Is your small business using Social Media? Social media is now positioned to support many TV commercials, though other brands without the TV budget can now be found without having to spend up big. 

This is the age where people largely rely on the internet for information and many forms of entertainment. The World Wide Web now has one of the largest impacts on a consumer’s buying process and customers are more educated now on your products than ever. Social media is an effective tool when used with your marketing strategy. Below we look at how it can work for your business

Why is Social Media necessary?

It is important to note that social media is no longer a fad for small businesses. It is not new for businesses to have a Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, youTube or all of these accounts. Social Media has become a basic need for every growing small business to thrive. Social media promotes brand awareness in that it does not only let people know about your products, it also introduces your identity as a brand. You get to create, then manage your online reputation through Social Media allowing more people the chance of finding you and seeing what you’re all about.

Social media is necessary because your competitors are actively involved. Like it or not, you have to do and outdo what your competitors are doing. Social media is designed for people to connect and engage. Businesses use social media to earn money by converting visitors, fans and followers into buying customers. Social media is necessary because there is real money in connection and engagement.

How much time should be spent on Social Media?

A recent survey by Vertical Response (an American marketing company), 63% of CEO’s, owners and directors spend 1-6 hours a week on social media. The rest spend more, up to 21 hours a week. That is a significant part of each day. What are they doing? 90% of small businesses are on Facebook while 70% have a Twitter account. More than half of small business owners maintain or have a dedicated person to maintain a blog (one of the key ingredients for your social media success). Social Media is time consuming but it is necessary. It’s not something you can just setup and then do away with hoping that the Likes will pile up. It becomes another part of a small business owners activities.

What social media tasks can you outsource?

1. Building your social media platforms

Building your pages means getting your social media profiles up. Setting up images and content is important because it defines your brand. Not all social media platforms may be applicable to your type of business and this is important to know because you want to concentrate more time on platforms that impacts your business the most. If you have a brick and mortar business with visitors then Google Places, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all possible candidates. If you invite customers to your place of business then Twitter, LinkedIN and youTube will be more suited to your needs.

2. Managing connections

To make social media work for you, you need to be able to connect and interact with the right people. You need to achieve a balance of connections that you can learn from and those that you can do business with. According to surveys, if Facebook was a country, it would be the 3rd largest country in the world. In the social media world, Facebook is just one of the many platforms and its citizens are just some of the people you need to interact with. You can outsource connecting with people in your network as well as unfollowing or purging those who are inactive. Managing connections can take time but it is necessary because it is the only way you will build a strong social media impact.

3. Building content

Content is one of the most important components of your Social media presence if not the most important. As the saying goes “Content is King” but “Video Content is King Kong!”. Your content lets your audience know who you are, promotes your product and services and helps your prospects by providing resources and insight.

Writing a blog can be challenging and time consuming but it is one of the ways that you can keep your content fresh. A good content writer with a good grasp of how small businesses work and what your company does can research, draft, write and edit blogs for you. Content is not only limited to your content. There are numerous great ideas out there that can help you and your audiences, articles and research from authorities is a great way to reinforce the offers you have.

With content building you can save time to focus on the important activities a small business owner has like: Providing great customer service to your growing customer base and helping new customers decide on buying your products. To be more effective in this area you could and should outsource to a dedicated social media support team or person to efficiently manage your social media channels.

4. Scheduling posts

Social media posting must be consistent and strategic. You need to establish a good posting schedule based on your target audience. To make this process as streamlined as possible, you can outsource creating a social media weekly planner and use a good social media managing system such as Sprout Social to make sure posts are delivered on time and consistently.

5. Engaging with customers

Social media lets you connect and engage with your audience real time. It is an important tool in promoting your products or services as well as in providing customer service. To do this efficiently, you need a dedicated support person to monitor your mentions and comments and respond to them as quickly as possible. When it comes to customer engagement, there is no secret formula except to do it and do it often.

Is Social Media right for your company

If you’re not currently actively engaging on social media, because you think its not for you or for your business, then we suggest you stop and ask yourself these simple questions:

1. Why not, and for what reasons are you not interacting and engaging with your prospects?
2. What medium do you think would best suit your business and why, do a little research?
3. Are your competitors on the social bandwagon, you can bet they are?
4. What are your competitors up to and are some of their followers your customers?
5. If you could look ahead 5 years, even 2 years, how would you like to be serving your customers?

Here’s where you should start:

Pick a social media channel most likely to be where your customers are, then get active in participating and engaging by providing quality content. Offer great ideas and solutions, just leave the selling to a minimum for now. You’ll want your customers to engage with you first.

About the Author

 

About Adam Mole

Adam is the proprietor of start up BPO company Transeo and has been working with offshore and outsourcing services for more than 20 years. Adam is passionate about small business. He likes to write about his experiences in sales and startup business ventures. In his spare time you'll find him on one of Sydney's south coast beaches surfing and smiling. Email Adam at adam.mole@transeo.com.au and follow Adam on Twitter @adam_transeo.