Do I need Social Media as a Small Business Owner?

Thinking of adding Social Media to your marketing mix? Don't know where to start? Our Marketing Specialist Jane, helps your wrap your head around growing your business online.

Advantages of Social Media

1. Lower your Cost of Acquisition

In terms of advertising channels, it doesn’t get any more cost effective than choosing Social Media. Setting up a business page on Facebook, or creating an Instagram or Twitter account is absolutely free. Posting updates, and sharing company info is all available to you with a complementary account. Once you get into the flow of posting regularly, you may want to consider “boosting” a post. This is where you pay Facebook, Instagram etc. to have your post show up in new users' feeds, the advantage being, people who don’t already follow you or the hashtags you use, can find you. The cost of boosting a post is completely up to you and varies based on the amount of users you are targeting and the time-frame for which the ad is boosted. Either way you’re in control; you chose when, where and how much you want to spend on social ads.

2. Stay Current/On-trend

Using popular hashtags to fuel your content is a great way to engage with customers and stay on trend. Is there a major sports match or event you can comment on? Is it a holiday? Even days of the week have their own hashtags now e.g. #MotivationMonday If you have a motivational tip, post it on a Monday, everyone following that hashtag will have the chance to view it.

3. Become a Thought-Leader

Are you an expert on something? Social Media is your chance to share your knowledge with the web. Know or admire and expert? Reach out to them about posting a review of your product. So-called “influencers” have become one of the most trusted forms of advertising, in part because of their natural, non-invasive format.

4. Maximize your Customer Engagement

With re-tweets, re-posts and commenting, customers have never been more engaged with brands. Take advantage of this by tailoring your posts towards a two-way dialogue, as opposed to the old school megaphone-style announcements.

5. Get a Global Reach

If you sell your product or service globally, it only makes sense to advertise it on the World Wide Web. Investigate local hashtags, and try to vary your posts across time-zones.

6. Optimize Conversion Rates

With the pace life is moving these days, social media provides an unassuming edge: Conversion can happen in one step. When viewing an ad on your phone, you can google the product reviews or go to the company website or check-out page in one click. Compared to passing a billboard while driving, or seeing and ad on tv, Social Media offers the advantage that users are already on their phones, the same place that they buy from. This creates far less of a time-lagg and requires less steps than seeing an ad while focused on another task, and having to remember to go look up the product later.

Additional Tips

Photos

Using high-quality photographs can make all the difference. Social Media is very visual and it pays to invest in the quality of your images. If you're not a great photographer yourself, stock footage sites offer access to quality photographs at a minimal price.

Font

Choose your fonts carefully. When selecting a social font, remember most people are viewing your ad on their phone -make sure they can read it. This means avoiding fancy script fonts, and selecting a size that’s big enough for folks to read without zooming, which creates an extra step for the viewer.

Contests

Throwing a social media contest is akin to word-of-mouth marketing. Generally, contest participation involves tagging friends and reposting your ad. This means that each person who would normally see your ad, is motivated to share it with several of their friends, increasing your brand awareness.