Unlike your small business whose marketing budget may be in the single or double digits, larger companies can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars creating an ad campaign that runs on TV and is posted on the most popular websites. But just because they have big budgets to spend in more traditional advertising streams doesn’t mean you can’t give the big guys a run for their money when it comes to social media.
With social media the playing field is a bit more level. By wisely spending even a small amount of time on your social media presence, you could be reaping big rewards such as increased exposure and brand recognition, increased customer trust and of course, more sales. The only trick is knowing how to effectively execute that social media strategy.
Social media works for small businesses the same as it does for larger ones. The business creates a profile or “page” on a site such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon or any number of other outlets that fit well with the type of work your company does. A retail business with lots of new clothing, for example, would do well to post frequent photos on the photo-sharing site Instagram.
Once the profile is set up, it’s up to the business’ employees to populate the profile with interesting information that potential customers might want to know. Sure, a larger company might have someone dedicated to doing this full-time, but a smaller company with only a few minutes of time to dedicate each day could still populate a social media feed with enough valuable information to entice a new customer or to build trust in a brand. And since both the large and small business’ profiles are on the same platforms, each profile takes on a bit of uniformity that lends the smaller business the same credibility as the larger one with the bigger budget.
Of course, the timing of postings, the comments you make on other people’s postings and the way you handle user comments are just some of the ways you can go very right or very wrong with your campaign.
That’s why small business owners who are starting out with social media should get some professional guidance on how to plan and execute the campaign. With even a small amount of basic information, your business has the potential to grow by leaps and bounds.
When you need help with your planning and executing the social media campaigns for your small business, take the time to read the book “Sales 3.0: The New Contact Sport.”
