It doesn’t matter what size your business is; you are always faced with a challenge of tailoring your marketing spending to your budget. For small businesses, the best impact for your dollars may come from social media marketing.
Here are five reasons why social media marketing for small businesses is a good fit:
Your Audience is on Social Media: It doesn’t matter whether you’re a B2B or B2C company; your audience is spending time on social media. Statista reports that 70% of the United States population is active on at least one social media platform, and while 59% access social media every day or most days, about one-third checks it at least five times a day.
What’s important for you to determine is which social media platform is preferred by your particular target audience. If you’re a B2B company, you may find that LinkedIn provides more engagement with your audience than Facebook. If you’re a highly visual company (think tourism or event planning, for instance), you’ll likely do best on Instagram, no matter if you’re B2B or B2C.
You Can Grow Inbound Traffic: Through compelling posts and an effective landing page, your social media activity is set up to deliver more traffic to your website. There are a couple of key elements that make social media translate to inbound traffic. You need engaging posts on your social media profile, a clear call to action (CTA) and a landing page that encourages visitors to go on to your website.
You’ll Grow Brand Awareness: You’re an expert in your field, but you’ve realized that there’s no way for anyone to know that. When you post content to your social media page that adds value through answering questions, providing a how-to or offering insight into a complex industry issue, you’ll build a reputation. People will be more aware of your brand, and they’ll begin to see you as the go-to source for information.
Social Media is Cost-Effective: It doesn’t matter how small your marketing budget is. Social media marketing for small businesses can be tailored to exactly what you can spend. A simple live video that gives a tour of your operations, or a twice-weekly post that shares what others in your industry are saying can be a good way to start. You’ll need to put in some time to answer questions and comments and make sure you’re posting regularly, but social media is an easy marketing channel for small businesses to try out in a low-risk setting.
HubSpot reported that 84% of marketers saw increased traffic with an investment of only six hours each week on social media.
Your Competition is There: If you’re still hesitating, wondering whether social media marketing could benefit your company, consider this: your competition is probably already reaping the benefits of this channel. Take time to do a quick tour, and see whether your competitors are active on social media. Look at what they’re posting and whether they are seeing effective engagement. Even if you don’t see a lot of activity from others in your market, it could offer a new opportunity for you to gain traction where others haven’t arrived yet.
We love helping companies get started with social media marketing for small businesses. From fun and engaging posts to helping you set up a profile that truly represents your brand message, SJC Marketing is full of new ideas to get your company noticed.