You are producing quality products, you have a dynamic team in your business, you are putting a decent budget on social media marketing for small businesses to get decent results, but at the end of the day, you are stuck! Why is this happening?
Because in the name of so-called marketing, you are actually wasting money, not spending or investing!
Marketing is not bad at all. But doing marketing in the wrong way will take you down slowly but surely. Money will bring money, but only when you will know the appropriate things to do. There is no doubt that - social media channels are great sources of traffic.
Planning to engage them in your products or services and finally convert them into leads is okay. But you have to keep in mind, the whole process is not that easy. And that's why you are still reading this introduction of this in-depth discussion.
Well! Today let me show you some super major facts regarding why you are still stuck,
And hopefully, you'll get the ultimate guidance regarding the right social media strategy for small businesses that eventually will take you out of the rabbit hole!
A strategy called social media marketing makes use of social media websites and platforms to advertise goods and services. It ranks among the most popular marketing strategies, along with SEO and internet advertising.
According to STATISTA regarding The following advantages of social media marketing for businesses (survey as of January 2021):
Source: Statista
These statistics, collected from a poll of 4,394 marketers globally, show the depth of social media marketing.
The truth is - opening a business and generating social media marketing ideas for small businesses is easy. But in the competition of slow and steady races, it's not that easy to attain massive success and keep going on.
Advertising on social media channels can work as your helping hand to reach a mass audience, in this case, and let them know about your business.
But the following sins are constantly being made by so many small business owners that are solely responsible for sinking your boat in the middle of the ocean!
Have a look at the following lines carefully to know those blatant marketing strategies that you are constantly applying.
Always keep this word in mind - the followers are just your followers, not buyers! You'll find many small business owners who spend a decent amount of money every day to get followers (which can be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on).
And they get an increased number of followers also. But at the end of the day, the increased number of followers can't increase their sales.
Cause, when you run a paid campaign on social media, the following things happen in most cases,
So, are you already in the trap? Then how can you get rid of it?
Suppose you have a car business that is small. Now, you want to expand your business to a mass audience. To make it happen, as a small business owner, you are determined to perform social media marketing for small businesses to get quick results.
You have put a budget for marketing and have run your ad campaign targeting those who have no sufficient financial stability. So, what will happen at the end of the day?
They'll see your advertisement, click the thumbs-up button, and then will put a comment "When I'll be rich, I'll buy this car. But not today!".
And that's how your marketing budget is going into the gutter!
Actually, the following things happen when you do wrong audience targeting after running your paid advertisements.
It's okay to market your business on social media. But there's a saying - If you run after two hares, you'll catch neither! The same thing happens when you try to dominate all the social media channels to grab traffic greedily.
But the fact is, for thriving your business, it's not necessary to be active on all the popular social media channels. Instead, you should choose a particular social media and give your full attention to where your potential customers are active. And then your task is to convert them into leads by using your improvised marketing strategy.
And when you will give your full focus on your appropriate social media for small businesses, the results that you'll receive won't disappoint you.
Setting goals for thriving your business is always appreciated. But when it becomes unrealistic and starts to convert you into a daydreamer, it will surely make you experience some scary nightmare in the near future! Why? Because the effect will not only make you depressed but also your entire business will suffer.
For instance, we can consider the situation of COVID-19 which suddenly turned into a serious outbreak in 2020. When the virus was being spread rapidly, and slowly all the governments were declaring lockdown for their countries; at that very moment, some people chose social media to sell hand sanitizer.
And millions of people around the globe made an impressive amount of money by selling this liquid.
Now it's not 2020. Everyone is getting vaccinated and the demand for hand sanitizer is not that high compared to 2020.
If today you plan to make millions of dollars by selling hand sanitizer with the same strategy, you are clearly staying in a fool's paradise! And at the end of the day what will happen - you will have a lot of hand sanitizers in your inventory unsold. And this scene is scary and sad at the same time!
Unrealistic goal setting not only happens when you select any wrong product at the wrong time for selling. Even the following things are the symptoms that you'll notice if your business goal is near daydreaming.
Today after waking up in the morning, before leaving your bed, when you picked up your phone and started scrolling social media newsfeed, you must have seen many paid advertisements that caught your attention.
And you might have also noticed, all of these are talking about their products and claiming these products as "The Best!" in the market.
Now I want to ask you - how many products of these have you decided to purchase?
Exactly! So, if you are in the same rat race, then how do you expect that your customer will buy your product from you? Why not from others?
That's why self-bragging is one of the biggest sins that you probably are making continuously. Of course, you have the right to promote your product, but this is not the right way at all!
You will find many agencies around the place where you live, who are dedicated to growing your business with proper marketing strategies.
The company is yours, the product or service is yours, and their responsibility is to ensure maximizing your sales by doing proper marketing strategy according to the product/service that you are providing. And they will charge an amount in return.
The problem is - most people think blindly - "Agencies are scam! They just grab high amounts from the businessmen in the name of so-called marketing that brings no results!"
I know scam agencies exist. But you will find many agencies also have dynamic teams with great professionals. You must have wasted a lot of money on Facebook or Instagram ads with no results.
Cause you are not a professional in this field at all. And that's why you're still reading this discussion to learn something new!
But if you had met with a true professional who (it can be a person or agency!) holds substantial knowledge in social media marketing, your business would have been in a comparatively better position than today.
Learn More: Social Media Marketing for Dentists
Not at all! As I said earlier, social media platforms are always a worthy source of traffic for growing your business. You just have to know the appropriate way to reach and engage them with your business and learn how to convert them into leads with your diversified marketing strategy.
To return your faith in social media marketing for small businesses and boost your confidence in it, I can share some interesting numbers. And I want your eyeballs to turn on the following words!
I can share more stats, but now I want to stop here! Cause I think these facts with stats will be enough for you to return your reliance on the statement that - social media marketing is not dead at all! Instead, gradually the industry is getting bigger at a surprising rate!
Now it's your job to know how to use these powerful platforms!
As I mentioned earlier, not all social media platforms are important for your business development. Instead, you have to find the right social media where most potential customers are active.
So before you start rushing, make sure that you have read the following guidelines that will help you to get a crystal clear understanding regarding what particular social media is appropriate considering your business type and product/service.
Remember! The following lines you have to consider as general guidance. So after finishing the guidelines, I suggest you use your common sense as well to pick the appropriate one for you. It's important!
So, without further ado, let's get these social media marketing tips for small businesses.
Before choosing any particular social media channel, first, do some research on that to figure out what type of visitors are most active over there. And this part is extremely important!
For instance - if your business provides B2B services, Linked In can be an excellent source for you to get your targeted angel guests for your business! And it's an open secret that Linked In is the platform where all the real professionals meet together virtually, and there is no border between them.
But if you choose Facebook instead, that will be a comparatively bad choice for you as your product or service is made for business persons.
Figuring out the main traffic source of any particular social media is important, especially when you plan to perform social media marketing for small businesses. Why? Let me explain!
Suppose, for expanding your business, you want to grab market share in India. And your product supply chain is ready for that as well. But now you need to make awareness among the Indian people, who don't know about your product. So, what should you do now?
The answer is - You have to find out that particular social media for marketing where Indian people are mostly active!
And considering your case, the name of the platform should be Facebook! Because Facebook is the platform where nearly 350 million Indian people are active, which is the highest in the world!
Depending on your business type and your audience type, finding the right social media is extremely necessary. Let me explain with a simple example.
It's an open reality that human attention span is getting reduced gradually. According to multiple reports, teenagers are not big fans of consuming written content. They want visual representation.
On the other hand, a significant portion of them doesn't like longer videos. Instead, they prefer enjoying short videos.
And age is not the only factor in this regard. Depending on some other factors like religion, geography, the situation of society, etc a customer's habit of content consumption may differ!
Once you have identified your customer group, choosing the right social media is an easy game! Suppose you want to promote a perfume among teenage people. In that case, Instagram and TikTok can be the perfect choice for you as these are extremely popular for sharing photos and short video content respectively.
Learn More: Social Media Marketing for Fashion Brands
As you will find diversity in social media platforms, you will experience different types of people. And, as you find different types of people on various social media platforms, your marketing tone should be different as well!
Here I want to mention the 3C formula that will help you to find the appropriate tone that you should apply to your audience. And here the 3C stands for -
Depending on these three things and your business goal - you have to note down the list of objectives that will allow you to create your brand voice. And whenever you build your brand voice, you can easily create your content for any particular social media.
Well! Now you already know the mistakes you are constantly making, you know the substantial potentiality of social media, and you know how to choose an appropriate social media for developing your business.
After that, this is high time to know about the social media marketing strategy for small businesses.
In the discussion below, you'll be introduced to the 8 unique steps that you should follow.
And I want to mention here with great confidence - these 8 unique steps will not only make massive sales in a short span of time. Instead, these steps will reconstruct your whole business, and that will bring stability to your business as well!
I know in your business you have multiple products to offer. If your business is very small, I mean, if it's just passing the start-up period, please go for one product and do whatever you need to make it the ultimate tram card for growing up!
Because, to build your customer network, you have to sell your product. And without in-depth knowledge regarding your product, you can never figure out how to make your customer buy it!
And it's nearly impossible to be a master in the short span of time on all kinds of products you're offering. It needs time!
You've now selected your product. Now your job is to gain substantial knowledge regarding the product. Because completing this task will allow you to take the next step.
Especially for making content that will engage your customers, you have to understand the products you are willing to sell.
To make the process easier, ask the following questions to yourself regarding the product and find the answers.
This is not the end! Do some brainstorming to dig out more questions and get your answers ready!
Learn More: Social Media Marketing for Restaurants
Business is not only sourcing some products and starting to sell blindly as much as possible! Instead, every business person should have a problem-solving attitude!
Let me explain! You are surely reading this discussion from your laptop, desktop, tablet device, or smartphone. If the device you are holding in your hand was not invented, could you start reading it? Not at all! And here is the pain!
Then who solved your problem? The device manufacturers like Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo, etc., took the initiative to manufacture these products to solve your problem. That's how a business grows!
Like, considering your product and the value that the product can provide, you have to figure out what particular customer pain it can eliminate. To target the pain, you have to initiate further marketing processes.
Through the process that I have mentioned above, you have confirmed the following things -
Now using this information, you have to make content targeting the needs of your customer. For making quality content that can engage your audience, you can follow the following techniques.
When your product starts to get sold, you should turn your attention to creating your customer database, especially if you know how to use the marketing-related tools of that particular social media platform you are using for marketing purposes regularly.
You will get the following benefits if you create a worthy database. Have a look!
Suppose you have run an advertising campaign on social media. Some people will ask about your product using the inbox and the comment section. Some of these will buy immediately, and the rest of the people will just ignore you!
Considering the buying tendency, we can prepare three segments here.
Depending on your customer type to maximize your sales, preparing these segments is one of the most important things.
Coca Cola is the company that first initiated its journey in 1886. That means the company is almost 135 years old! Let's think about one interesting thing - if the mango people would buy Coca Cola only once in their entire life, Coca Cola would never be able to dominate the whole beverage industry for more than a century!
Here comes the power of returning customers, who will contribute to your business to grow by buying your products repeatedly like a Coca Cola bottle!
And you can make this happen only when you can build a satisfied customer network. And to make it happen, you have to work to improve your product quality as well.
The relationship between your business and your customer is not only until he buys a product or service from you.
If you dedicate a platform for them where they can interact with each other and express their experience regarding their product, it will be one of the most powerful tools that will allow you to know the customer feedback.
After all, you will get the following benefits if you build a thriving community for your consumers/customers.
After getting the ultimate guidance, it's very natural that you will ask this question! Don't worry! I'll suggest you follow the guidelines below before handing over your valuable money to any particular agency for social media promotion.
Well! Considering your business size and tasks that you and your team are to handle every day, if you feel you need a digital marketing agency to help you to reduce your excessive workload of social media management for small businesses, you have to choose the right digital marketing agency that is worthy enough to handle it.
Otherwise, you will just be wasting money! If you're not a big fan of being part of it, follow the following steps so that you can filter out the right one.
This is the rough process of finding out the best social media marketing for you. And if you invent some improvised technique in this regard, you can apply it as well.
Unfortunately, there isn't a simple solution. It relies on your goals, just like the majority of marketing techniques.
There are various ways to Calculate the Price of Social Media Marketing
So! We're near the end of this discussion. But before wrapping up, as an expert in the Digital Marketing industry, I want to answer some frequently asked questions from people like you.
Have a look!
Well! I already answered this question in the discussion! If you haven't read that portion properly, I suggest you read that again. You'll find the appropriate way to find out the best social media for your small business.
But in brief, we can say the following things before choosing a particular social media.
There are several reasons we can mention. But I want to mention the key reasons here.
Here I want to mention a legendary quote - "Nothing is free in this world!". In the case of social media marketing for small businesses, you either have to spend money on advertising campaigns or work super hard instead. But for getting quick results, there is no other better alternative than paid advertisements.
But still, you have the following things to do for promoting your business on social media.
There are some advantages of social media marketing for small businesses that I have already mentioned. But here I'm saying some more benefits that you can get. Just go through the bullet points.
If you are still with my long discussion, then you already know that the website where you are reading this line right now, is actually a leading digital marketing agency that serves multiple services to their clients.
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Social media marketing service
Online reputation management service
Branding and communication service
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First of all, thanks for your extreme patience in reading the super-long discussion of social media marketing for small businesses. But the surprising fact is, still, this discussion is not enough! I skipped some minor parts that you should know as well. For keeping the discussion as short as possible, I have been compelled to do it.
So, when you are stuck somewhere, please do some research to dig out the solution yourself. If you need help from some professionals, you can contact the VISER X support team without any cost.
After all, I believe you have a clear understanding of the ultimate guidance of social media marketing that will allow you to convert your small business into a bigger one.