SMEs and local businesses that do not use social media platforms are missing out on a great opportunity to attract more customers and thus the possibility of reaching new markets and making your company survive buy facebook comments.
If you have a small local business, you obviously want it to prosper as quickly as possible, right? To do this, you need to professionally include a social media marketing strategy in your marketing plan . This is not new or great news, (everyone already knows this) but the key is: career strategy or plan .
We at Marketing RS very often see many local businesses and SMEs that are participating in social platforms, executing traditional marketing actions without achieving the expected results, or what is worse, using social channels to publish offers of all kinds without stopping, in the majority with meager or no results.
But don’t worry, if you have a local business, and you want to promote it on social networks, here are some tips to start your social media marketing strategy correctly:
- Keep up with trends
When we look at the number of people using social networks like Twitter and Facebook, or Instagram it quickly becomes clear that businesses need to make this an essential part of their marketing strategy.
Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have become so prevalent and popular that people simply expect to find everything they need there. If they don’t find a business, they simply move on to a similar option that maintains a better online presence.
- Establish your own strategy plan
A social media marketing plan should not be complex for a local company, it should have the main data that helps you identify your current positioning, data on your competition, the profile of your ideal client and the goals you want to achieve. Set your goals clear, achievable and measurable. Plan your content strategy, the actions to execute, and anticipate the amount of time, effort and money you will need to achieve your objectives. - Create a brand identity
Local companies face a lot of competition from other businesses, from medium and large companies in the same field, which often sell products at lower prices as a strategy. The way to defend against these strategies for a smaller company is to convince potential clients of the quality of your service, gain their trust, attend to their needs and show them that it makes sense for them to come to our business instead of other companies. .
Establishing a brand identity helps attract customers who crave a more personal shopping experience and to be truly heard. Social media allows you to create a branded personality for your business.
Using Twitter or Facebook, for example, gives your business a voice and presence. Choose to connect with your followers, ask questions and listen to them, this way you will build a community that trusts, buys your products and recommends you on social networks.
- Reach new customers
Social networks allow people to share content with each other, with the click of a button, local businesses can use this feature to reach new customers. To do this, however, you need attractive and useful content, with tactics that attract people.
Generating good shareable content is not as difficult or expensive as you might think. Try using YouTube to give your customers a behind-the-scenes look at your business. For example, if you use a little creativity, you could use a slide with good photos of your store, with background music to share with your followers on all social networks.
If you do something that attracts and interests your followers and customers, your followers will want to share it with other people, and this action exposes your name, your brand and your business to many more people (virality), who could become your new customers.
- Get your customers involved
If you plan to get the most out of Facebook, Twitter, Pineterst, Instagram or any other social network, then you have to learn to be social. Generating commitment or engagement with your followers means sharing visual content accompanied by asking questions or requesting their opinion. The idea is to interact and promote the participation of your audience.
Local businesses have several options they can use to get their customers involved, here are some ideas:
- Create a contest for people to share a photo or video advertising your business.
- You can ask to share your content giving you the opportunity to win a gift card or product from your business, etc.
- You can also use services like Twitter, Pinterest, and Foursquare to advertise limited-time offers. (That can boost business on slow days.)
- Use Facebook advertising to attract more people to your business.
- Offer discount coupons only for Fans and exclusive promotions.
- Etc.
Friends, social networks will continue to be increasingly important for companies of all sizes, but especially for SMEs and businesses because they give you the opportunity to compete with companies of other sizes and achieve results, with less investment than the traditional marketing.