When running a business, hard work is an understatement, especially if you are starting out, taking on multiple roles and doing the majority of the work.
There are so many factors to consider keeping a business running and social media is usually the last thing on any business owner’s mind. At times it can feel pointless thinking about how you can spend time posting when you have a business to run.
With the technology driven world we live in today, social media is the first thing that should factor in for any business structure. Social media is an incredibly useful tool to help small businesses build a reputation as well as an audience to capture. Some might say that social media has become a well-established and reliable way to promote a brand/business and to reach your target audience. Finding the way social media will work for you will become an irreplaceable asset to the future of your business.
In our blog post we are sharing a few tips in becoming a social media expert which will put your business ahead of the rest, which will increase the potential value of your business.
Why social media is important
2021, the year of social media growth and new business ventures. For some, if the presence of your business does not exist on social media, then you might as well be non-existent. Extreme I know, but social media is the way people find or come across new brands and services. How we make informed purchasing decisions through social media is seeing the content of the product/service and how it would benefit us.
For small businesses social media is even more important to be seen, you need to establish your brand's voice, and reinforce your purpose. Creating genuine connections with your customer base, it’s a new way to showcase your “storefront” in other words.
Approaching social media as a small business
As a business tool, the way in which you understand the value social media will have for your business is the first step to success. An ideal way to connect with your audience and customer base. Whether you are just starting out or established and have decided you need a little guidance with social media to expand, here are a few ways to help you approach the right target and grow your social media success for the business.
1. What matters most
It can all be overwhelming, trying to understand all the technical jargon, metrics, and analytics of social media. The best way to measure your progression and success through the various platforms would be with the number of followers you have, maybe even by the likes and comments on your posts. However, it may not be what serves your company best.
Ask yourself, what are your goals that you are wanting to achieve with your social media? If its to connect and build connections with your customer base that a huge following wouldn’t matter, instead you would focus more on the small, connected community you have to further grow the connections through word of mouth.
2. What’s working and what isn’t?
Try not to push social media too hard, by posting 10 stories and pictures a day if it doesn’t benefit you or your audience and if it's not relevant either to capture your followers. Try not to always post a sale “buy me now” post, your customers want to know more about the product or service what it can offer them and how you came about building your business, customers enjoy the raw behind the scenes unedited content, showing the true process and running of your business.
Dive into your settings and insights to see how your business is performing, it will give you an idea of what content is more popular, the time of day you post and how often you post, you might be surprised to realise the most successful strategy is something you didn’t expect.
Compare between the other platforms you have and see why one may thrive more on particular content than the other, social media is about planning and revisiting, you can’t stick to the same thing, like social media you need to keep updating and changing to stay relevant to your audience.
3. Brand Identity
Social media has been around for over a decade now, so we are now able to pick up on the tone, which accounts are genuine or aimed towards certain groups. Building an authentic brand identity is an essential tool to build your business and its social media presence.
Make sure you are reflecting your core values when creating the voice for your social media, how you wish to be present and seen through social media all depends on the tone and approach you take. Depending on the type of products/service you are promoting at the time, your tone and approach will be adjusted throughout the various platforms.
Keep in mind the content you are sharing should still reflect the aesthetic and brand of your business identity as a whole.
4. Customer service
You will be presented with endless opportunities on social media, one would be to show your gratitude and dedication to customer service. Social media is an open book for the world to see, taking on board all the positives and negatives like customer queries and complaints which are public will help strengthen your business depending on how you approach them.
You wouldn’t ignore a client if they were standing Infront of you, so accept the feedback positive or negative and it will benefit your brand to grow. Gaining trust and respect of social media communities is important so take every comment as a way to build support for your business.
5. Consistency
It's key to stay consistent when posting, make a weekly plan of what you can manage and stick to it. Strike a balance that is right for you and your followers.
You will gain more engagement as your customers become familiar with your presence and brand identity. Once you have a routine, you will start enjoying the content and process to grow your community along the way, don’t forget to engage with your followers this will be valuable for your business success.
Any business owner whats a successful business and to increase their investment value of the business in the future, if this is the case for you especially starting out as a new business speaking with a business valuer would be highly recommend to get you on the right path as well help you make informed decisions for the future success of your business as well as your financial positioning in the industry.