You may think you know everything it takes to run a successful business or have come across every tip/advice. But the real question is whether you’re doing it right. To truly understand how small businesses are winning at social media, you must first understand its importance.
Why is Social Media Important?
More than half of the world is active on social media. That’s billions of people. Your business needs to be present on social media and actively implement a well-thought-out strategy. This allows you to connect and engage with multiple people at once that you would never come across otherwise.
Social media lets you determine what you should promote online and showcase to your customers. The way social media works is that you post your content from anywhere, and people online come across your post no matter where they are. Instead of printing flyers, targeting people through the radio, or having a mascot advertise on the streets, you access people worldwide. It gives the viewer the liberty to view your post or page and explore as they please.
Your business is actually at a loss if it doesn’t implement a social media marketing strategy.
How are Small Businesses Succeeding?
They’re doing the right things in the right way. The businesses that are thriving and making the most income are the ones that have a plan. They know what to do and when. They remain consistent and are always willing to make improvements.
The following steps can help you learns ways to use social media correctly and the details you must pay attention to. You can experience a significant difference within a couple of months once you implement these steps into your daily marketing strategy.
1. Start With A Plan
Before creating profiles on social platforms, you must create a plan. Evaluate your business and its goals. What do you wish to achieve through social media? How do you plan to market your business?
A plan will help you organize your thoughts and stay on track throughout the process. Once you determine what you’d like to achieve from social media marketing, you can create a list of the steps.
2. Choose Your Platforms
Part of your plan also consists of choosing your social platforms. You should pick 2-3 social networks to be active on based on your business type.
For example, if you own a restaurant, you should promote your business on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. If you own a medical clinic, your ideal platforms would be Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
You must choose an audience that best fits your business and target them according to their respective social platform.
According to statistics, Facebook users are 65 and older. Many middle-aged people are also very active on Facebook. Instagram is popular amongst users between 18 and 49 and more among young female audiences. Twitter consists of users from the ages of 18-29.
When choosing your social platforms, research and know what kind of people you should target.
3. Select Your Audience
It’s pretty obvious that each step ties into the other. Targeting every possible demographic can become complicated for a small business. You want to increase your target audience gradually so that you can spend more time focusing on one group first and build onwards.
A few questions you must ask yourself are — who does your business cater to? Are you selling a product that older audiences will enjoy or younger ones? Do you offer services that are more in demand in women or men? Does your business target a specific demographic like nurses, lawyers, artists, teachers, and entrepreneurs?
When you know precisely the kind of people and the demographic you wish to target, you can get better results. Your content, communication, and platforms will be based on the type of viewers you’ll have.
You must know how to communicate with your audience. Your captions, stories, and direct messages should cater specifically to your customer.
4. Create Original Content
Original content will get you quite far. Creativity sparks interest and leaves people wanting more. It’ll stand out if you find a fantastic way to present your service or product. Look at what your competitors are doing and brainstorm on how you can do things differently. Creative content generates more likes, shares, and saves.
Here’s an example of a restaurant promoting its newest margarita. It’s a quick, aesthetic video that uses bright colors for advertising the drink. The company is innovative because it uses trending audio to gain more views and attention.
If you’re unsure how to create original content or are running out of ideas, Practina can do it for you. Practina knows how to make content that caters specifically to your audience.
A new feature called Practina Gallery is the perfect way for you to control your content while Practina adds improvements. You can upload your photos to the gallery, and Practina will turn them into creative posts automatically. It can be photos of food items for your restaurant, MLS listings for your real estate business, behind-the-scenes shots featuring your staff, and more.
Posting aesthetically pleasing photos will also generate attention. Regardless of the age of your demographic, every viewer enjoys aesthetically pleasing images.
5. Perfect Your Customer Service
You don’t need to physically meet your customers to provide excellent customer service. Did you know about 96% of customers will leave your business due to poor customer service?
The benefit of social media is that it allows you to speak to customers directly. You come across reviews, complaints, and feedback that people wouldn’t share otherwise.
To offer the best customer service, you must be on top of your social media game. Anytime a customer comments or direct messages you, you should address it as soon as possible. If you receive a complaint, make sure you go out of your way to solve the issue and provide the customer with satisfaction.
People appreciate it when a business can compensate or handle their problems with immediate care. It prevents you from losing business, and your customers are more likely to recommend you to others because of your top-tier service.
Show appreciation to anyone who gives you feedback and leaves positive comments. If people mention your business in their story or post, repost them to show recognition and appreciation.
6. Analyze Statistics
Like we said before, each step ties into the other. Doing all the steps above but not considering your insights can fail your business.
Analyzing your reports and statistics will show you what’s working and not. You could receive a lot of engagement on Instagram but not on Facebook. It means that you might be targeting the wrong audience on Facebook, and maybe it’s time to focus on it. Or you could be misusing Facebook and need to change the content you’re posting.
Another way analyzing will benefit you is it’ll help you see what your audience appreciates. If you post a new creative video and it’s receiving high interactions, you’ll know that your audience wants to see more of this content. You can focus on creating more videos and attracting customers instead of photos. Statistics help you measure the growth of your business, and it’s always crucial to compare from when you started to present to see progress.
Conclusion
Overall, your business can vastly improve by implementing these few steps, and each one is critical for you to see a difference. Social media opens many doors, and following the proper steps can help your business thrive.
Practina specializes in helping small businesses with their social media marketing. You can save time and money, all while getting professional help. Sign up with Practina or download the Practina app to automate your social media and win at it!
