Why isn’t Your Business using Social Media?

With a million hats to wear, small business owners have very little time on their hands to do any “real” marketing. Further complicating matters, there’s a myriad of social media platforms to choose from and learn.

Many owners rely on word of mouth marketing and referrals when building their brand and acquiring more customers – neither of which cost money nor take up more of their precious time and they work.

So it seems fair to ask: Should your business use social media?

According to Statista, in 2019, nearly 80% of people aged 12 and older used social media, and that number will only grow. No matter what product or service you sell, your target audience is on social media – and you can reach them!

How?

Use these three simple and effective strategies when:

1. Building Brand Awareness

The best way to build brand awareness is with visual content.

• Pictures and videos have a greater chance of attracting your followers as opposed to text only.
• Post pics and vids of staff, company outings, and attended conferences. This personalizes the company and speaks to your audience on a human, rather than a business/transactional level.
• Post pictures/videos of your product and promotions and include testimonials of satisfied customers!

2. Engaging with your prospects and customers

The real time engagement between a business and its followers is the most powerful aspect of social media.

Recently, a 3-minute Facebook video posted by and outraged mother regarding Hasbro’s Troll doll got national media coverage from USA Today, CNN, Yahoo – reaching millions of people in <24 hours.

Fortunately, Hasbro’s on social media. As quickly as the controversy started, they were able to issue a statement and initiate a solution.

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Hasbro’s ability to respond immediately probably saved its reputation and kept its A+ BBB rating intact.

That’s the power social media gives to both consumers and businesses.

Use this power to identify:

• Satisfied customers and have them influence your brand.
• Dissatisfied customers and engage with them, resolving their issues before it’s too late.
• Prospects and engage them with content specific to their stage of the Buyer’s Journey.

3. Using proper etiquette

• Keep your branding consistent on all platforms.
• Use the same logo and name. This will help your brand become more recognizable.
• Understand the site you’re using so you can use the proper tone and jargon.

For example:

• LinkedIn: Interactions and content on this platform should use a professional tone and not use “text speech”.
• Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest: These skew towards a casual tone when interacting with your audience.
• Facebook: When using Facebook, you can really take on a more casual, or professional tone. It’s up to you with how you want to represent your company.

Two last things to note about etiquette on social media:

1. Use hashtags (#) whenever possible. Why? Hashtags filter out all the chaos of the Internet. For example, post a photo of the Friday company BBQ and tag it #TGIF. Anyone searching that platform for “TGIF” will come across your post, giving your business more exposure.
2. Unless your business deals in controversy, stay away from posting/commenting about politics and religion. Additionally, talk with your staff about their personal social media accounts. Their posts reflect on your

I know it seems daunting, but many small businesses can’t solely rely on word of mouth marketing and referrals in today’s marketplace. And without a marketing team, the answer is a resounding, yes!

If you want to build your brand and increase revenue, you need to get on social media today. Once you see its power and how fun it is, you’ll wish you started sooner!