As we move closer to the end of 2019 and look forward to 2020, many small business owners will be taking their first steps into the world of marketing. No doubt your small business will have an online presence and making the most of your digital output will depend on how you connect with potential customers.
Social media remains a potent driver of connectivity between consumers and small businesses. Whether you’re starting a financial services company, developing an online portal for casinos like NetBet UK, blogging, or simply selling decorations from your home, social media is an absolutely excellent marketing tool!
One of the great things about social media is it serves as an excellent unifier in the business landscape. Because of its affordable entry-level (it’s free) and the presence of GeoTag Images, small businesses can theoretically compete evenly with larger established players. So yes, social media can be a ticket to enterprise sales prospecting if used properly.
That’s an important caveat because if not done properly, social media can become a drain on your time and resources. While there are numerous social media services, here we will look at three of the biggest and highlight how they can boost the appeal of your small business.
Facebook/Instagram
Facebook is the world’s largest social media network and the owner of image-based service Instagram (which is why we have bundled them together). It is worth noting that Facebook and Instagram are very different platforms, but each can be a massive boost to your small business.
Starting with Facebook, the network provides access to the biggest base of people ever gathered in a single place. However, it is not a business service so while marketing tools are available you should avoid the hard sell. Instead, use Facebook to its advantages by remaining personable, interesting, and even fun.
Post regularly and be a human face (and voice) for your company. Mix in images and videos and actively enter into conversations with people, both on your business page and elsewhere on the network.
Many of these tips also work for Instagram, although you will be basing your posts around images. Here it is best to allow followers to go behind the scenes of your business, so to speak. Show images of your working process and products. Avoid corporate or marketing images for the most part and stick to engaging with people in a relaxed manner.
Twitter, due to its character limit for posts, is more of a train of thought social network than Facebook. You’re not going to be dropping huge amounts of information about products and services but should instead centre your content on providing important details about what you provide.
It is best to view Twitter more as a news ticker than a bona fide network for connecting people. Choose a good username (your business name is an excellent start) and design your profile around your business, with a logo clearly in sight.
Sharing is a big part of the Twitter experience. It pays to read other people’s tweets, respond to them, and post your own tweets often. How much is enough is not easy to know, but you want to be somewhere in the middle of posting once a day and posting every minute detail of your life.
LinkedIn is more of an anomaly because you won’t be actively marketing to customers. Instead, you will be marketing yourself and your business to other professionals. The Microsoft-owned network is the largest enterprise database in the world, providing access to organizations and individual professionals around the world.
Ideally, on LinkedIn, you want to connect with people who you conduct business with and engage with others in your industry. Unlike the other social networks, sticking to a business-first approach is a good bet on LinkedIn, while actively selling yourself is a good way to build followers.
