10 Proven & Most Important Social Media Strategies for Small Business

Only 73% of small businesses are using social media. What about the rest?

They say they lack resources, money, time, bandwidth, and energy for it.

Undisputedly, running a business irrespective of its size can leave you white eyed. And adding social media marketing to it can be overwhelming.

But using social media isn’t like entering a maze. If you know a few tricks, it is the easiest form of marketing and affordable too, in some cases.

This article aims to help small businesses using social media, but not achieving the desired traction achieve them. Or have tried diverse methods but gained little or no results. It will also help the ones who haven’t started it yet to know why they should use it ASAP.

Read the ten proven social media strategies for small businesses and get going.

  1. SWOT analysis for Social Media

Many find it time-consuming and useless, but SWOT analysis is a proven strategy and can be applied to different social media platforms. The results often surprise people; however, it is essential to act on them.

What does it mean for a social media marketer? The onus is on him to ensure all the social media campaigns fulfill their purpose, but what if they fail sometimes. A regular SWOT analysis is the best strategy to know why.

What is a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a simple test that evaluates a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

There is no set formula; however, a few things apply to all.

Strengths

This section evaluates the strengths of your social media strategy. Think hard before answering. Some of your strengths may include the following:

  • Market Reach
  • Community members with the potential to turn brand campaigners
  • Human resources. Check if the back-end team responds well –quickly and effectively.
  • Support from the Management or the executive

Weaknesses

  • Issues (if any) in running social media campaigns
  • Deficiency in resources and/or tools
  • Difficulty in training management team on social media principles

Opportunities

  • Joining social media platforms you aren’t present yet. e.g., Instagram
  • New markets
  • Partnership with advertisers
  • Offers via social media platforms

Threats

  • A competitor targeting the same audience or niche
  • Sustainability of the current campaign. Is it possible to continue it?
  • Obstacles in the path of achieving results

Honest answers to these will pave the way for building robust marketing strategies. If you have best high paying Affiliate Programs for your business, do confirm the results from the tools.

But SWOT analysis isn’t just for social media, and it can be extended to various other aspects of the business. Moreover, all other strategies can emulate the results of the SWOT analysis.

  1. Choose the Right Platform

Making assumptions about the social media where your target audience is spending most of their time is a grave mistake. So though your instinct may ask you not to use Facebook for targeting millennials, the data shows that 82 percent are still using Facebook in America.

It should be noted here that every business is different, and so is its requirement. Using the right channel will only help reach the desired goal faster. So, choose wisely after a thorough analysis of the target audience, demography, niche, and competitors.

Remain active on a few selected social media platforms. It will help you focus all your energies at the right place and reap the benefits.

  1. Virtual and Augmented Reality

Virtual and augmented reality are the two new forms of mass entertainment. Both have become increasingly popular due to their immersive experiences. This characteristic makes them perfect for marketing. Brands are using them as per their requirement. For a few, an immersion experience that blocks the physical world works perfectly while for others, it is the digital elements in a live view that boosts audience engagement.

Using these two effectively will make the potential customers understand services, products, and so forth. It is similar to what they would in reality. Is that beneficial? You can indirectly control their buying decisions and bring revenues to your business from home or a physical store.

For instance,

  • Try before Buy

The potential buyers can try clothes on themselves or check the color of the paint if interested in buying.

  • Training

Small businesses can make use of the two to train their employees for conducting specific tasks.

It’s time small businesses who haven’t thought of these two amazing tools should rethink. They are certainly losing out to a lot to other brands. Remember ‘Threats’ from SWOT analysis.

  1. Social TV and Vertical Video

Not so long ago posting vertical videos was mocked. The producers of these videos were called novices and the content substandard. With the advent of smartphones, the scenario has changed dramatically. Vertical videos have gained widespread dominance. A perfect example is of YouTube. It claims that vertical videos comprise of 70 % of their watch time.

Since mobile phones are used vertically most of the times, it is only natural that social media platforms have also shifted their focus on vertical videos.

Vertical videos provide ample opportunities to grow irrespective of the platform you use for your small business, Instagram, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or Snapchat. From live streaming to short-lived stories, small businesses can create vertical videos and use them for promoting services and products. The recent move by social media giants of removing black bars on vertical videos is expected to provide a pleasant experience to the viewers.

Similar is the case with social TV.

In 2018, social media chatter was found to be full of dancing, singing, and magic content. Social series programs topped the list making Social TV as one of the most sought after tool. It should be harnessed for immediate effect. Even business ideas that make money is not complete without vertical videos today.

  1. Influencer Marketing

We discussed ‘Opportunities’ while discussing SWOT analysis earlier in this article. Here is one – Influencer marketing

In North America, two-third of retailers are using influencer marketing. More and more businesses are joining this trend every day.

If you use Instagram, you may have seen influencers promoting brands and products. Taking a cue from it may help you also build a social media strategy of your own.

Influencer marketing is like looking for short term partners (social content creators) that can help your small business grow. These individuals influence audiences and can help promote your service, product, or a campaign with near-guaranteed results. What is so special about them? These creators are having niche audiences add value to your small business. They have loyal followers on social media who are kept engaged with their content.

Go ahead. Find an ideal influencer on the basis of relevance and resonance with your target audience. If he seems suitable, aligns well with your expectations and is in your budget, there is no reason to let him go.

Also, if affiliate marketing is in your plan, use influencers as affiliates.

  1. Diverse Content

The worst thing one does while leveraging social media benefits is not using it to its full potential. Many post only pictures on Instagram or short tweets on Twitter. You may have seen this or are probably doing the same yourself.

It is like eating half the meat. Why not the whole?

A good social media strategy comprises of posting a variety of content, and this should include videos, blog posts, infographics, photos, and so much more. How does it help?

A user finds it boring to see the same kind of content every day, and this poses hindrances in achieving your goals. Also, a variety of posts helps in understand and identify what has appealed your audience the most, and this knowledge can help you use the platform more effectively.

  1. More Storytelling

Who can forget Coca-Cola’s  ‘Share a Coke’ campaign? It suited the objective and blended perfectly with the brand narrative. In the history of storytelling campaigns, it is one of the most successful campaigns.

Why should you use it too?

Stories engage attention like no other making them more vital than ever before in this age of competition. A good story can connect viewers and enhance loyalty making it a powerful marketing tool.

More and more brands are using it today. These real-time videos are short and attract millennials and younger demographic more due to its authenticity. Social media is the right place where this emotion makes you stand out. There are tools such as Instagram stories and Snapchat stories. Another is Facebook stories. The best part is little or no use of words.

However, it is a challenge to narrate your story on social media. Figuring out which one will prove useful is another, but it isn’t a mystery that cannot be solved. Know the audience and their requirements. Then narrate a story and place the object (product or service) in the middle of it, telling how it will benefit the user. Your job is done.

  1. Loyal Customers

Social media marketing enhances brand loyalty like no other. A study in Texas Tech University found that businesses that have social media presence enjoy more loyal customers than others without it.

And making the presence felt on various platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter can grow without investing a penny. It even reaches the audience who might not have heard of it inexpensively, adding to brand loyalty and awareness.

Loyal customers play a key role in word-of-mouth marketing. While you have already won the trust of the loyal customers, now is the time to influence them with other strategies mentioned in this article and grow your business.

How do they help? They will share positive feedback, refer family and friends, like and share your post on social media, and talk about your brand.

  1. Live Streaming

You may come across tweets promoting live streams on Facebook, YouTube, or Periscope.

These live videos have been around for a while now and are powerful modes of humanizing your business, allowing the audience to know the people working behind the brand.

Why have we included it in this article?

80 percent of people like to watch a live stream than a blog from a brand. People are interested in watching video-based content more than ever before. The reason for watching is the same as it is for watching TV. Admittedly, the likeability for videos is growing so remain assured the demand will only rise in the future.

Primarily, it is a customer engagement strategy, and you can also use it for growing your customer base. Moreover, social media platforms provide a share stream button. You can check them to record your success.

Popular social media platforms for live streaming include Twitter, Facebook Live, and Youtube. Your live streaming videos can have product tutorials, Q&A sessions, event promotions, or influencer partnership or anything else you would like to share with your audience.

  1. Chatbots

With the popularity of messaging apps outgrowing social media platforms, people too are showing deep interest in using chatbots. These computer programs integrated into the messaging apps mimic human-like interaction, qualifying them for social media marketing for small businesses. What sets them apart is their ability to answer common questions easily. It was found that they use artificial intelligence to adapt to customer behavior.

Surprisingly, not many businesses have started using chatbots or have heard about them, but the ones using are receiving great returns. It is worth mentioning here social media platforms useful for small businesses have started endorsing chatbots. Facebook has some 33000 chatbots.

What can it do? Chatbots can automate customer service, provide better access to data, and expand to multiple platforms, leaving no reason for not adding it into your social media strategies.

Summing up

If any of the above discussed social media strategies has sparked your interest, then do not waste time in incorporating it into your marketing plan. You can even apply two or more strategies depending on the SWOT analysis and see what resonates with your business.