Brendan Morrissey, CEO and co-founder, Netsertive
Small businesses currently account for 99.7 percent of all U.S. employer firms, making them a crucial part of our economic landscape. But in order for small and local businesses to retain this high number, they need to ensure they are reaching their customers on the channels where they are most active. And for many modern consumers, that channel is social media.
In honor of National Small Business Week (April 29 – May 5), our team surveyed 250 small businesses across the United States on their local digital marketing strategy. The most surprising find? Nearly half (49 percent) of survey respondents don’t have a formal social media marketing strategy in place. And 42 percent of respondents aren’t able to tie their social media marketing efforts directly to in-store traffic. In order for small businesses to stay competitive, they need to revamp how they’re approaching their social media channels and start thinking of them as a valuable business tool.
Here are several ways you can use social media to create greater brand awareness and acquire new customers:
Don’t oversell on your social channels
Having a social media channel is a lot like dating: You need to put in the effort and give back to make your customer feel loved. One of the common mistakes small business make on social media is overselling their product or service by only posting sales-related content. The key is having a proper balance of store-related content plus educational and sharable content.
Consider the value of a Facebook share versus a Facebook like. Facebook shares increase your audience reach, so it’s important to analyze what types of content is being shared the most on your social platforms and replicate those types of posts. Using visual elements, such as images, infographics or videos, in your social content can greatly increase your shareable potential.
Use a combination of search marketing and social advertising
Shoppers are everywhere, utilizing multiple channels across their digital devices over a period of days or weeks before they buy. Small businesses need to be visible where shoppers spend a majority of their time: online. When small and local businesses incorporate paid social media with nearby customers this awareness leads to additional searches on Bing and Google and a rise in digital marketing impressions, clicks and qualified website visitors.
Embrace – Don’t Fear – Instagram
According to our survey results, only a third of small businesses are using Instagram as part of their marketing efforts. Instagram has 300 million daily active users, so not engaging on Instagram results in a lot of missed opportunities for businesses to reach customers. Building an Instagram business account is a great way to show your store’s visual story and highlight company culture, enticing both new customers and potential hires.
Once you set up an Instagram account, it’s important to show a mix of product-related, educational and lifestyle posts. When it comes to post content, quality over quantity goes without question and the same can be said about hashtag usage. Research the hashtags that your customers are actually using and integrate them into your posts. Contests and giveaways are another effective way to engage customers on your Instagram account as they encourage individuals to return to your platform and interact with the brand.
Engage with Social “Power Players”
Building a strong influencer relations program is essential to a company’s social media strategy, especially if you are a small business and are just getting started. To begin your influencer relations program, do searches on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for thought leaders in your industry and, ideally, your target market, who have a strong following. Begin engaging with these accounts by liking and commenting on their posts, and reporting, retweeting, or re-graming their content.
After five or six initial touchpoints, send them a direct message with an offer to cross-promote each other’s content. Developing symbiotic relationships with strong profiles in the same industry is a great way to expand your company’s social visibility and get in front of new leads.
Netsertive provides digital marketing services for local businesses.
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