In this digital age, if your business does not have a presence on social media, you are missing out on tremendous opportunities. Social media platforms are a proven way to grab your customers’ attention, build deeper connections, and stay relevant.
With limited resources, it’s common for small business owners to overlook their company’s feeds. However, it only takes a few simple steps to capitalize on the power of social media. Need help getting started? Here’s a few easy steps to keeping on top of the latest social media trends.
Make Commitments
It can be a real challenge to manage social media accounts, especially when you are the only person supervising most aspects of your brand. Running social media pages requires creating content, growing your audience base, and engaging with them. Doing this can be an uphill task and many small businesses give up after only a few months of effort.
However, audiences take time to grow organically. It can take up to a year to gather enough data to understand what your audience truly wants. By committing to the process, and finding the content that gets the most traction, you can slowly build success over time.
Remember, managing social media is just as hard as executing other marketing strategies. Being consistent and persistent is the only way to be successful.
Be You
SM users not only connect with content: they also interact with the web of feedback around the content, including that of the poster. When you create a social media account for your business, you’re not only displaying your brand: you’re creating conversations with your customers, and a personality to interact with.
While a large, corporate business may use a mascot to promote this personality, small businesses need to share: the entrepreneurs themselves. For instance, if you are running a business in the real estate sector, you can share posts that help people choose the right neighborhood or the checks they should perform before renting a house.
Such content deepens your connection with your customer base and helps them develop trust in you. When posting online, think about the personality of your business and the message you would like to convey to your audience. Set the tone and keep going.
Do Not Miss Out on Social Media Blogs and Podcasts
Social media is a young, continuously evolving industry. New features and new trends show up every day, and it can be challenging to stay on top of all the new updates. Nevertheless, when you are managing an account for your business, it’s important to stay informed so you may make the most of new opportunities.
The easiest way to ensure you know them is to find news content related to the field. Informational blogs can be a great way to stay ahead on trends. Some of the most popular SM blogs include Social Media Examiner, Simply Measured, BuzzSumo, Buffer, Social Media Explorer, and Bitly.
Along with blogs, podcasts are another great resource for keeping up with trends. The benefit of podcasts is their conversational nature; through interviews and anecdotes, you get a holistic view of new trends. Some popular social media podcasts include Savvy Social Show, Marketing Brew, and Social Pros.
Keep a Tab on Social Media Influencers
Influencers are highly followed individuals on social media, acting as both sources of views and expert gatekeepers. It’s important to remember, being an influencer means influencing a particular community, large or small. This allows influencer marketing to be highly targeted: you can select an influencer that knows your niche and speaks to your target customer.
When you’re starting, it’s important to follow influencers within the social space tied to your industry and target customer. By following what trends influencers keep up with, you’ll be able to follow what your target customer is engaging with. By getting a sense of the communities your desired audience engages with, you’ll get a better sense of how to connect with them.
Look at LinkedIn Groups
While marketing to your customer is important, social media is equally important for the other social relationships you need: your supply chain, your labor base, and your industry partners. This is where LinkedIn groups come in.
LinkedIn Groups enable you to network with other business owners and social media enthusiasts. Within Groups, you can learn new tricks of the trade and learn more about delivering unique experiences to your customers. You can join with other professionals in your industry, gaining more connections to build for the future.
LinkedIn is also a great resource to know about upcoming conferences. These virtual or in-person conferences can help you keep up-to-date and learn relevant information about your business area. You can also build connections through these conferences and meet other professionals from varied backgrounds.
Listen to Customers
Unlike other forms of marketing, Social Media offers a direct connection to the thoughts and opinions of your customer base. Likewise, when you’re developing new ideas for Social Media campaigns, focus on listening to the customers. Listening to your customers includes qualitative feedback such as likes and comments, down to implicit feedback from impressions and data.
Remember, not all feedback will be positive. For any business online, you will also get complaints and other criticisms. Remember, if someone takes the time to write a review, they have an emotional investment to do so. Often, that comes from anger. Respond to all criticism professionally, and use the feedback to service your customers better.
Repurpose Your Content
As a business entrepreneur, you probably have a hundred things on your to-do list every morning. It may not be possible to continuously create new content for social media.
An easy way to compensate for this is to repurpose your content. Just give it a new look and your old content will function like new. Rewriting blogs or updating photo posts is a quick way to streamline your content generation process.
Another way to repurpose content is via platform. For instance, if you have a blog, try to convert it into a shareable graphic or multiple slides on your Instagram page. Utilizing content across platforms, while customizing the content for each platform, is an effective way to encourage engagement via multiple platforms.
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