Running a small business is not easy, but these days having a social media presence is the best marketing tool which can make it easier for small businesses to increase customer footfalls and sales. There are many reasons, why you should use social media to cultivate your small business. the most important reasons why you should use it because it will help you increase your brand presence and win you more customer than your traditional customers.

As we know that social media networking is increasing with higher rate these days, there is no doubt that your prospective customers are using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. and the best thing is that most of these people use these social media platforms in their everyday life. These platforms most importantly Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, became an important part of their life.

So, if you still don’t understand or getting any idea of social media platforms power and it’s benefits for your business. don’t worry I am going to explain here how you can use social media to improve your business. But before that, you should look at some social media stats to understand the importance of social media and why you need to use it for your business.

There are now more than 50 million small businesses using Facebook Pages to connect with their customers (Source: Facebook).

4 million of those businesses pay for social media advertising on Facebook. (Source: Forbes)

96% of the people that discuss brands online do not follow those brands’ owned profiles. (Source: Brandwatch)

Social media tips for small businesses –

1. Understand your target audience – before starting your social media campaigns, a business owner needs to understand his customers, whether you are selling online, or you have a physical store. Like who are your customers? what product are you going to sell or market on social media? Does it have everything to attract your customers?

Knowing your social media audience and how they engage with all social media platforms is a crucial strategy because if you don’t know your audiences you will only waste money and time on social media platforms. Visual appeal in your posts on social media will attract more people to your profiles and can convert them into leads or customers.

2. Choose the right platforms – social media comes a way back before Facebook but that time businesses don’t have options to advertise on social media platforms. After Facebook went public in 2012, it exploded, and so other social media platforms emerge.

People connect with their friends and relatives but there was a question that how businesses can use social media to improve their business? Because every social media platform has their different category of users. So here is some guide to help you choose social media platforms to use:

As the largest social media platform, Facebook has 2 billion-plus active monthly users, is better for businesses to generate leads and increase customers relationship.

LinkedIn, A platform for professionals and businesses to connect with each other, ideal for B2B to create authority and build relationships.

Twitter, is better for business who wants to connect to their customers with information, news etc.

Pinterest is a photo sharing site, perfect for businesses for who visual appeal matters (fashion, restaurants, travel, art etc.) and to generate leads.

3. Setup a Goal – every business should have a goal in mind before starting on social media. It is crucial to know that what you want to achieve from your campaigns, post on any social media platforms.

Here are some goals social media marketers looking to achieve:

Increase brand awareness

Increase customer engagement

Increase website clicks

But Goals can be different according to the industry like some industry may want to get sales directly from social media, generate leads, get positive review etc. but whatever the reason, the business goals you have it should be clearly defined in the strategy. Once you have decided the purpose of social media campaigns, it would be easier for you to create better post or image content. Without having clear Goals on social media, it would be hard to achieve right customers and actuals leads which can improve your business.

4. Create Quality content and be consistent – when you want to get a customer from social media, then it’s not important to post a lot of content every day for users to see. It will not help you with achieving your goal. A business owner needs to understand that, quality matter more than quantity.

If you are posting only 2-3 quality and informative posts every day, it will be good, and your consumer will engage with your content. It is important that posts must be related to your market and convey an important message to your users. It is also important to be consistent with posting. You should post on your social media platforms every day. It will have a good impact on your brand and your consumers.

5. Build a Network & community – To do better on social media you not only need to publish posts but also you need to build your network around social media platforms. It is an important step to thrive through social media. You should follow other industry people, see what they are doing, posting, also you can ask them for help with your brand.

When You follow industry leader on social media, and they like your post and follow you back. You will get their follower too, to like your post, follow you and even become your customers. You can also build a community on social media beside your brand to improve your presence.

6. leverage Influencers benefits – Influencers can give you all the attention you need. You can contact influencers and ask them to shout out about your brand on their profile. It will give you the attention of their followers and lots of likes. But you must be sure that your content is good on your profile because if your posts aren’t good on your profiles, influencers might not work with you.

Social media can benefit your business in many ways, but you must use it correctly. I hope you now have a better understanding of how to leverage social media.

Business Team Interaction– stock image