As a small business owner, there are countless ways to market your business and get it in front of the right customers. One of the most cost-effective ways to do so is through social media. But using social media as a small business goes beyond creating and posting to Facebook and Instagram.
If you’ve found yourself at a loss for what to write as a caption or it seems that no one is even seeing your posts, here are 5 social media tips to make the most of your efforts and get your small business seen through online marketing.
1. Fire Up The Comment Section
According to Hootsuite, Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms are designed to prioritize posts that garner more high-value engagement, which can be defined as comments, post shares and comment replies. Likes aren’t the be-all-end-all anymore! This means that more engagement on your post will result in Facebook and Instagram rewarding you with more post reach.
What does this mean for your social media and overall digital strategy? Create content that encourages engagement. Ask for advice from your followers or even just ask a question that would get your followers excited and ready to participate in the conversation!
2. Video is King
No, this doesn’t mean that you have to have a large budget to make beautiful, high production value videos for your social media strategy. In fact, some of the most engaged video posts are simply Live Videos, a function that is available on both Facebook and Instagram. If you’re interested in getting started with Facebook Live, Kim Garst has a blog post with easy tips to make the most of your Facebook Live. Check it out here.
Another easy way to make your posts a video rather than a static photo or text post is to use easy design software such as Canva to make gifs and animated social media posts simply by using your static photos and implementing moving graphics. You can then download these posts as videos and, just like that, you have a simple video without a camera and video editing expertise needed.
3. Your Small Business SEO Strategy
SEO isn’t only for the blog posts and the website content – it’s also important to consider when you’re crafting your social media profiles and overall online presence strategy.
Ever searched for a business in Google and discovered their social media profile in one of the top search engine results? That’s because social media profiles rank in search engines. What does this mean for your small business online marketing efforts?
According to Neil Patel, having a handful of active social channels can make the experience of getting to know your brand online more fun, engaging and personal. Plus, it rewards your business with more exposure on search engine rankings and meets your customer on their favourite platform to consume content.
To make the most of this, strive to have your small business social media profiles up-to-date with engaging content.
4. Google and Your Online Reviews
Online reviews play a major factor in your small business’s image. Online reviews often replace the most powerful and most traditional form of marketing: word-of-mouth.
To encourage good reviews wherever you can, either ask for reviews on social media in “Ways to Support Local Business” post or simply prompt your in-person customers to go online (make it as easy for them as possible, but encourage honesty, of course).
5. Make it Personal (Sometimes)
Gone are the days that consumers want to purchase products from large corporations. The emphasis on small business is only growing, and this is largely because customers want to know the story behind the business and support entrepreneurs with their buying decisions.
With this in mind, it’s time to make your online strategy personal (when appropriate, of course). Sharing a photo of your team out for lunch or a collage of the office dogs makes your business seem personal and relatable.
Some other ways to connect with your customers through your online marketing and social media strategy:
- Share a photo from a company retreat or holiday
- Divulge interesting (even funny) facts about your team through staff highlights
- Show your personality with an interesting or funny story about you or a team member
- Start a Fun Fact Friday campaign where you share a set of facts that most people likely don’t know about you
Up-level Your Social Strategy
Social media can be fun, but as a small business, it’s important that you make the most of the time that you spend with your online marketing. By putting these tips into action, you will soon be equipped to make the Facebook and Instagram algorithm your friend, not your foe.
If you have questions about where your business stands, we encourage you to reach out today for a chat about your small business marketing goals. Contact us here!