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Social Media and Small Business: 7 Strategies for Success

By Evan Bryce 29 August, 2024, 6 mins read
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Marketing through social media can be intimidating, but social media for businesses is like sunshine for flowers – crucial for growth. 

From utilising analytics tools to leveraging advertising opportunities and creating organic content for a variety of mediums, Megaphone has you covered. We’ve put together a list of key strategies to help you better understand social media management for small business. Let’s dive in.

7 Effective Social Media Strategies for Small Business Growth

  1. Understanding Your Audience

When you’ve got an amazing product it’s important to really consider the who as much as the what – who is it for?

Identifying your target audience involves considering their demographic, likes and wants, as well as their online behaviour. Having a thorough grasp of your buyers will write your recipe for tailored content. 

If you’re after social media help for small business, then your first step is developing customer personas to understand your audience. This strategy can help your business thrive simply by knowing who you’re marketing your product to.

For example, if you’re marketing a line of children’s play kitchens, you’ll likely be appealing to the buying habits of young parents. Once you know who your audience is and what they want, it’s time to uncover when and where they’re looking for it.

Utilising analytics tools is a great way to strike gold in the form of audience insights, allowing you to gain an in-depth understanding of your audiences’ online habits.

Analytics tools gather data from various social media platforms, in turn helping you inform a tailored social media marketing strategy.

Here are a few useful analytics tools to boost your marketing on social media:

  • Google Analytics is a comprehensive tool and a great ally in social media marketing for small businesses. It allows you to comprehensively track website traffic, user behaviour and demographic information.
  • Instagram analytics is a suite of tools provided by Instagram to help users track and measure the performance of their content and interactions on the platform. Gain valuable insights into how your posts, stories, and overall profile are performing.
  • TikTok analytics offers insights into various metrics that can help you gauge the effectiveness of your TikTok videos and overall account strategy. This includes an overview dashboard, content insights, follower insights, engagement metrics, growth metrics and traffic sources.
  1. Creating Engaging Content

Varying your content is key to capturing your audience’s attention. Depending on their online habits, some platforms and mediums will likely be more effective for social media and small business than others.

Simply put, the goal is to develop content that resonates with your audience. Consider including captivating images, engaging videos, educational blog posts or infographics and interactive polls to dial up interaction.

For example, Instagram and TikTok are ideal for sharing entertaining and fun-filled short form videos, whereas LinkedIn is your go-to for business-to-business engagement.

Creating engaging content comes down to understanding your audience, but it’s also important to ensure your social media marketing for business aligns with your brand’s voice and values.

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Like many digital marketing strategies, consistency is paramount. 

Maintaining a consistent posting schedule ensures you remain front of mind among your audience, retaining their ever-shortening attention.

Planning your content ahead of time with a content calendar and schedule is a great way to ensure you’re never stuck for ideas and are regularly sharing what your business has to offer. 

Social media for small business can feel overwhelming, but so can being bombarded with content. When figuring out how often to post it’s important to understand your audience’s content consumption habits. It’s a fine line between remaining top of mind, and being a nuisance.

For example, a younger audience is typically more active online and accustomed to receiving daily content from the accounts they follow. Some older demographics can find this overwhelming and ultimately, off-putting.

  1. Utilising Social Media Advertising

Social media channels provide targeted advertising features to help you connect with particular audience segments.

Effective social media marketing for business includes a range of different advertising options on major platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

It’s worth trying out various ad formats and targeting methods to determine which ones are most effective for your social media and small business. 

Note, this experimentation requires adequate budgeting and relevant targeting parameters for maximum return on investment.

  1. Building a Community

Social media for  small business functions as an interactive platform for your audience. Connection is a two-way street, so demonstrating your appreciation for feedback is a great way to build your online community.

Engage actively by promptly responding to comments, messages, and mentions. This will help foster audiencetrust and loyalty.

  1. Leveraging Influencer Partnerships

Influencers are where social media and small business meet. Building a relationship with social media influencers allows you to leverage their reach to expand your brand’s visibility.

Teaming up with reputable influencers who are relevant to your niche is also a fantastic way to build trust. There are brands that have made millions through influencer marketing.

A good strategy is to partner with micro-influencers (up to50k followers). This is the sweet spot between accessing a large following and maintaining the trust of your audiences (as consumers now know influencers with a following in the hundreds of thousands are likely to be paid to promote whichever product is offering the most that week).

  1. Analysing and Adjusting Strategies

Monitor the effectiveness of your social media and small business marketing activities by utilising the analytics tools available on platform or through third-party services. 

Focus on metrics such as engagement rate, click-through rate, and conversions to gauge what content’s driving results and identify areas for strategic adjustment.

  1. Staying Updated with Trends

Keeping up with the latest social media trends and platform updates is crucial for staying relevant.

Making use of trend-tracking tools such as Google Trends, or through social listening tools, is a great way to stay updated on trending topics and popular content.

Megaphone strives to keep on top of the latest social media trends, so make sure you keep an eye on our regular blog posts – we promise it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Once you’ve identified a relevant trend for your brand, make sure to, use this information promptly to adapt your content strategies and remain relevant.

Partner with Megaphone For Social Media Marketing Success

Here at Megaphone, we’ve been running social media and small business marketing campaigns for 10+ years – we see it as a non-negotiable in business. During that time, we’ve grown 30+ brands to $2 million or more in annual revenue by maximising exposure via social channels.

We help your business grow by using our tried and tested expertise. Megaphone has run hundreds of targeting experiments, accumulating data no other agency (or business) has. Our social media performance specialists share working formulas every month, ensuring the entire business is across the latest trends. 

We’re also official Meta and TikTok partners, meaning we know exactly how to leverage these channels. This allows us to offer personalised social media and small business help.

Our team numbers over 150 marketing wizards We’re experts in social media marketing in Australia and are excited to grow your business. Partner with Megaphone today to unlock the secrets of social media marketing success.