How Social Media Helps Small Businesses
Social media has come a long way since its inception. In fact, social media is no longer just a platform where people casually engage and interact with friends in a digital environment, it is now a full-on essential business tool for many brands. When it comes to small businesses, social media can do wonders to grow brand awareness, establish credibility and increase a brand’s market reach.
While there are dozens of benefits of having a presence on social media, we’ll dive into just a few on how small businesses can benefit.
Raise Brand Awareness + Attract Customers
The majority of businesses start out small. They put in lots of hard work, a good product or service and typically grow from there. Oftentimes, however, small businesses fail within their first five years due to a variety of reasons. One reason, inadequate marketing planning, and execution.
Simply put, people cannot support what they do not know about.
Social media is community-driven. As a business, you are able to interact with customers (and potential ones), vendors, and business partners on your own timeline and in a digital space. Your brand is accessible within a click or two.
Humanize Your Brand + Build Brand Loyalty
On platforms like Facebook, you are able to share bios, photos, and offers, and while we still highly recommend having an actual website, you can get away with having a business social media page for a good while. It is a space to tell potential customers who you are and why they need your product or service, in a casual setting.
Because of its casual atmosphere, social media allows businesses to humanize their brand. It gives organizations an opportunity to do a bit of storytelling. In today’s market, where consumers are inundated with information, if you want to grab someone’s attention, you need to appeal to their emotions.
Storytelling, whether visually or through words, is one key way to drive people to action. Think about these things when navigating how to effectively tell your brand story.
What problem does my customer have?
How can I solve this for them?
Establish Industry Credibility + Stay Top of Mind
People listen to people they respect. When you’re the best in your industry (or at least one of the best), what you say matters. For example, if you’re a physical therapist and you give pointers on social media on how to address a common leg pain, it’s likely your followers will take your suggestions into consideration. But if you’re a chef at a high-end restaurant giving these tips, it’s a lot less likely, right?
Find your niche market and speak their love language.
When what you offer is valued, people will want more. So provide your customers and potential customers the opportunity to hear you out. Consider a tip, specialty hack or an inside peek into your day. Then come back and do it again (often).
Because our needs aren’t always immediate, customers need to remember you when they actually do need your service. Keeping your message clear and consistent is key to effective marketing and impactful storytelling.
Not sure where to start?
Check out these tips on how to plan your social media calendar and how to stay current with social media trends.