What is social media marketing for a small business?

Social media marketing (SMM), also called e-marketing or digital marketing, is when a business uses digital social platforms to share information that can build its brand, drive website traffic, and increase sales. You can track the wins and losses of SMM campaigns through purpose-built data analytics and use it to guide your strategies and identify different ways to engage with consumers. Other aspects of social media marketing include:

• Social media marketing gets its power from three core areas: interaction, connection, and customer data.
• SMM uses social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, to advertise your services and products, engage directly with existing customers, and reach out to new ones.
• Businesses can influence customer behaviour through social media marketing by extracting personal data that drives engagement and empowers your ads to resonate with users.
• Social media marketing gives you significant exposure and is typically cost-effective but does require ongoing maintenance and attention.

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How important is social media marketing for small businesses?

There are billions of social media users worldwide. Businesses can take advantage of this market and the benefits of SMM using the three core areas of marketing listed below.

Interaction

The dynamic nature of social media interaction, whether through passive liking or direct communication, enables you to leverage free advertising via eWOM (electronic word of mouth). Recommendations from existing customers to potential buyers can have a positive, contagious effect that drives consumer decisions. Since these interactions take place on social media, eWOM is a valuable, measurable tool. This important feature can help you ensure your campaign strategies create positive returns on investment (ROI).

Connection

Social media enables your small business to connect with your potential and current customers in ways that were previously unimaginable. These platforms offer various avenues to communicate with your target audience, from TikTok and YouTube to Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Customer data

Customer data can help boost marketing outcomes in your well-designed social media marketing strategy. Instead of volume, variety, and velocity—the overwhelming 3Vs of big data—social media marketing tools can extract customer data and then turn it into actionable market analyses or use it to crowdsource new strategies.

Read more: Word of Mouth Marketing

How to do social media marketing for small businesses

Successful social media marketing requires strategy. There are many aspects to consider when choosing your marketing campaigns, including:

Metrics

You can gain valuable insight by tracking interactions on your social media sites, like shares, likes, comments, and call-to-action responses, to measure how many people view your content. Understanding metrics can help you optimize your social media campaign performances by showing your strengths and weaknesses. For example, you may have many impressions but not a high CTR (click-through rate).

Alignment with business objectives

Effective SMM plans have a clear alignment with company objectives. Before you start designing posts, determine your goals, be specific, and make them measurable so it’s easier to track their success.

Competitive analysis

Researching your competition to learn the content they use and their interactions with their customers can provide strategic insights. Perform a competitive analysis to identify their strengths and weaknesses and then strategize to capitalize on them.

Audience personas

Research the demographics for each social media platform. Once you know who your customers are and the sites they frequent, you can create specific content that your customers find compelling and deliver it right to them.

Content calendar

Keep track of what you create and distribute to your customers with a content calendar. Ensure fresh, new content that’s interesting and actionable to keep your audience engaged. Mix it up with a balance of videos, products, pictures, and information throughout your campaign—daily, weekly, and monthly.

Social media audit

Perform a self-assessment of your business’s social media presence to determine what you’re doing well and what needs improving. Observe who engages with your content and use this information to enhance your content, profile, and online interactions.

Analytics

Data provided by social media sites can help you assess your performance and make adjustments to improve your strategies. They include interactions such as:

• page views
• likes
• shares
• clicks
• comments

Consistent content

Create a memorable experience for your audience by keeping your brand voice consistent and ensuring your content is professional and engaging.

Related: Pricing Strategies

Why small businesses use social media

Since social media is everywhere, SMM can empower your small business to stand out from the competition. Below are five reasons why SMBs use social media marketing:

1. Increase brand awareness

A well-executed SMM strategy can increase visibility for your company. Improve your exposure and reach by creating interesting and relevant content so people share it. The more exposure your brand has online, the better the chances others will become familiar with it and make a purchase.

2. Reach more potential customers

Your organization can create the perfect product or service, but it’s unlikely to succeed if no one knows. Social media advertising can allow small businesses to compete with larger companies. By creating engaging, exciting content and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience, you’re encouraging them to purchase your brand.

3. Understand competitors better

If you’re not using SMM yet, there’s a good chance that your competitors are. Study what they’re doing, including what’s working for them and what’s not, then compile this data and develop a winning strategy of your own. You can also research the industry and look for successes from which you can draw inspiration.

4. Know your customers

Social media can provide more information about your customers than just their demographics. You can learn granular data, like their needs, interests, desires, and behaviours. Knowing this information can help you build relevant content and improve your marketing strategy to ensure engagement.

5. Build long-term customer relationships

Social media marketing focuses on building lasting relationships with those who support your brand and boast about your company to their family and friends. Nurturing these connections by showing them you care about their experience with your company can secure long-term relationships.

Read more: Employer Branding

Social media marketing strategy examples

Social media marketing uses several strategies to engage users and market products and services, including:

Paid ads

Most social networks offer paid ads that can boost your audience by targeting your campaigns demographically. This makes them visible only to your preferred target audience. Paid ads can reach consumers you don’t currently connect with and can build brand recognition, sell products, or promote specific videos or posts. Paid advertisements aren’t intrusive and come in many formats to help you reach different goals.

Influencers

Influencers can help sell your products and services and introduce your brand to new audiences. Influencers are masters of social media marketing—you can tell how popular they are by their number of followers. These trendsetters can direct their followers to your website or whatever call to action you suggest. Consider selecting an influencer whose followers match your intended audience to guarantee interest in your offerings so they can become your followers, too.

Brand advocates

Like influencers, brand advocates typically have a sizeable following and a solid reputation, but they also have the advantage of knowing and liking your product. Brand advocates are enthusiastic fans of your brand and drive new business organically by word of mouth. Your best brand advocates are your employees, existing customers, company partners, and executive leadership.

Chatbots

Consider chatbots to help your existing or potential customers resolve problems or answer FAQs without waiting for human interaction. Messenger-type apps, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, can integrate chatbot technology seamlessly. Most chatbots don’t require you to have coding skills or pay costly development teams to take advantage of this feature. Several chatbots are available for a monthly fee, and you can seamlessly integrate them into your social media channels to provide immediate support for your customers.