For large businesses, they can usually afford to hire teams of people who can work solely on social media and marketing the business through various social media platforms. However, if you’re a small business owner, it’s often up to you to figure out everything on your own. But with everything else that’s on your plate, it’s easy to not give social media the attention it deserves, especially when you think about social media as a long-term marketing plan. So to help make your social media efforts be most beneficial, here are three tips for using social media as a small business.
Your Plan Is Everything
Before you even start posting, you should create a plan for your overall social media strategy. Depending on how much you want to invest in social media, this plan could be as simple as a few goals or as intricate as an entire outline for all social media ideas. According to Marc Schenker, a contributor to Hootsuite.com, your outline can and should include your goals and objectives, an audit of where you’re currently at, a calendar for how you plan to roll out your strategy and more. Consider crafting this plan with everyone who may be involved in the execution of the social media plan so that everyone can be on board.
Find Your Niche and Voice
While you might think that casting a wider net for a social media audience will help you get more followers, it’s actually been found that the opposite of this is true. If you’re able to hone in on a specific niche or group of people and find a voice that truly resonates with them, your success could prove to be much more valuable to you, both in brand recognition and in your profits. To get to this point, Forbes suggests that you remember that you can’t be everything to everyone, so there’s really no point in even trying. Just try to find the right people who you can connect with regarding your business or industry.
Interact With Your Followers
Once you’ve developed a group of followers who are interested in your business, it’s now time to shift your focus from gaining followers to keeping your followers. To effectively do this, Jason Hessom, a contributor to Business.com, recommends that you make sincere interactions with as many of your followers as you can. By doing this, you’ll create real relationships with these people, which will help them to feel more invested in you and turn them into loyal customers or followers that will stick around for a long time to come.
If you want to have successful social media efforts for your small business, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do just that.
