Why small businesses have the most to gain from social media.

Small businesses often have limited resources which is why it’s essential to use them wisely. 

Social media allows small business to raise their brand awareness and grow and communicate with their customer base. Many small businesses rely on repeat customers, and word of mouth and social media is the perfect extension of this.

Social Media tips and actions for small business owners 
Small businesses may not have the resources to run large scale online advertising. Still, there are many opportunities for smaller businesses to make themselves known by utilising their social media and business profiles.


1. Start with the basics 

First of all, make sure your basic information is up to date including store hours, contact details and addresses. Any service-based business with a particular service area should ensure this is easy to find. Although it seems simple and obvious, it can easily be overlooked, and outdated information can easily confuse your customers.

2. Good design is good business 

It’s important to stay on brand, and your profile image, cover photo and content should all be consistent with what your brand is about and easily be connected to your physical store or other offline aspects of your business. 

On brand visuals give your customers a sense of who you are and what they can expect from your business and help contribute to creating a great first impression. These can take the form of product images, staff photos, pictures of your building and behind the scenes shots. Showcase what you do differently and why customers should come to you and not your competitors!


3. Give them what they need 

Where possible, provide your customers with your list of products or services with their pricing - this is the information customers look for and although it may seem like with withholding this will drive customers into a store to find out they can easily look up this information elsewhere. 

Include call to actions to direct the customers of how they can contact you, this could be a phone call, booking an appointment or simply directing them to a website with more information on it. Pin a post to give customers their first impression of your business. A pinned post sits a the top of your page’s feed and will show first to all visitors above your most recent activity to ensure it is seen. 


4. Word of mouth

Word of mouth is the holy grail of marketing and collecting and sharing positive reviews can help your business  achieve this online. Many businesses will have a few loyal customers who would be happy to share their thoughts, sometimes all you have to do is ask. 

Encourage engagement and build awareness with a giveaway or competition - it’s doesn’t have to blow the budget at all and can simply be a small item giveaway or a discount. Encouraging new users to engage with and comment on posts is a great way to increase your following  (just be wary of the rules around such promotions on each channel).


5. Advertise 

I understand many small business don’t have the budget to advertise but even amounts as small as $2/day can help build awareness and bring in new customers when targeted to the right audience, especially for any new businesses looking to grow and build a page following from scratch. Digital advertising has a range of options, all flexible around spec goals and budgets. 

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