businesses are relying on experts to manage their digital marketing efforts.
More and more entrepreneurs choose to outsource digital marketing and the management of social media. As Steven Clayton explains in his post at SmartBrief, outsourcing offers the advantages such as cost savings, specialized expertise, and better results.
If you do choose to manage your digital marketing in-house, make sure you understand all of the ins and outs of social media. Christina Newberry offers a comprehensive guide to effectively using social media in her post at HootSuite’s blog. How does she suggest getting started? It all starts with a social media plan:
But before you leap in feet first, remember: every good business strategy starts with a good plan. Yes, you can use social tools for free. But the time and effort involved still represent an investment in your business.
Without a plan, you have no clear goal for what you’re trying to achieve. That means there’s no way to know if you’re getting a return on that investment.
Effective management of social media requires the right tools. Here, here, and here are articles that offer reviews of social media tools.
When I hear entrepreneurs talk about social media as a method of marketing, I cringe a little bit. One of the most important aspects of being an entrepreneur is being passionate and spreading that passion. If you look at social media as a tool, then technically yes, it’s a great way to reach a given audience. That being said, if you look at businesses that have boomed off of social media, most of the time it’s content that has nothing to do with expectations from it’s audience. The idea was never to draw attention in order to convince anyone of anything. If they are into the outdoors, they do videos teaching how to build campfires in unique situations. If they’re a chiropractor, they literally teach you how to do self adjustments, tips on how to work in a sitting environment, and more and gain tens of thousands of followers. Sometimes, a plain ole retailer does a ton of hilarious or creative, but entertaining videos and people just love them and start buying their “merch”. The idea is that value is always being offered. The moment a pitch is the main content, social media users are skeptical. It should be used to connect and not as a billboard extension. People watch ads because they have to in order to see their main content. Don’t make their main content ads.
This is something im really running into these days. I was recently reached out to by someone who was starting a new platform on tiktok and was wanting to move it over to Instagram so that merch could be sold. I had to follow up this offer with some research on what people are paid for this position and how much time goes into it. From there, it becomes a matter of a following base and what content goes to stories, polls, etc. Marketing is so complex and I think its important for businesses to find what marketing strategy works best for their business and market.
In the world we live in today, you see that social media is taking over in the business aspect of things. I do personally believe with success comes from your own love and passion for the company you are building. Yes social media does help with marketing and just about getting the word out about your business, but it truly doesn’t help by showing your true passions. Many of my friends companies have been very successful due to social media following and just sky rocketing from shares, tik toks and more through the media.
It is astounding the impact that social media has on businesses today. A product or business idea can go viral tomorrow, and the business’ life is changed forever. However, as you explained, this comes with being able to know who the audience is, what sites they frequent, and what posts they will interact with. While most people around my age who are still in school and grew up with social media understand how to work the sites, it still takes some cleverness to run a business’ social media sites. One of my closest friends is hoping to be a social media manager for businesses as her career, and the process was way more complicated than I had expected.
Social media is a fact of life, it is here to stay and it is very important for every business to have a presence on social media. This is a great marketing tool that can get your brand good exposure.
Social media has taken over our world and is how most people stay connected today. If done well, marketing through social media can be very effective. But as mentioned in the post, trying to pin it down is difficult as it is constantly changing. It is particularly difficult if you have different customer segments that you are trying to connect with and require you to use multiple platforms.
Social media is often seen as an organic way to grow business reach for “free.” The truth of the matter is, rarely is it free. In order to be done effectively, this takes time and effort. Just as a paid ad strategy would go through planning, social media should also have a strategy and long term goal.
As mentioned in another comment, I often have trouble figuring out the best or most effective way to utilize social media as a promotion technique. The three articles linked at the end offered a lot of insight that I really didn’t know until reading them. For instance, I didn’t realize how many social media management tools were out there and how helpful they can be to a business.
Social Media is huge for certain small business but is also hard to understand and keep up with. I agree social media is constantly changing. If you don’t have a specific person to manage it can be hard to get a positive response. I think outsourcing is the best route to go.
As someone who is constantly checking social media, that is my main source of brand and product consumption. I can see who is using what products, how brands promote their products, and how brands interact with their users. I would say some of the most successful brands on social media have gotten there because of how they interact with customers. This can be way more effective than a trendy post. People want to feel a part of something. What better way to get customers coming back than interacting with them consistently through social media.