7 effective ways to use social media for your small business
Jul
Why use social media for your small business?
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives. It has also changed the way that we do business. If anything, it has shown us that perhaps we can’t rely on our traditional business models and that we should use social media for your small business.
The beauty of using social media for your small business is that in the most part, it won’t cost you a penny to run. You will have to set aside some time for it but the upshot of this is that you can reach people instantly via their phones, tablets or computers – whatever they’re using to keep in touch with the outside world.
Use social media to build your brand
Social media allows you to build your brand daily.
There are several key factors you can focus on:
- Increasing your visibility
- Building your online followings
- Getting people onto your email lists
- Growing your online presence with quality content
While your brand will take time to grow, a little social media every day will help build towards this.
Post content regularly, even if it is just once a week. Always best to post regularly than in short sporadic burst, followed by periods of silence.
Find where your audience is
Social media is a great way to find out where your audience is.
Through trial and error over the years, we’ve found that a lot our audience resides on Facebook and Twitter. We’re only recently finding that Instagram also has a lot of the people that read our magazines – all those years wasted of not using Instagram!
We also broadcast to LinkedIn as we realise that we have to speak to both our readers AND to other businesses that may want to use us to promote their services and/or products.
Once you have found where your audience is, you can focus your work on that channel. For instance, we spent a lot of time working Pinterest and although we picked up a lot of online traffic, it was mostly coming from the US, which was no good to us.
Broadcast your news
We use our website here to promote advertisers on their behalf but you can use social media for your small business in the same way.
Write and publish press stories about your business, whether it’s about your new range of stock or a new addition to your staff. Give it a story so that people will want to read – people love stories.
Remember to add in contact details should anyone want to get in touch but remember that everything you publish is helping you build your brand.
You can find an example of this here.
Build yourself as an authority in your field
One great use for social media is to build yourself as an authority in your chosen field.
Whatever service you provide, you will have expert knowledge that you can pass on to others.
As an example, Chris Troughton of Heath Vets, one of our longest-serving advertisers, writes a regular column that we publish, giving answers to readers’ questions. You can find an example here.
Promote offers
Because social media is so instant, you can promote offers in real-time, even if it’s a flash sale.
You have a direct link to people via their phones – they can effectively carry you around in their pockets. You’ll also be able to track where your audience is coming from – give your different platforms different codes eg Facebook20 if you are using Facebook, or Twitter20 if you are using Twitter.
Remember to use hashtags where necessary but don’t overdo it.
Offer a behind-the-scenes look at your business
People like to know about the people behind your business. They like to know what goes on behind closed doors, what drives you and how things work.
Post images and videos showing the day-to-day running of your business. Showing your human side does you no harm whatsoever.
Showcase your work
Social media allows you to showcase your work to potential clients.
Using images and videos of your work gives your audience the chance to see what kind of thing they can expect if they hire you.
A constant drip-feed of content like this will settle into people’s subconscious. And even if they don’t need your services straight away, they will recall you when they do.
We provide FREE social media promotion for all our advertisers when they feature in our magazines. Find out more here.
Patric Morgan is editor of Living Magazines and an award-winning publisher, blogger and writer. Learn more about how to use social media for your small business at Patric’s website here
Main photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels
