Why Small Businesses Need to Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon
Learn why it’s important for small businesses to spend time on social media marketing, what platforms you should be on, step-by-step on how to create a marketing strategy, and what tools you should use.
Posted last year
Written by
Mackenzie TaylorPosted last year
Social media is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small businesses. With the right social media strategy, small businesses can benefit from increased brand awareness, better customer engagement, and more sales. However, why small businesses need social media may not be immediately obvious.
In this blog post, we will explore why it’s important for small businesses to spend time on their marketing strategy on social media, what platforms they should be on, step-by-step on how to create a marketing strategy, and the number one tool you need.
The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses
If you’re a small business owner, you’re going to want to listen up. Before we dive in, grab a coffee, block out a couple hours on your calendar, and let’s get into why you are in need of social media.
Social media marketing is no longer just a trendy thing or something reserved for big corporations that have a massive budget. It’s an absolute MUST for businesses of all sizes — yes, including yours! Why? Let’s break down why:
Brand awareness
Social media gives you the opportunity to build brand awareness like never before. You can reach a large audience of potential customers and get your name out there without breaking the bank. Plus, it’s a great way for you to engage with your audience, show off your brand’s personality, and start connecting with people you might not have connected with previously.
Customer engagement
Social media can be an absolute goldmine for getting customer engagement. If you want a direct connection to your customers at all times — social media is where it’s at. You can chat with your customers, answer any and all questions, and address any concerns they might have. And let’s be honest, customers love feeling heard and valued, so give them the opportunity to interact with your brand on social!
Boost your sales
If you have the right strategy in place, you can use targeted ads, promotions, and special offers to entice your customers to buy from you. Even better? Everything on social is trackable, so you can see exactly how much money your social media efforts are bringing in.
So, if you’re not on social media, you need to jump on board. Learn how to create a killer marketing strategy, and watch your business thrive in the digital world.
Which Platforms Should Small Businesses be On?
Let’s get into which social media platforms you should be on with your small business.
Now, while I wish I could tell you immediately which accounts you must be on … I don’t know your brand. However, I will give you some top tips on how you can figure out which platforms your brand should personally be on:
First things first, it’s time to research! Who are your target audience? What platforms are they hanging out on? If your target audience is mainly millennials, you might want to try out Instagram and TikTok. If you’re targeting professionals, head on over to LinkedIn. The main thing you need to do though is research who your audience is so you can target them directly on the correct platform.
Next, consider your content. Are you more about visuals when it comes to selling your products? Then, you’ll want to consider utilizing TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest for your platforms of choice. However, if you’re more about words and love a good conversation, X (FKA Twitter), LinkedIn, and Facebook might be more up your street.
And finally, let’s not forget about resources. As a small business, you probably don’t have a lot of time and money. So choose platforms that you know you can realistically manage yourself. It’s better to have a strong presence on one or two platforms than not a great presence on all of them.
Step-by-Step Guide on Creating a Marketing Strategy
Alright, ready to get started on creating the ultimate marketing strategy for your small business? Let’s get into it.
Define Your Goals: Ask yourself, what do you want to achieve with your social media efforts? More sales? Increased brand awareness? Whatever it is, write it down and keep it in mind throughout the entire process.
Know Your Audience: How can you market well if you don’t know who you’re marketing to? Take some time to understand your target audience. What are their interests? What makes them tick? Use this knowledge to create content that speaks directly to them.
Choose Your Platforms: Remember our earlier discussion on platforms? Well, it’s time to make some decisions. Choose the platforms that align with your audience and resources.
Create Engaging Content: The secret to social media success is content that captivates. Be funny, be informative, be whatever it takes to grab your audience’s attention. And don’t be afraid to show off your personality, it’s what sets you apart from the competition.
💡 Flick’s tip: Need some help creating engaging content for your audience? Use Flick’s AI Social Media Marketing Assistant tool to help you create on-brand captions every single time. Try out for free today.
Engage, Engage, Engage: Social media is a two-way street, my friends. Don’t just post and ghost. Respond to comments, start conversations, and build relationships. Show your audience that you’re not just a business, but one who actually cares about their wants and needs.
Analyze and Adjust: Remember those goals we talked about? Now it’s time to see if you’re on track. Analyze your metrics, track your progress, and make adjustments as needed. This is your chance to fine-tune your strategy and consistently create content your audience will love.
💡 Flick’s tip: Want to get deeper into your analytics? Flick’s analytics tool will help you dive deep into each area of your Instagram analytics. Learn exactly what’s working and what’s not working, see how you stack up against your competition, and so much more. Click here to try a 7-day free trial.
Tool to Help Small Businesses Succeed on Social Media
Flick is the ultimate social media marketing tool for small businesses. It helps you manage, schedule, and grow your social media marketing accounts.
With Flick, small businesses will get access to a suite of tools like feed preview, hashtag searches, analytics reports, and the AI Social Media Marketing Assistant.
The AI Assistant will help you speed up the process of creating content for your social media channels. By giving the AI Assistant a keyword, it will provide you with endless content and caption ideas, AI-generated images, hashtags based on your content and so much more.
Other reasons Flick is the best tool for small businesses to grow their account?
- Analyzes all of your content in seconds and lets you know exactly how you stack up against your competition
- Schedule out all of your content in a single click
- Create captions inside the Scheduler with the AI Caption Generator tool
- Writes in your brand voice based on your Brand Info
- Get access to endless post ideas in a single click
- Access to a FREE AI caption generator
- Repurposes all long-form content into bite-size social media posts
- Integrates into Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok
- Get auto-generated hashtags based completely on your captions that are best fit for your content
- Caption templates that sound more human and completely like a post you’d actually write
- Available in multiple languages
- AI-generated images and access to our Stock Image Media Library
Pricing: Free trial for 7 days. Plans start at ÂŁ11/month.
Now that you have all the reasons why you need social media as a small business, it’s time to really get started. Bookmark our blog to get up-to-date tips on all things social media, and learn how to do a perfect marketing strategy for your holiday launch (yes, it’s right around the corner!).
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