If you're wondering how to use social media for your small business, you've come to the right place. Whether you're an established business owner or you're launching a new company - either way, we know starting from the very beginning can be intimidating, so we're giving you a few helpful tips to set yourself up for success and grow your social media from zero.
1. Know your Target Audience
This is our best advice. Before you start creating content, you should know your target audience like the back of your hand. Social Media allows you to create content that speaks directly to your dream customer, but only if you understand who your audience is. Start by gathering data on the customers you already have. What is their age, gender, occupation, income level, etc. What do they need from you? How have you recently helped them? How is your business making their life easier? If you don't have customers yet, it's time to create these buyer personas. The more you know about your audience, the easier your followers will converting into paying customers.
2. Set Social Media Goals
We're firm believers that 'done is better than perfect' and 'something is better than nothing,' however, if you're planning to make an impact with social media, let's start by understanding what kind of goal you should set for company!
Create goals for each platform that you're on and try to follow the SMART framework. They should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Start by understanding your business goals, then develop social media goals that work towards those business goals.
Once you have your goals set, it's time to determine how you'll measure those goals, by tracking specific metrics. For example:
Business Goal: Increase overall brand awareness
Social Media Goal: Increase audience
Metrics: Followers, Page Likes, Reach, Impressions
3. Research your Competitors
It's time to step into your detective shoes and spy on the competition. What are they doing on social media? Take that information and determine how your business can fill the gap. Is there something you can do better than your competition, or with a different spin? The goal isn't to copy them, but to help you understand what's working in the industry so you can put your best foot forward.
4. Develop a Content Strategy
This is a whole blog post in itself, but here's a brief explanation how how to start creating your content strategy.
Positioning: What is your brand's unique value? What make sit a better choice over your competitors?
Value Proposition: What value do you provide with your content? How do you stand out form other businesses? This is when you start researching your industry and competitors to see where you can fill a gap.
Business Case: What business goals do you need to achieve? How will your content help to achieve those goals?
Value Proposition: What value do you provide with your content? How do you stand out form other businesses?
Now, this is just where you start! Once you have these answers, you'll start creating content that aligns with the answers to the above questions. The most important thing to remember: LEAD WITH VALUE! The more you give, the more you get!
5. Optimize your Social Media Profiles
Even if you have a stellar content strategy, if your profile is optimized for conversion, you don't have a sustainable strategy. Each platform has different suggestions for the perfect bio and set-up, but here's a high level run down of what you need:
Clear and professional profile photo.
Concise bio about WHO you serve and HOW you help them
Always have a call-to-action. Book now, call today, download free resource, visit website, etc.
6. Build a Community
Social media was created to be social - crazy, right? The biggest mistake we see small business owners making on social media is neglecting their audience and forgetting to start with relationships. If you're a business owner, you're probably familiar with a customer journey and/or sales funnel. It's really hard to make a cold, hard sale...right? If you're posting on social media every day, and neglecting your audience, all your doing is making cold, hard sales. Make it easier on yourself and warm that audience up by connecting with them on a personal level. Customer acquisition is an exciting element of social media, but customer retention is arguably more important.
If you want other people to engage with your accounts, you have to start by engaging yourself. You can't expect to get anything without giving anything. Think of it like networking - you're just doing it online! Commenting back, answering stories, having conversations in the DMs are all great ways to build trust and form a following of customers that want to buy from you.
I hope this was helpful for you. I know it can be daunting to start from scratch, but remember to take your plan from A to B and don't try to jump from A to Z. It's one day at a time, one post at a time, and one customer at a time. Social Media for business isn't successful overnight, so be kind to yourself, set realistic expectations, and don't forget to track your data! ;)
You've got this!
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