Small Business, Big Potential
Today’s social media hub is just as epic as it is intimidating. With Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat being used right and left, it can become frustrating for small business owners to understand the potential of online marketing. Social Media Marketing can be a beneficial addition to your company’s profit, by boosting brand awareness and increasing CRM [Customer Relationship Management] with potential customers.
Luckily, we’re here to equip you with the latest tools and tricks that you can keep under your belt, and successfully implement into your new marketing strategies in 2018.
Social Media Marketing Today
The field of marketing is catching up with technology advancements, and the latest trend is no longer the status quo. From live chat videos to SEO, social media marketing has received a major makeover and it’s flaunting the new perks. Today, social media marketing strategies can not only boost your business but ensure that it stays a strong, fresh competitor.
Options for Your Small Business
Social media marketing comes in countless versions and on many platforms. The goal for your small business is to find out which one works best for your business, and creates the most outreach for your customers. If your operating B2B, then LinkedIn and Facebook are both great options; for B2C, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram can be promising.
Facebook is best for: restaurants, sports companies, tech companies, and small local businesses!
Facebook – Facebook is a great platform to use for daily brand awareness and free marketing tools.
• You can run campaigns, fundraisers and customize product posts.
• Upload images and gifs for fun interaction, and utilize video marketing
• Use Ad Testing and in-Ad performance measurement tools.
• Utilize Open Graph, where you can track and label your user target audience.
Twitter is best for: personal bloggers, brand leaders, and small businesses with high, consistent engagement rate!
Twitter – Twitter is one of the #1 online news and social networking sites among users today.
• Send out messages (tweets) over 140 characters in length.
• Drive the majority of your marketing traffic to the main website and blog portals of your small business.
• Utilize ‘share features,’ which can allow customers to access your feed and contact information.
• Grow your business with hashtags.
• Find and target potential customers in your local area.
• Get results on monthly overviews and progress.
• Track your engagement rate with customers.
• Follow your growth and get insight into new follower information
LinkedIn is best for: recruitment organizations, startups, and businesses that utilize video and social post platforms on daily basis!
LinkedIn – LinkedIn has been known to generate more than 80% of social media leads for companies.
• Create an effective company page using LinkedIn template.
• Optimize your page for increased search rate using keywords and strategic links.
• Use the company feed page to send out daily posts and interact with customers.
• Implement visual marketing in your LinkedIn feed to sponsor content and raise engagement.
• Create LinkedIn Ad campaigns and use measurement tools to track target audience.
Business Instagram is best for: influences, brand companies, unique target niches, and B2C operations!
Business Instagram – Instagram is now one of the leading and creative social media apps among young and old crowds.
• Benefit from basic features like countless color filters, emojis, live stories and sidebar chats.
• Create your own brand hashtag to increase brand outreach and tags in related posts.
• Use Instagram Ads template to market your business and simultaneously track customer interaction.
• Allow followers to get notifications from your Instagram and utilize influencer marketing.
• Target millennials and post on trending sites.
Google Analytics is best for: any type of business can benefit from standard Google Analytics features and tracking!
Google Analytics & Google Ads – Google Analytics is claimed as a must-have for any business marketing strategy.
• Utilize the Channels section to view analytics on direct, organic and paid search as well as Referrals.
• Understand which social platforms gain the most views and traffic.
• Track demographics, geographic, customer behavior and technology used (mobile vs desktop).
• Get keywords and rankings in Google search for your brand using Google Ads.
Create a Digital Marketing Plan
Now that you have an idea of what role each of the most common marketing apps can play, you can start personalizing your marketing approach. A great start is by sitting down with your business team and setting goals on the marketing outreach and campaigns that you want to achieve on a monthly and yearly basis. Once you have a rough outline of a marketing plan, you can start getting down to the details and make a move.
Make a Social Media Move
Start using your social media as soon as possible. The best way to start implementing your media into your branding routine is by coming up with a posting schedule and a theme. A great approach is to always remember that any post will trigger customer reaction and hopefully lead to a conversation – so be prepared to meet your audience. Finally, be sure to track your posts as well as your analytics for each media platform to keep up with the big fish in the pond.
Keep Up with Marketing Tools
With social media marketing, you’ll find that being up to date with the current trends is not only the concern of hip millennials. Your small business, no matter how old or recent, will only succeed if you look into the future. Tracking tech-savvy competitors, big brands and paying attention to new marketing apps are simple and helpful strategies that can keep your long-term marketing dreams going strong.
Dream Big in the Digital World
Build brand awareness by reaching out to more target audiences. Don’t be shy with your small business, if it sells- it sells. For example, if you feel your company is attracting an older audience, but you really see potential in enticing younger customers, then go forth with a plan and dedicate time to social media apps that will gain you that desired new target audience. If you see a possible profit in sponsorship or influencer campaigns, then act on it. Keeping your brand relevant and associating your brand image with trends and crowd-pleasers can be an added bonus.
Ready to Take it to the Next Level?
We’re ready to help. If you would like to learn more about any of the tips or marketing strategies in the bog, give us a call or contact the West County Net team today.
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