By Maddie Braidwood
Social media is an excellent tool for growing a business, and the free, easy to use platform is something that small business owners cannot afford not to be utilising.
To help you get kick-started on your social media journey, we’ve compiled 8 great ways to help you do this – so get reading!
It’s all well and good having the platform, but you need to make good use of it.
Of course, we all understand that growing an audience can be difficult, especially if you’re new to all of this, but its commitment and determination that really pays off. Unfortunately, it’s all too common to see businesses giving up on social media after a few months, which isn’t a great look.
It’s vital to ensure that content remains regular and consistent, which will not only allow you to see what your audience resonates best with, but also allows your audience to see that you’re dedicated and reliable and know they can look forward to seeing your content popping up on their timelines.
Avoid boring at all costs! At the end of the day, social media is meant to be entertaining and fun. Most people use their time on social media as a bit of escapism from the real world, which is why it is so vital that your content needs to be engaging.
Whilst someone is scrolling through social media the last thing they want to be faced with is a 2,000-word essay full of graphs and diagrams. Of course, the nature of your content is dependent on your business, but when it comes to content, less is definitely more.
Creating content which is eye-catching, short and easy to read is definitely a good way to win over your audience. Take a second to think about some of your favourite brands you follow on social media and what makes them so great.
Social media isn’t all about just promoting your product or service, it’s important to understand that the most successful brands work hard to build relationships with the audience.
Social media provides a great platform to interact with your customers and really get to know them. Making sure you’re active and reply to your direct messages and comments is really important to gain trust from your customers.
When growing your social media presence, the only way to get recognised is by people being exposed to you.
Of course, paid marketing is a good way to do this and its worth looking into paid advertising, however, if you’re super new and money is tight then promoting yourself can really help. This means getting your name out wherever you can, for example, make sure your socials are linked on your app and website, so your audience will never struggle to find your social media.
Plan ahead
When you’re trying to juggle a million things at once, having to post on social media every day can feel like such pressure and another headache when time is scarce. There are some really good apps around to help with scheduling posts. Later, Plannoly and Hootsuite are some of the most well-known favourites, which allows you to schedule content for months in advance on any number of platforms.
This is an absolute Godsend as it allows busy business owners to plan and schedule their social media content for the whole month, which definitely takes a whole lot of pressure off having to remember to post each day.
This being said, it’s important to never post content just for the sake of it, because it can make your feed look messy. If you’re struggling for ideas, FAQ, reviews and client feedback are a guaranteed source of good content.
A marketing secret that’s been around for years is ‘keep your friends close, but your competitor’s closer’, which of course transpires over onto social media. In fact not only has it transpired it’s also been made a whole lot easier to monitor.
Tools like Twitter Lists, Buzzsumo, Facebook Pages to Watch, Google Keyword Planner and YouTube are all great ways to see what’s working well with your competitors.
A classic way to grow your platform is through giveaways and competitions. If you have a small beauty business it can be really beneficial to offer a competition in which someone has the chance to win a beauty treatment, because people never say ‘no’ to free.
If you want to really ramp up the numbers, collaborate with another small business offering a complimentary service so together you can offer a bumper prize and jointly promote it.
A good way to approach these competitions would be to ensure all entries must follow you, tag a friend and share on their story, as this will help expose you to lots of people.
The most engaging content on social media are the ones that are extremely creative, innovative and haven’t been done before. Let’s face it, everyone loves originality and you’re definitely more likely to remember a brand if they’ve done something wacky with their marketing.
TikTok is one of the current favourites for stepping outside your comfort zone, because it’s definitely the hottest topic at the moment, and brands like Mac, Gymshark, Calvin Klein and even Crocs are absolutely smashing it with content.
Of course, you don’t need to be doing crazy dances or lip-syncing challenges to create good content. For example, if you offer nail art as part of your service, then use the platform to create short videos of your amazing creations, because there is definitely a niche for it and don’t underestimate how much people will love to see what YOU do!
If you’ve had an idea for content but aren’t sure how it will go down with your audience, then definitely just give it a try, because social media is all about trial and error and it’s important to remember that some things may fall a bit short, but some will completely fly – so give it a try!
