What is your best tip for small businesses to quickly grow their social media?
To help you grow your social media as a small business, we asked social media managers and marketing professionals this question for their best ideas. From engaging your followers by replying to comments to being consistent with your content and business details, there are several strategies that may help you grow a strong social media presence for your small business.
Here are 10 expert social media tips for small businesses:
- Engage Your Followers by Replying To Comments
- Start An Online Group To Foster Community
- Take Advantage of Available Tools To Manage Social Media
- Use Creative Ways To Grow Your Following at Minimal Cost
- Analyze Your Data
- Use Platforms Where Users Engage Longer
- Determine The Right Platforms for Your Business First
- Engage in Relevant Dialogue With Popular Accounts
- Collaborate With Micro-Influencers
- Be Consistent With Your Content and Your Name and Business Details
Engage Your Followers by Replying To Comments
Social media is all about interaction. The more engagement you have per post, the more likely it is to stand out in your followers’ feeds or appear on the Explore page. Engage with your followers in the comments of your posts. Replying to their comments demonstrates your customer service and increases the chances of your content being seen by other users.
Jonathan Zacharias, GR0
Start An Online Group To Foster Community
Start a group on social media centered on a specific area of interest where ideas can be shared apart from simply promoting your business. Creating an online community is one of the best ways to rally your ideal audience by focusing on serving their needs. By answering questions, and offering recommendations and resources, you provide a space for people to come together and share inspiration and information.
When others contribute, remember to like, share, and comment on their posts to foster that sense of community and validate their efforts. By starting an online group, you can grow your influence on social media and build trust with community members, as well as learn more about what your audience truly wants and needs.
Benjamin Meskin, Cabrella
Take Advantage of Available Tools To Manage Social Media
Managing social media platforms is a full-time job that can feel overwhelming if it’s not in your wheelhouse. Luckily, there are many social media tools that can make life much easier. Utilize tools like Trusy. No, it’s not buying fake, bot followers. It is putting your profile in front of real people whose interests actually align with your business. This will result in real follower growth.
Designing content can be complicated and time-consuming, which is why if you don’t have the skills or time, Canva is a great tool to start using. It allows you to make beautiful creative designs in all sizes, for all platforms. My biggest tip is to work smarter, not harder. Also, engage with your followers. Authenticity goes a long way in social media.
Erin Sullivan, University of Advancing Technology
Use Creative Ways To Grow Your Following at Minimal Cost
So a friend of mine recently opened a bistro in his city because the food was so bad there. He is a marketer by trade and thought it would be fun and also a nice gift to the community to open a healthy and tasty spot to eat. He experiments constantly using all kinds of psychological persuasion. I know for a fact that they have significantly grown their following by using this trick.
Every Friday they post a tasty-looking image and ask their followers to like, comment, and share in order to be entered to win a free lunch. The post gets a huge reach and results in new followers, a noticeable increase in ‘drop-ins’, and great engagement from their existing followers. The cost for running this giveaway is cents on the dollar.
Ross Kernez, Health Plan One
Analyze Your Data
Social media data can be overwhelming, but it’s important to take the time to analyze it so that you can understand what’s working and what’s not. The most important metric to look at is engagement, which includes things like comments, shares, and likes. But don’t stop there, take a close look at things like reach and impressions to get a complete picture of how your content is performing.
Your social media analytics will also give you insights into the demographics of your audience, which can be helpful in understanding who you’re reaching and how to better target your content. Finally, take a look at the click-through rate of your links to see which types of content are driving the most traffic to your website.
Danielle Bedford, Coople
Use Platforms Where Users Engage Longer
Don’t just go where there are a lot of users. Go to the platform where users stick around for a while. People look at YouTube for minutes at a time – sometimes 30 minutes or more. They often digest YouTube videos the way they digest traditional television shows. They’re prepared to sit for a while and watch and listen.
Take advantage of an audience that’s willing to do that and create content that rewards those types of users. You can bolster your profile through YouTube ads or you can create an actual channel and post content that attracts more people to your business. Encourage visitors to subscribe and routinely post new content. Grow your subscriber base. That will help you grow your business.
Trevor Ford, Yotta
Determine The Right Platforms for Your Business First
All social media platforms are not created equally. If you want to grow your business’s social media presence then, you should consider who you want to reach and how you want to accomplish that before investing in content creation. First, consider which platforms you’re interested in and if they’re right for your current needs. Can your business afford to focus on the niche, or is maximum exposure going to get the best results?
Next, consider your audience. Not every audience is going to be equally represented on every platform. If you’re looking to reach a certain audience, it may require focusing more exclusively in locations where that audience frequents, even if that’s not a big-time platform. Decide whether casting a wide net or having a tight focus works best for your social media needs and build your content accordingly.
Alex Chavarry, Cool Links
Engage in Relevant Dialogue With Popular Accounts
Small business accounts on social media can gain a following by engaging in an exchange with more popular accounts. The open nature of social media is what makes modern communication unique. Small accounts can interact with celebrities halfway around the world in real-time. Famous individuals and global organizations can directly engage in a bottom-up dialogue that is viewable by every platform user. This presents a major opportunity to small business owners.
By engaging in a public dialogue with a popular account that is relevant to their industry, their name will be spread to the feed of other users. If the conversation is entertaining or valuable, users may follow the small business account with hopes that similar conversations will happen in the future.
Katy Carrigan, Goody
Collaborate With Micro-Influencers
The growing influencer market has changed the way brands advertise their products and services. While celebrities were the best option for bigger brands, mid-level brands now use influencers to create a similar impact on the consumer. These influencers have garnered millions of followers — some of whom might be potential customers. But what about smaller businesses that can’t afford influencers?
The right option for them is micro-influencers. These influencers have a relatively smaller following but they are known to create content that is authentic and impactful. Even though they have a smaller following, their content comes across as more genuine and reaches a larger percentage of their followers. Along with paid promotions, working with micro-influencers is the best option for a small business to grow its social media.
Chris Roth, Highline Wellness
Be Consistent With Your Content and Business Details
When creating your accounts on platforms like Facebook (yes, it’s still a thing!), Instagram, and TikTok make sure you’re consistent with your name and biz details. Being regular and consistent with your content posting cannot be overstated. In fact, it’s the single thing that often determines how successful your social will be. When posting, try to mix up the content to keep things interesting. You can have photos – they don’t just have to be work related – videos, links, and thoughts on current events.
The key is to be active and engaging. With current events, it’s best not to be too controversial – unless of course, you’re trying to attract attention with a snarky post! But this isn’t something I would recommend. And don’t be frightened of video platforms like TikTok. They’re not just for kids. Spend a little bit of time exploring accounts similar to your business and see if you can tweak or get inspiration (not ‘copy’!) what they’re doing.
Mary Donne, Mary Donne Media
Brett Farmiloe is the founder of Terkel, a Q&A platform that connects brands with expert insights. Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.