How to grow your small business with social media

So, why is it important to learn how to grow your small business with social media? When it comes to running a small business, there can be many pitfalls along the way that may slow down the growth. However, there are also many resources available for small business owners to help their businesses succeed. When used correctly, social media is one of those vital resources for small businesses. You can use social media to put your products and services in front eyes. Social Media will help you reach a wider audience of potential customers while helping to convey what your business is all about.

An important part of using social media to grow your small business is knowing what to look for and what to measure, here are 59 social media statistics you need to know to your business on social media.

If you own a business and that business is not active on social media, you may need to rethink your marketing strategy. As technology advances, social media will become more innovative and continue to be one of the best places to engage both your current and your potential customers. Plenty of tips, tricks, and articles centering around social media strategy can be found all over the internet, often containing conflicting information. This can make it difficult for you to hone in on a specific strategy and grow your small business with social media. Brands that struggle to understand the importance of social media might not know where to start when it comes to utilizing it the right way to get the best results. Here are a few tips to you along if you are one of those brands.

It is easy to create a Facebook business page or a business Instagram account to post links back to your products and services. What is more challenging, but more rewarding is providing your audience with value. Potential customers scrolling the internet typically don’t like the idea that someone is trying to sell them something. They want to feel like they have a choice. They want to make the decision themselves to buy into something without feeling coerced. Posting relevant information, topics, pictures, or videos on your social media accounts will help to keep your audience engaged. Posting regularly will also keep them entertained while communicating your brand’s message. This will show that your small business can provide value.

Social media for small businesses can be a great asset for conveying your brand to your audience. It is appealing to potential customers and your audience when your content is concise and is congruent across your different platforms. Your business should have a consistent theme. Inconsistency tells potential customers that the business owner does not have a clear image of their brand. It may be helpful to hire a professional brand strategist during this stage. When it comes to posting, always keep your brand at the top of your mind and ask yourself, Does this go along with the values behind my business? If it doesn’t, definitely don’t post it on social media.

Business owners typically don’t solely sell their merchandise or services directly through their social media accounts. As a business owner, it is important to invest in your own website for your products or services. Whether you have products on your website or a unique blog article, you can share them using your social media networks. This helps your audience to see that you want to provide them with real and helpful content. This does not mean that the blogs and posts you share need to be all informational. They should also be aligned with your brand’s message and strategy.

You will want to engage with your audience regularly. This will help the various algorithms know that you are active and will help your small business get noticed by new people. Creating a posting schedule and setting up automatic posting can help you to streamline that portion of your business, freeing up time and energy for other areas. Find a posting schedule that works for you to encourage your audience to engage with your posts, in the form of likes, comments, and shares. This also includes creating a schedule for when you will engage with your audience, which could mean responding to your followers’ comments or questions. After posting for a few days you will be able to see a pattern of which days and times prove to get the best performance for your posts.

One of the most common mistakes small business owners make when it comes to social media is oversharing on their accounts. This could mean posting from each social media account too many times a day or updating your customers on the happenings of your business too often. While sharing with your audience shows that you are reliable and trustworthy, oversharing has the opposite effect. Engagement numbers will drop and your audience may start to assume that your business is spammy or untrustworthy. If you are not sure how often to post on social media for your business, consult a professional that can help you develop a personalized plan.

Small businesses tend to experience more growth when they become more engaged in their local communities. This is made possible online and in-person through the use of social media. You might often see listings for upcoming events in your area featured on social media. These local events are opportunities for your small business to become a vendor at a local fair or help sponsor an event. Interact with other small business owners and consider helping each other promote products and services or support each other’s social media activity. The more eyes your business gets in front of, the more likely your community will recognize the impact you are having. Social media gives you a great opportunity to feature giveaways and promotions on your different social media networks. Giveaways are typically a product or service that can be won as long as the consumer follows some rules. These rules are usually the follower liking a photo of an item and then sharing it with their friends. This helps to put your business in front of many potential customers quickly.

With the use of social media, the organizing of events is made easier. Social media for small business allows you to create and organize events that can drive in traffic and reach a broad audience. The preferred platform for this is Facebook. However, you can also announce events on Instagram and Twitter. You can choose to make the event public, which will allow anyone on Facebook to view the event details. Potential customers are then able to mark whether they are interested in going or are planning ongoing. Events do not have to be expensive. Events could range from a special weekend promotion to partaking in a local themed event, such as a business breakfast or luncheon. Provide customers who enter your small business event with refreshments and hand out plenty of promotional items. The refreshments will show your customers that you appreciate their business and the promotional items will help with marketing to potential customers.

With the use of social media to grow your small business comes the addition of unique and helpful tools. When you post on social media, whether it be through Facebook or Instagram, the platform will provide you with helpful insights that allow you to see the performance and reach of your post. On Instagram and Facebook, you can boost or promote your post to reach a more specific audience. You can choose who you want to see your post based on age, gender, and where they are located. You’ll be able to see how many people engaged with your post in the form of likes, comments, and shares. This can be useful in optimizing your advertising campaigns to reach a wider audience and boost engagement. This will help you save money on your campaigns in the long run and help you properly invest money back into your business.

Once you have developed a target demographic and a specific strategy, you will find it will be easier to connect with your audience through the use of social media. These connections may result in potential customers or future business opportunities that could propel your company even further. You can use social media to remain relevant to your audience by tailoring your posts to appeal to them precisely. Need more convincing that social media is the place to be? Social media statistics show that there are 3.2 billion social media users worldwide, and this number is only growing.

Utilizing social media can be an important asset for many small businesses. If you do not focus some of your time and energy on growing your social media presence, you run the risk of falling behind the competition and limiting the overall growth of your business. Social media is a vital tool in helping to boost your audience reach and connecting with potential customers. Small businesses often struggle with social media strategy because there is conflicting information on the web on how to properly utilize it to help with their brand. Every business must create a unique brand strategy before diving into social media. You can always refer to your strategy to make sure all of your posts and communications are in line.

Creating a robust brand strategy, as well as developing your brand’s online presence can help give you an edge over the competition and boost your exposure. As a small business owner, you can use social media as a tool to help grow your small business, no matter what platforms you choose to use, it’s important to stick to your social media strategy and keep up with your calendar. It is also important to not overshare and communicate your brand’s message with your posts across all networks. This will help your business, products, and services in getting in front of more eyes and ultimately lead to more sales.