If you run a business, no matter how big or small, having a presence on social media is no longer optional. It’s vital if you want to form and maintain connections with your customers, develop and share your brand, and most importantly generate sales and higher revenue.
Yes, social media is that important!
Think of it this way: before the internet, companies relied on word-of-mouth. Sell or advertise a product or service to a customer, then hope they go to their friends, family, or co-workers and tell them about it and convince them to purchase from you.
Social media is modern-day word-of-mouth, and if used right, it can be a powerful tool when combined with other forms of digital marketing like SEO and content marketing. Indeed, social media plays a pivotal role in AAA Digital Marketing’s approach to helping small businesses grow! And despite its fast-moving nature, it’s never too late to get involved.
If you look at the sheer number of platforms available, you may get a bit lost, and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Some may be relevant, some might not, but regardless of the nature of your business, it can never hurt to be present on multiple platforms.
Talking to your customers before, during, and after a purchase is vital, and Twitter is the undisputed social media hub for conversation. Hundreds of millions of tweets go out every day, talking about everything from current events to what you ate for breakfast that morning. The hashtag function makes it easy to follow and start conversations across the world, giving small businesses the chance to really get their voice and brand identity out there.
No longer just the domain for job seekers and employers, setting up on LinkedIn is an excellent idea for any small business, especially B2B companies. It’s a great place to connect with other companies, industry leaders, and professionals that may offer unique and new insights into your business’s industry or provide you a platform to share your expertise with like-minded individuals.
If you have multiple employees, it is also a great place for them to be ambassadors of the company and the brand.
Everyone knows Facebook. Whilst it was founded as a platform to connect friends and families together, it has in recent years become an excellent must-have social media profile for budding businesses. Unlike Twitter, where follower numbers wax and wane, Facebook users generally stick to the page or company they follow, with their “like” indicating their desire to hear more updates and learn about current and future products or promotions.
In addition, Facebook’s paid advertising platform is incredibly simple to set up and remarkably effective when done right, making it easier to reach and follow people who engage with your organic content.
More visual than any other platform, Instagram can be an incredibly effective tool for sharing your brand, especially if your business revolves around unique or artistic products. Images and videos work exceptionally well to promote your business, which can include your expertise or opinions due to the platform’s casual nature.
Because of its affiliation with Facebook, Instagram benefits from the platform’s easy-to-use paid advertising features, which work across both platforms seamlessly.
YouTube
Depending on your budget or business, you may not be able to create video content. But if you can, YouTube is an absolute must. To put its scale in context, YouTube is the largest search engine and the most trafficked website in the world, second only to Google. Yes, the Google. YouTube is huge, so if you can utilize video content then you would be crazy not to in order to promote your business.
Better yet, YouTube is owned by Google, giving it excellent potential when paired with Google Ads campaigns to sell your products and reach more potential customers.
The above are the five main social media platforms, and there are so many more yet to consider like Reddit, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc. Of course, your business might be geared towards using one platform over the other, but it is highly recommended to spread yourself across as many as you can. After all, they are all free to set up, meaning there’s minimal cost involved, so get out there and lead the conversation!