10 Tips To Quickly Master Social Media For Small Businesses

Are you a small business that wants to use social media to promote their product or service? Do you catch yourself looking at the accounts of all these big corporations who have an instant huge audience and engagement and feel a bit discouraged to even get started?What if I told you that you being a small business that uses social media actually means that you have an advantage in comparison to big corporations? Don’t believe me? Let me show you how and why…Here are 10 tips to quickly master social media for small businesses:

1. Make Social Media a Priority

You’ve seen the impact of social media on small businesses around you and can’t wait to jump on the band wagon. Can’t spare one full-time employee to solely focus on growing your online following? No problem. The important thing is to set aside a certain amount of time every single week and plan out your content according to your goals. Take this time as seriously as you would your budget-related meetings and you will see an instant improvement. Brainstorm ideas with your small team, delegate who will be in charge of the account(s) and start interacting with your audience. It is important to view your social media accounts as a crucial part of your marketing strategy and plan accordingly.

2. Research Your Audience

Well duh. This might seem very obvious to you but knowing exactly who you’re targeting and talking to through your social media campaigns can make or break your business. Needless to say that as a small business you should already know your target audience’s age group, gender, ethnicity, interests etc. Why is this so important?

3. Get Familiar With Your Platform(s) and Pick Appropriate One(s)

Well, now that you know exactly who you’re dealing with, are you aware of what platform they tend to use the most? Facebook is mostly used by people between the ages of 25 and 54, 60% of Snapchat users are under the age of 24 and 59% people who use Instagram check the app daily.Some people are very much into Instagram but rarely open their Facebook app anymore. Others love Snapchat as it gives them little snippets of someone’s day or the behind-the-scenes of a business and they feel like they are more involved, but they outright refuse to create a Twitter account. Know which platform(s) your audience uses and feel free to refer from one to the other.Here’s an example:You posted a picture on Pinterest that you feel more people should see. Paste a link onto your LinkedIn account to encourage people to go check it out!

4. Adapt Your Language And Writing Style

If you’re trying to sell luxury watches to young professional men over Instagram, don’t use unicorn and crying-emojis because you #justcanteven . This is not going to resonate with them as your target audience and they will most likely not end up buying your product or, even worse, go ahead and unlike your page/unfollow you. Do people like your witty captions and your I-don’t-give-a-crap approach? Great! Feel free to experiment a bit in the beginning until you have figured out what style best conveys your message and has the most impact on your followers.

5. Make it Personal

Don’t be afraid to share the struggles and obstacles a small business might face on a daily basis. This is one considerable advantage a small business that uses social media has compared to big corporations. Show that there are actual people behind the page with backstories who go through #ohsuchrelatable things.Your followers will love knowing the honest truth of what goes on behind the scenes of a small business which in turn will make them trust you more. And trust, as we all know, is a crucial component of a loyal and long-lasting customer to business relationship.

6. Focus On Forming A Community

Is it possible to get to 100.000 followers by the end of the week? Yes. But that is not what this article is about. You want to master your social media in order to promote your business and sell your product or service, right? Well, having a huge number of random followers will not guarantee actual real-life humans taking a step through your restaurant’s door or clicking to buy your yoga mat. Grow your social media accounts organically by creating real/virtual relationships and forming a community.

7. Social Media As A Two-Way Street

You know your audience, you picked the right platform(s) and you speak their language. Now it’s time to actually be (virtually) social. Read the comments you get on your posts, see what your followers liked about it or which ones got no interaction at all and adapt. Ask your customers what they want to see next. The times where marketers bombarded their audience with products and spent their time hoping for the best are over.

8. Posting Good And Consistent Content

As mentioned before, set some time aside to plan good content. They key is not to post to just post. Quality over quantity. That doesn’t mean that every post needs to be accompanied by the perfect image or infographic and every caption or comment needs to be the wittiest and most creative sentence ever. Just make sure that you find the right balance between putting your business out there and not just blurting out random information.

9. Competitions, Promotions, And Giveaways

Now onto the actual content of your posts. Organise competitions with CTAs, make your followers comment, tag a friend or repost/share your business. Reward your most loyal and engaging followers by giving some of your product away for free. Not only will this add a positive image but it will also encourage others to be proactive on your pages. Getting the right type of engagement shows the massive impact that social media can have on small businesses. Click here if you want to learn about how to engage with your social media followers quickly.

10. Don’t Give Up

Now that you’ve learned how to quickly master your social media as a small business, it is important to simply stick to it. People/Businesses are used to having everything instantly by the click of a button but growing your following will inevitably take a little bit of time. Adjust your expectations. It takes an average of three years of consistent posting of good content, interacting and engaging with your audience in order to grow your following. These things won’t happen overnight, so try and be patient.

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