Why You Should Use Social Media for Your Small Business
As a small business owner, you may be looking for ways to connect more with your existing customers and attract new ones. One of the easiest ways to do both is to start building your brand on social media.
Social media is a great way to engage with your customers in an authentic way and reach new customers through building brand awareness. Here are a few reasons why now is the best time to start advertising your business on social media:
Access to Your Community
The best part of social media is the connections you can make with your customers. If a customer has a question about a product or service, you can chat them 1:1, direct them to a link, or provide guidance in a matter of seconds. These engagements are invaluable to a customer and build trust.
You can also encourage customers to leave a review, share a photo of the product they purchased, or recommend your business to friends and family by simply linking to your page’s profile.
On Facebook, your page will auto-generate in a comment if someone would like to recommend you to a friend. Here is an example of how it works:
Source: Facebook
When a customer recommends your page to a friend and they see all the incredible engagement happening between you and your customers, they’ll be more inclined to consider purchasing your product or offer to get that same level of service.
2. Collaboration Opportunities
Once you get your social page up and running, you can start reaching out to neighboring businesses (non-competitors) to see if they’d be interested in cross-posting your advertisements, or creating an offer that is valid for your local neighborhood. For example, you can offer 15% off your business if you purchase an item at your neighbor’s shop.
Another quick way to engage your community and work with neighboring businesses is through giveaways. You can partner with your fellow business owners to do a social media giveaway offering items from each of your shops.
If you’re in a larger city or close to one, you can leverage influencer marketing to amplify your reach on social media. Influencers usually have larger followings than your business so their posts will reach a bigger audience. On top of that, influencers can use their unique perspective to give their loyal followers a personal take on why they should shop at your business.
3. Extension of Your Offerings
Another great way to engage your audience on social media is through content. This could be as simple as sharing a photo of your new inventory, or a video providing tips in your particular expertise.
If you’re comfortable, showing your personality through video is a great way to provide that extra insight to your community on what differentiates you from the competition. Facebook and Instagram Live videos are easy to set up and provide a way to instantly connect with your audience through live comments on the stream.
Content should be clear, informative, and entertaining. If your content is not providing value to the audience, you should go back to the drawing board and reevaluate.
When you start to share content that brings value, you’ll start to see more positive engagement and follower growth.
4. Advertising is Less Expensive
If your efforts to advertise in local circulars, newspapers, or even billboards have fallen short, social media can be a cost-efficient way to reach new potential customers and generate leads.
Through Facebook Business Manager, you can target the specific local area you’d like, and tailor your targeting by age, gender, and interests.
If you need help setting up your business on social media, or if you’ve already taken the step, but need someone to manage your community or develop a strategy and content, I would love to help you! Please book a consultation with me so I can cater my services to your specific needs.
