How Can a Small Business Leverage Social Media?

Many small businesses today wouldn’t be possible without social media. Social media can be used to spread the word, market your business, make sales, build a community, and more. The most popular medium for businesses (and the most business-friendly platform) is Facebook, but small businesses also use Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and others. If you have a small business, you might be wondering about the best ways to take advantage of social media. Here’s a guide to help!

Get The Word Out

This is going to be your first task once you launch (or are preparing to launch) your small business. While this might be considered marketing, think of it as “pre-marketing”. You want to make a good first impression, especially when you have no one to put in a good word for you. Your first customers are your most important.

Create a business page on Facebook or special accounts on Twitter or Instagram. Invite all your friends and family to follow your business even if they’re not part of your targeted demographic. Everybody knows somebody. Your biggest supporters will be people you already know – whether they’re interested in your product or not.

Once you’ve got the fire spreading, the next step to leveraging social media is marketing!

Market Your Business To The Max

Social media is today’s most useful marketing tool for both small businesses and corporations. As a small business, however, you’re at an even better advantage. Many small businesses can get away with marketing through social media exclusively.

There are countless ways to do it! Posting regularly is the biggest thing. You want to keep reminding followers of your business. Just because they click that “like” or “follow” button doesn’t mean they’ll remember you forever. It’s up to you to keep the ball rolling.

also read: 10 Ways to Grow Your Social Media Presence the Right Way

Here are some more ways to get the most out of social media marketing:

• Create ads. It has to be a great ad, however. You scroll past ads. I scroll past ads. We all do. That’s why your ad needs to be top-notch! Reel in your target demographic with just the right visuals and words. Get help from a professional copywriter if you need one!
• Post videos. On Facebook, videos automatically start playing when someone scrolls upon it. Take full advantage of this with a killer intro! Upload professionally edited videos to YouTube and even join TikTok. Keep up with the current video-sharing trends!
• Make memes. That’s probably a tip you’ve never heard before! There’s nothing wrong with a little humor – and people love it, too! This especially works if you’re targeting millennials and younger.
• Take advantage of community marketing. Community marketing is when you allow your customers to share ideas, talk with one another about their experiences, and interact with you – the business owner – as a whole. This is a great way to get ideas and opinions, but it also makes customers feel valued and more likely to make purchases.

Sell Your Products Through Social Media

This is a very common practice – and an effective one. And it’s not just for multi-level marketing, either. For example, many boutiques display products through a post and name the sizes, colors, etc that are left. Buyers simply comment to claim a product. Then, through a private message, you can arrange pickup, delivery, and payment.

Selling on social media is quick and easy. It also inspires customers to be the first to jump on a sale before it’s gone.

You can also sell products by hosting live events. Just make sure people know the exact time you’ll be going live – and be sure to remind them again right before you do. This is also a great way to interact with your customers and get to know them!

What Else Can You Do To Leverage Social Media?

Business owners have gotten creative with social media over the years. Support a cause to build your reputation, hold special events and contests, and simply take advantage of the limitless reach you have! Although you’re a small business, you could get the world on your side if you wanted to.

learn more: social media marketing

Now that you know how to get the most of your social media marketing journey, it’s time to shine!