The Power of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses: Why It Matters More Than Ever
Social presence is essential for any business, especially small ones. Some business owners might be skeptical about this idea, considering social media marketing obsolete. Still, social media marketing has a big say today. Businesses need to find newer ways to gain exposure and raise awareness about themselves. Social media marketing for small businesses plays a huge role in their success and there are several reasons why!
Some years ago nobody could predict that connecting to people all over the world would become so quick. Today we can communicate with people around the world, transfer pictures and videos, and furthermore, sell our products. Social media has now become an indispensable part of our daily lives.
Let’s now understand what social media marketing is and why it gets so much attention.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms in order to sell products and services. At the same time it helps generate organic traffic to the website. When the position of the website is optimized on search engines, people will easily reach it. We all know that visitors usually pay the most attention to the first page of their search results.
Many companies also directly market their products and services on social media platforms. The high-quality and engaging content is quite important in this case.
Social media marketing for small businesses as well as for large companies opens many doors. It allows them to reach out to new prospects, communicate with the customers and promote their brand.
Social media marketing has become a vital part of digital marketing strategies of many small and large businesses. Freelancers and individuals as well try to invest their time and energy into studying social media marketing tools and opportunities.
There is a version of working with SMM called active promotion. Active social media marketing promotion is the way to go if you want to boost social sharing among users. Forget the copying and pasting of useless links on your social media. Active marketing means adding buttons with links towards your website. You can add these buttons to your blogs or website content via a simple code. This will allow the readers to share your material around the web with a few clicks.
Social networks that can be used in order to do the above mentioned are: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn etc.
There is also the passive social media marketing promotion. It is the promotion of activities on social media platforms through statuses, videos, pictures, tweets etc. In order to do passive promotion you should take into consideration which types work better on different platforms. For example, blogs may work better on one website, but videos may be much more engaging on other websites.
Why do small businesses need a Social Media presence?
Social media marketing for small businesses is a key to success. Why?
#1 You can better understand your customers
Who are your customers? Social media marketing for small businesses will help them find the answer to this question. Social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram will help you gather data and find what your customers need. If you decide to skip social media, you may miss out on potential leads. You may lose an audience who is really curious about your products or services.
#2 You can stay competitive
Every business should be aware of its competitors, where they are and what they are currently up to. Social media marketing for small businesses is essential. When your business has an active social media life, it is in a win-win situation. You can present your products and services, their advantages and benefits. At the same time you can follow your competitors and see their moves.
#3 You can bring traffic to your website
Social media platforms allow small businesses to attract more traffic. You can leave your URL in several vivid “spots,” like your bio on Instagram or in stories. Generally, it is important to share a link to your website on all of your social media platforms. This way, users can easily access your website and read the information. This is why social media marketing for small businesses is a huge plus: people can easily find you.
#4 You can promote your content
Here, you can share your best content. Businesses have options to talk about themselves on Facebook Messenger, Instagram Stories, etc. The most important thing is that the content has to be engaging. Share fun facts about your small company, make fun reels and stories, and entertain people. Think outside the box when you are creating your content, and it will work wonders for you.
#5 People are listening and watching
They say, if they haven’t heard about the brand, then it doesn’t exist. This is why social media gives equal opportunities to businesses of all sizes. Here is where you can highlight your new ventures. Now every single person has the chance to be heard and seen. Through social media, you will have the opportunity to decide how your company should be presented to the public. Just remember that first impressions last a long time. That’s why you need to keep your online reputation high.
So, social media marketing for small businesses is a huge opportunity to raise awareness about themselves and engage more people.
Which social networks should a small business be on?
It’s not a secret that almost everyone we know is on Facebook. There are some features that Facebook has that are quite valuable for small businesses. You can create a group of like-minded people and promote your business right in the group. Use Facebook ads to attract a larger audience and promote your business. Facebook Messenger is actually a great tool. You can immediately reach your (potential) customers and send frequent updates on your business.
You may express your ideas on Twitter with a limit of 280 characters. Tweets are a great way to use social media marketing for small businesses. You may create a consistent image of your business, post tweets, and interact with your customers. Tweets can also be mentioned by your customers on their own pages. This is a great opportunity for small businesses to be seen. Twitter also provides analytical data so that you can understand what works best for your business.
Instagram also gives you many opportunities to experiment with ads. For example, you may use photos, videos, carousels, and story ads. Sharing on Instagram is much easier. If your followers like something, they will immediately share it with their friends or in their story section.
This is the trendiest professional network, if we may say so. The platform allows you to share information about your products and services on your LinkedIn business page. It is quite easy to understand what your business has to offer on this platform. Thanks to the About section, you can present your small business and show what it is all about. You can also post the reviews of your customers as free advertising.
These are the main platforms used by small businesses now. TikTok is another trendy platform you can take into consideration, depending on the audience you want to engage.
Marketing challenges for small businesses
Marketing practiced in small companies is different from those in large scale ones. In small firms, marketing is often used for immediate needs. Little attention is paid to marketing strategy and planning. The sales factor usually has a bigger influence than the measurement of customer satisfaction, the design of customer service, etc. One solution for small businesses to face these challenges is social media.
Lack of personnel is another well-known problem small businesses face. The average small business has ten employees, but many have fewer than that. This means that as a small business, you have fewer chances of having a social media marketing specialist work for you. In fact, you might be doing it all by yourself.
The limitation of time is also a challenge for many small businesses. If the team is small, there are more tasks for each person and less time to prepare everything. Social media marketing takes time and effort.
Another problem small businesses usually face is a limited budget. Social media enables small businesses to overcome the problems of limited budgets, lack of expertise, and positioning against bigger businesses. As a consequence of all the above challenges, small businesses are now moving away from conventional marketing and towards more affordable practices.
A solution to all these problems could be staying focused and going deeper into the social media marketing world. Be strategic, find the right platforms, read about their algorithms, and use your time wisely.
As we all understand, social media marketing for small businesses is of huge importance. Many SMEs are now working on their knowledge and experience regarding social media, and most of them succeed.
Here, at Business Development Group we offer comprehensive social media marketing courses. Our SMM Architecture course introduces the main tools and factors to focus on as an SMM specialist. We have also introduced social media marketing as a huge part of digital marketing during the Digital Marketing Full Course.
If you want to personally do the SMM for your small business or want to start your career, we’ll help you. Thanks to our professional courses and mentors hundreds of students have started brilliant careers in the sphere.
