If you’re not using social media and the internet to further your brand in the digital market, you could be missing out on new opportunities and sales! Small businesses must improve their social media presence to build an audience, foster customer and community engagement, and create a space where people feel connected, safe, and willing to invest their time/money.
Don’t fall behind on the social ladder—use the following advice and start creating your brand’s social media channels!
Tip #1: Look Up Your Competition
First, to establish a presence within your market, take a look at what your competitors are up to on the various social media platforms. What are they doing well? What do they need to work on? Use your competition as a resource to gather ideas or thoughts for your own business. For example, if you want to set your catering company apart from the rest, find where other businesses might be lacking in social presence and fill in the gaps with your brand.
Tip #2: Create a Content Plan
Each individual brand and market have different target audiences. Therefore, the type of content you create will vary depending on who your followers and ideal customers are. Any visual content will perform well on social channels because most demographics favor this type of post—so prioritize the creation of images and videos.
Posting every day can become tiresome if you don’t have a plan in place to follow. Ease the stress of this job by curating a content plan every quarter to ensure you have enough posts and ideas to sustain your social media presence.
Tip #3: Be Consistent With Posts & Voice
It’s important to note that small businesses can’t improve their social media presence overnight; it will take time, consistency, and effort. Keeping your posts aligned with your brand to portray yourself authentically while online is also vital. Your posts and tone of voice can vary if you have multiple staff members posting to social channels. You must limit the number of people working on these projects to deliver the same type of content consistently.
Tip #4: Engage With Your Audience
Social media is half posting to create brand awareness and half engaging with your audience and customers. If you’re not interacting with individuals on these social platforms, you could lose potential business because you’re leaving questions unanswered, and you seem uninvolved. Set aside time in your day to comment on posts, engage audience members with polls, answer questions, and address complaints. Customers will likely choose your company over others because you’re more personable on social media and interact with your audience.
Mastering the art of using social media to create brand awareness can be tricky, but practice and patience are your friends! You won’t gain a following immediately, but putting in the effort will eventually give you the results you’re looking for.
