How Do Small Businesses Start Social Media Marketing

As the years change, technology has been evolving at a continuous pace. Every day we are coming across new apps that help us better than the previous apps in our life. Many entrepreneurs have become successful by using the technology and the various platforms that it provides for their benefits. As a small business owner, it can become difficult to market about your brand and product to people, however, social media can be your best solution to market and reach people about your brand by operating from your home.

What is Social Media Marketing?

The literal definition goes by, ‘Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service.’ Various social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter can help you build and maintain your presence online, and also help you connect with your target audience and the existing customers.

Why is Social Media Marketing Important?

With so many businesses out there, any industry is competitive and hard to deal with. Many businesses have opted for Social Media handling, and similarly marketing their products through the same. In case you still adopt the traditional method, in the long run, your business may have less exposure and in the worst scenario, forcing you to close your business.

Readymade Audience 

There are so many people out there who operate social media accounts, and hence they are your readymade audience or your prospect who would view your business ad, or post thus getting your product marketed and projected in their minds while surfing through the platform. 

Visibility

With Social Media platforms, you would always have visibility on all the platforms that you opt for. Just imagine, in case you didn’t have your business on any social media account, would you by any chance find new customers daily? Or reach out with new offers to all of your existing customers? Of course not, but Social Media can offer you the visibility required, thereby giving your business exposure to other people as well. 

Professionalism

Having your business on online platforms or having an online business has become a trend and a sign of professionalism. It makes people trust your brand and increases the chances of them buying or using a product. It also allows you to display about your product’s unique features and also depict professionalism.

How to start Social Media Marketing?

The first order of business should be to decide the platforms where you should maintain your presence. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or even YouTube. After deciding your platforms, you can start building up your profile, ask your close ones to follow you on those platforms, and preferably even spread the word about the same. Let us have a look at some easy ways. 

Identify and build your Audience

The first step should be to identify the type of audience who would be interested in the products that you are offering. Once you are clear about your target audience, you can easily focus on the marketing part. You can follow pages that would have most of your target audience, and understanding their likings. You can also build good engagement with your audience by posting attractive articles that would be appreciated by your audience, thus creating some engagement. 

Posting timely and attractive Content

After building up your profile on various platforms, you may have a few followers and people who would have liked your page. Getting likes on your page or a following means that people would love to see your future content, which is why you should have a fixed time of posting content on your feed. You can keep it to twice or thrice a week. Remember, Consistency is the Key! Your posted content should also be attractive to your audience.

Using Hashtags

Hashtags are a very important tool that you can use in your social media posts. Hashtags help you to get better exposure from people who are not following you. Proper and good use of hashtags would also help you to categorize your post in the right category, hence putting it in front of the right type of audience, who would be interested in your product. 

Marketing Ads

Paid promotions are the best and trending methods on social media for businesses. We shall divide the Marketing Ads according to all the platforms available or used on a large scale. 

Facebook Ads

One of the most widely used platforms is Facebook. With so many active users surfing daily through their feed, your business is sure to get some exposure if targeted to the right audience. Luckily, while trying to place any promotional ads, Facebook allows you to choose your type of audience and only place the ads in front of people who would be interested in your posts. Remember, Facebook is a user-friendly platform, so your posts should not be too professional nor it should be too friendly.

Instagram Ads

Another widely used platform after Facebook is Instagram. One of the effective tactics on Instagram is using the Hashtag feature. The Best part is that many businesses are already promoting on Instagram, and hence you can post content that is professional and relevant to your business. Instagram ads work better with Visuals, attractive visuals in stories, carousels, or posts would do the trick and catch your audience’s attention. You can post frequently on Instagram, as that would help you gain more followers. 

LinkedIn Marketing

LinkedIn is a professional platform, where all individuals you come across would respond to decent posts and professional messages. It is a platform where most individuals are showcasing their profile and talent for jobs, freelancing, or business. Here, you can get professional opinions about your business and valuable feedback, that may help you. You can post twice a week, but your content should be professional and also helpful for the people connected with you.

Conclusion 

Having a Small business may demand more exposure, and visibility; social media can act as a great mediator between you and your audience. Social Media Marketing helps to build your brand and engagement with your audience. A few points for small businesses to start social media marketing are, Identifying and building your audience, posting timely and attractive content, using hashtags, using Facebook and Instagram Ads, and LinkedIn Marketing.