Small businesses do not have the same budget that catapults more prominent brands into national fame. However, their advantage is that they can connect with the community on a more personal level—all thanks to social media. Many small-time entrepreneurs have built successful businesses through the use of social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Of course, you have to take care when using these platforms. Without the right digital marketing technique, you might end up alienating your prospects and existing customers.
In this post, we will discuss the best social media tips that small business experts use:
First Tip: Know Your Rivals
Keep in mind that you are targeting the same people that your rivals are pursuing. So, you need to learn about what works for them and use that information to adjust your campaign. Your best bet is to start learning about the big fish in your area. After all, there are several reasons why they have an impressive engagement and follower count. Rest assured, you can learn plenty of tips by observing their performance.
You can identify your best-performing competitors by using Facebook’s Pages. From there, you can compare their audience growth, activities, and engagement to your own. Take note of how often they post marketing assets and what types of content they publish. All the while, make sure that you’re focusing on total engagement rather than solely on follower count.
If you’re not entirely sure who your competitors are, don’t worry. The expert digital marketers from Lollipop Digital have the tools and skills necessary to perform the relevant research. We’ll be ready to perform competitive analytics to discover everything you need to know about your rivals.
Second Tip: Choose the Right Channel
While there are plenty of social media platforms, it does not necessarily mean that you need to market through all of them. If your business is starting a social media campaign from scratch, your best bet is to perform some demographic research. Ask your existing customers what channels they prefer to use.
Now, if you’re already running campaigns on social media, you should review the efficiency of each channel. You should also compare the audience size and engagement across platforms. Meanwhile, you can observe your competitors and analyse their social media activities. Check the channels they’re focusing on, and ensure that you’re targeting them as well.
Third Tip: Automate Posts
When running a business, you’ve always got a lot on your plate. Now, if you do not automate your social media posts, then you’ll only end up losing time that could be spent on other essential tasks. Some tools help digital marketers manage several social media networks simultaneously. Moreover, they do not have to switch between multiple tabs just to create posts for their clients. It’s always best to leave social media posts in the hands of experienced marketers. In this way, you can loosen the load on your shoulders, whilst simultaneously helping to boost your online presence.
Fourth Tip: Interact with Your Audience
This can be a tricky process for various reasons. For one, you need to monitor your online mentions and make an effort to respond to them. Of course, you also need to read messages from your followers and answer them promptly. Evidently, it can be challenging to manage these. Even so, you must remember that once people are aware of your business, they will talk about it across the net. They will either express their gratitude or air out their disappointment. Whether you get a positive or a negative message, you still have to provide a professional response.
Here at Lollipop Digital, we use tools that help us monitor and categorise our client’s online mentions. We also discover appropriate influencers and identify new opportunities for social media promotions. What’s more, we can manage multiple social accounts whilst staying true to our customer’s brand.
Fifth Tip: Keep Your Audience Engaged
You can test various content formats to see which one keeps your audience engaged the most. Try starting an online competition or encourage your readers to post pictures using your products. You can also post funny statements, memes, and jokes to experiment with what humour can do. Of course, you should always monitor the engagement metrics of each of the materials you post.
In most cases, using occasion-based and thematic campaigns can entertain your audience. You can run social media programs around events and holidays. However, you’ll also need to invest some effort into running these campaigns. Even so, since there’s already some interest in the event, you should be able to easily attract other people’s attention.
Social Media Management Can Be Challenging
As you can see, it takes a lot of time and the right tools to run a successful social media campaign. So, if you don’t want to waste your effort and money, your best bet is to hire expert digital marketers. Here at Lollipop Digital, we have a team of seasoned social media managers who can boost your business’ online presence.
If you’re ready to increase your social media engagement, contact our team today and get a free quote!
