4 Social Media Tips for Small Businesses

In the digital age, the focus of marketing is shifting from trying to hijack people’s attention and then passing across a message to actually obtaining their permission to give them information.

The difference is this: in the former, people are often forced to view ads when they are displayed on billboards on radio, or on TV. This creates a subconscious resistance to advertising, in the mind of the consumer. On the other hand, content marketing has taken off so well because, often it is the consumers who go looking for information and the challenge faced by marketers and businesses is simply to provide that information in a timely, accurate and reliable manner.

When this is done right, you get the attention of an audience who has granted you permission to advertise or sell them products. Here are 4 smart social media tactics to help you achieve this effect:

#1. Create value

People get on search engines because they are, well, searching for information. This information could come from thousands of different websites and sources so the searcher is spoilt for choice and will be expecting high quality results. This means on your social media channels, you should focus on providing top quality content that provides the answers your customers seek when they go “information shopping”.

#2. Be focused

You can’t provide the right type of content for everyone out there and so you will need to provide the right content and distribution channels that would work for your target customer. In the real world you probably have an idea of what sort of people this might be, and when you go digital, you need to maintain your focus on this group.

This means you should provide content that is tailored to meet their needs, and is available on the right social media channels. For example, people of all ages might require information about a new laptop that you have on the shelves of your local electronics store, but the way you might present that information to users of different age groups might require that you get creative.

#3. Build a community

This is the first rule of social media marketing. The social media movement has been driven by the fact that masses of people from all over the world can find some common ground in an idea, principles or ideals, and often viral content is spread after it has first made the rounds within a community. Now, depending on the size and nature of your business, you may not need a very large community. This is particularly the case if you’re running a local business. You should look to bring your past and present customers together with potential new ones by finding the common ground between them and developing content that is born thereof.

#4. Be consistent

As much as content marketing and social media marketing requires a quality over quantity approach, you will still need be consistent in order to continue meeting the needs of your community. This might require that you take a little time off your core business activities, but don’t look at it as being an unnecessary distraction. If you decide that digital marketing is taking too much of your time however, you can decide to hire a social media consultant or digital marketer to help manage your campaigns.

Conclusion

Content marketing is the new frontier for the modern business and many have already found great success at it. Don’t hesitate, even if you find it a bit challenging at first, just get stuck in, try a few things and use these tips to guide you as you do