Offer Lessons and Tutorials
There are several tried and true methods that Well Minded Media recommends when implementing social media marketing within your own small business. A great way to gain visibility and drive potential customers to your site is by offering free lessons or tutorials specific to the services you offer. This is a great way to start bringing your brand to life—even though you’re not interacting with your customers in real time, lessons, tutorials, and walk-throughs really help potential customers get to know you and your business on a more intimate level. If you’re really missing those in-person moments, though, consider creating a livestream event... businesses are increasingly taking advantage of the “face-to-face" interactions livestreaming can foster as this pandemic presses on.
Create A Livestream Event
A livestream event occurs when a person or business posts a real-time, live video on their social media page—livestreaming also encourages your followers and other members of social media to virtually join the livestream event, and get in on the action! Facebook saw a 50% increase in the number of users watching live Facebook stories in the first month the pandemic hit the United States. Livestreams have become a major tool for businesses during the pandemic because it’s a simple process to set up, it’s accessible to a most target audiences, and it’s the perfect tool to amplify the amount of real-time engagement a business can enjoy with their customers during these times. As long as you’re sticking to the appropriate social distancing requirements in your area when livestreaming, this is the perfect way to maintain connections with existing clientele, while forging new ones with your expanded audience—remember, your online audience can allow you to expand your business from your local town to, well, the entire globe! If you spend some time making your livestreaming events interesting and unique, you could end up reaching an international audience.
Start A Giveaway Promotion
Many businesses tend to shy away from giveaway promotions, as giving out free merchandise or services can be intimidating. Ensure that your giveaway parameters are set in stone and there will be no need to fear. By investing in promoting your business online via a giveaway, the chances of increasing your audience permanently are very high. You may be sacrificing a small amount of revenue to increase your business’ visibility and follower count, but this will allow you to make new connections and find lifelong customers that may have never come across your business otherwise.
Double Down on Your Niche Market
This is an often overlooked, yet very important element when considering your social media presence... what is your niche market, and how can I best engage with it? There are Facebook groups, hashtags, and accounts entirely devoted to niche markets, but if you’re not there too, you’re missing out! These are people you already know are interested in what you have to offer, so don’t wait. Get started on engaging with your niche market right away.
Start A Blog
Starting a blog that discusses topics specific to your industry will help your business strengthen its competitive edge when entering the world of social media marketing. Interesting and educational blogs hosted on a business’ website are often visited by people that are interested in learning more about a particular subject, and simply did a quick google search. Blog posts allow your business to reach a much larger audience than just those who were already interested in your business. When your website hosts a blog, you’re driving a lot more traffic to your website, and inevitably, boosting your sales. Even further, hosting a blog gives your social media pages more engaging content to circulate. This will help increase your social media presence, and will help drive more visitors to your website.
In-App Features Your Business Should Be Using
There are a few different tools the major social media platforms offer that your business should be taking advantage of. Facebook just released a new online ecommerce source, Facebook Shops, which makes it much easier for potential customers to purchase items or services without exiting Facebook. Reducing the amount of steps a customer must take before making a purchase will help increase your sales, and encourage those that are usually just browsers to take the leap and make that first purchase.
LinkedIn is also now offering a live virtual events tool—make sure to take advantage of both LinkedIn Live and LinkedIn Events. With LinkedIn Events, you can invite potential attendees weeks in advance and build up the conversation surrounding your event as the date nears. If your business is on Instagram, the platform has recently created a support small business sticker to add to your Instagram stories. This is a great way to remind your audience of your local business’ presence, and help support other small businesses in your area!
