I am a small business owner and have no social media. Where do I start?
The relevance of social media for business is indeed growing at a huge pace, whether it is a small-scale business or a large-scale business. Every day, many people join social media platforms, and due to that, businesses are receiving a huge response from their social media audience.
We all are aware that the social media industry is gradually becoming the most booming industry and is soon going to gain acceleration in the business world. Not only this, social media is increasingly becoming easy and accessible to many business industries.
Like for example, during the period of lockdown, social media was the only saviour who was there when nothing was going right. With the help of social media, people were increasingly in touch with each other without any hassle. Social media merges the gap between people and makes an increased effort to bring everything at the ease of its users.
Small scale business owners do not have much capital to invest and thus prefer remote working, which ultimately gets successful just with the help of various social media channels and interactions. Any small-scale entrepreneur can make great profits if he operates his business aptly through platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
Also, the wave of social media is not going to end anyway, so it is indeed a smart move as small businesses start using it to be able to survive in the business industry.
With such amazing growth, business people should try to understand why social media is important for business and take advantage of the various social media platforms to make their business grow and expand in its way.
What are some of the benefits of using social media for businesses?
1. Growth in the awareness of the brand
As much as you post about your company name on the various social media platforms available, the more you will experience increased brand awareness gradually. Frequently posting the content on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., make people aware of the brand’s existence, which ultimately benefits you, and your brand gains popularity.
Today, social media is the platform where brands can gain popularity easily and at a faster pace because people are increasingly making use of various social media platforms to stay connected and updated.
2. Advantage of Social Media Campaigns
Social media campaigns are increasingly being run by different brands every day. This is a big platform where you can advertise your brand with the help of different brands that have already gained popularity or are becoming popular. Such campaigns help to build trust with the audience and helps to accelerate the growth of small businesses.
3. Interact with your followers
Start interacting with your followers about your brand. Make them aware about what exactly your USP is; how your brand is different from that of the others, and what are how you've planned to take the brand forward. As your potential customers, they have the right to have complete information regarding your brand before making a final purchase decision.
Interaction means that you post social media content every day and take likes and comments on that. But it also means that you as a brand interact with your audience personally. That'll positively impact your audience and create a sense of security in their minds while making a purchase.
4. Multiple postings in a day
If you are posting only once per day, you might have to raise the number of posts per day as people open social media platforms multiple times a day. Your single posts might not get noticed by them. So, try to post different varieties of contents every day and make sure that all of these are engaging and interactive posts that can compel the audience to interact with your post.
If you are posting on multiple platforms, make sure you post at a different time so that people can engage with them. When you upload multiple contents on different platforms, you easily advertise your products and services without relying on conventional marketing tactics.
5. Increase your web traffic
The best way to drive the audience to your website is by way of interacting with them through posting quality content on your social media platforms. Just add the link to your website under each post and see the magic for yourself.
It will be a good way to grab your audience’s attention if you get yourself enrolled in the weekly interactions going on Twitter. This way, people would get to know about you, and your brand would gain popularity.
Driving traffic to your website is not easy. You have to make serious efforts on your social media profiles so that your target audience feels interested in visiting your business website.
6. Suitable hashtag usage means increased reach
Using hashtags is as important as creating a good post for your social media platform. Hashtags have a frequency to reach people from anywhere in the world. Usage of hashtags should be done after carefully analysing which hashtag will be best suited for which time frame and would that be useful enough or not. Hashtags are of immense significance in digital marketing. Not using the hashtags would lead to no increase in traffic, and ultimately the posting would get wasted.
Now, let's discuss,
Which social media platforms are best for business?
1. Facebook
Facebook is a social media platform which was discovered by Mark Zuckerberg. It is a platform that was used largely in the earlier year when Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and other social media platforms were not even there.
Facebook is still the best-suited platform for carrying business activities as it has a massive audience reach which is beneficial for business. It will make more and more people aware of the existence of the brand. It is known to be the platform that is good for having proper interaction with the audience. Brands can easily initiate conversations with potential customers and solve their queries.
2. Instagram
Instagram is another social media platform that is best for business as it is all about presenting appealing visuals to the audience. Carrying out business through Instagram would be feasible as it is more interactive than LinkedIn, and youngsters mostly spend their free hours on Instagram than being online on Facebook. More people are available on mobiles than being on PC. So it is good to make the most out of this app.
3. Twitter
Twitter is a platform where you can see all the trending tweets along with real-time tweets. Getting started with your business on Twitter is not impossible; all you have to do is find ways to interact with your audience on Twitter.
Have frequent posts on your feeds, analyse your rivals, see what kind of posts they are posting, and many more things.
4. LinkedIn
On LinkedIn, you probably will find potential partners rather than clients as LinkedIn is more of a professional platform. Finding new leads and new customers might be a tad bit difficult. But with consistent effort, you can surely succeed, especially so if you are a freelancer.
However, running promotions can be a great idea when it comes to LinkedIn. As it is more of a professional platform, people engage with the posts and hugely spread across their network.
Also Read:
1) Which services are the most in-demand that small businesses can take advantage of?
2) How to Open a Small Pet Shop?
3) How to Get A First-time Business Loan: The Ultimate Guide
4) OkCredit: Simple, Paperless & Secure solution for businesses
FAQs
Q. Which is the best social media for business?
Ans. There are multiple social media platforms for conducting business. The best ones are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, Quora.
Q. What is the role of social media in Business?
Ans. Traditional ways of business promotions and conventional advertising mediums like newspapers and magazines are increasingly becoming less effective. People are turning towards promoting their content on digital platforms like social media, which are more effective and efficient.
Q. Why is it important to use social media marketing for small businesses?
Ans. Social media platforms increase the reach of your brand. Your target audience gets to know about your service and products. You can increase your website visits as well by proper handling of social media platforms.
Q. Which is the most profitable social media platform for business?
Ans. Instagram is the most profitable social media platform for carrying business-related activities online.