Social media can be a great medium for small businesses to reach out to new customers & grow their business. However, a majorty of small business owners don’t know how to effectively use social media for their business. We often get a lot of question from small business owners such as:
How to effectively use social media for small business?
What are the best social media tips for small business?
Thus, considering all the problems that small business owners are facing on Social media, we decided to reach out to top social media & small business influencers to get their best social media tips for small business.
If you are planning to promote your small business on social media, then check out these 33 experts sharing their most effective social media marketing tips for small businesses.
Enjoy 🙂
Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses in 2019
Maura | Digital Market Expert at Meetedgar:
Small business owners can market their businesses on social media by using it to share who they are as a brand and to create a community. Too many small businesses focus solely on selling on social media but social is all about being social and creating connections with your fans.
Small businesses should concentrate on diversifying content and sharing educational and entertaining posts in addition to promotional posts. Consumers want to emotionally connect with brands in the digital era and social media is the perfect avenue to tap into those emotions. By diversifying content and sharing consistently, small businesses can earn their customer’s trust and loyalty.
One of the best things a small business can do is to create social media calendar that highlights the different types of content and when it will be posted. This creates consistency and engaging feeds.
Connect with Meetedgar on Twitter
Jamie Turner | Founder and Chief Content Officer at 60secondmarketer
The #1 thing small businesses need to do when they use social media is to remember that social media isn’t a silver bullet. By that, I mean that it won’t solve all your problems. Instead, social media makes everything else you’re doing work that much better. In other words it adds fuel to the fire (in a good way).” – Jamie Turner, internationally recognized author, speaker, and CEO of 60SecondMarketer.com
Connect with Jamie Turner on Twitter
Neal Schaffer | CEO | PDCA Social | Social Media Speaker | Consultant | Author & Educator at Nealschaffer.com
I believe that small businesses can effectively market their business on social media through a combination of providing resourceful content, engaging with others, building community using paid social, and developing relationships with influencers. It sounds like a lot and does require a budget, but considering the growing importance of social media, its best to start building a community now before your competitors outperform you!
Connect with Neal Schaffer on Twitter
Andy Crestodina | Co-Founder / Chief Marketing Officer at OrbitMedia
Social Media Marketing Tips to follow for small businesses in 2019
Back when text got too competitive, smart marketers started posting more images. And now that images are too competitive, smart marketers post video. But some are still doing a pretty bad job of it.
Here’s how to use video within a post to get much better click through rates than any typical post.
Add captions to the video (so the visitor will slow down as they scroll, and tap to turn on volume)
In the post, mention other marketers, use line breaks, special characters and every other.
Use campaign tracking code to the link (so you’ll know how much traffic you generated)
The mentions are important because they make the post visible to those who might interact with it quickly. And those early engagements help the algorithm know that the post is worth showing to many more people.
Connect with Andy Crestodina on Twitter
Adam Connell | Founder of Blogging Wizard
Social media can be a powerful asset for any business – and there are plenty of ways you can use it to grow an audience.
But it’s easy to become too reliant on social as a whole, or specific platforms. Then, all of a sudden – a major source of new customers vanishes after you’ve invested a huge amount of resources in growing a following.
It happened when Facebook slashed organic reach. It happened when Pinterest changed it’s algorithm, and it’s even worse for Google+. That’s going for good in 2019 (RIP G+).
So, my advice is to avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket (so to speak).
More specifically, focus on developing platforms and assets you have some control over. Such as an email list.
I’m not saying give up on social. It’s become a necessity for many businesses. But when you build an email list, and cross promote your social networks – you’ll be less likely to have any issues when the next major social network makes a change.
Connect with Adam Connell on Twitter
Keith Keller | Twitter Marketing Specialist Globalsocialmediacoaching.com
If you have not begun yet it’s not too late, simply start where you are and only try one or two platforms at a time.
Perhaps Facebook & Instagram?
….. or maybe Twitter & Linkedin?
Start small and don’t try to do too much at once.
If you have been at this a while here are a few things that are working really well.
Native Video
Embed your videos onto the platforms themselves, instead or sending potential clients to another page. I know this feels counter intuitive but it is getting great engagement at the moment.
Paid Social
Ads on Social Media sites can get fantastic ROI.
Twitter is particularly good for this (in certain sectors) at the moment.
Experiment with ads on your favourite platforms and see how you go.
It is largely trial and error in the beginning but there are experts around now that can save you heaps of time and money.
Have Fun
This is probably the most important element of all.
Social media is all about engagement and the more fun you have with it the more engagement you will get from your potential customers.
Connect with Keith Keller on Twitter
David Reimherr | Founder of Magnificent Marketing
A fantastic way for small businesses to market themselves is through delivering helpful content to their audience in order to start to build the trust and awareness of their brand.
By providing helpful tips that answer some of the challenges or questions your audience has, you will not only gain and earn their attention, but you will become a thought leader in their minds as well as tap into the law of reciprocity.
And in our opinion, the most effective way to deliver these messages is thru the usage of videos. As for these videos, we are not necessarily talking about highly produced videos but rather authentic videos shot from your computer or phone. Personal branding, authenticity, being helpful by providing educational/informational/inspiration content (i.e. content marketing) are all super hot and key in today’s marketing landscape. Be real, be helpful, be consistent… and you’ll be successful!
Connect with David Reimherr on Twitter
Jeet Banerjee | Serial entrepreneur | TEDx speaker & digital marketing consultant JeetBanerjee.com
Create something of value on social media that makes people want to follow you and engage with your content. So many brands get it wrong because they are constantly trying to sell or push products/services in the faces of their audience.
Instead of doing that, find creative ways to get your audience to engage with you so that if they do need your products or services, they’ll know exactly where to find you. Branding yourself is far more important than trying to constantly beg people to buy your products from you on social media!
Connect with Jeet Banerjee on Twitter
Ali Mirza | Founder of iSocialyou.com
We all know how popular video content is becoming on social media so start creating more videos. Actually start telling stories using video. You don’t have to hire a video production agency, you can do it with your mobile phone.
If you are not sure what type of videos to create, here are some ideas for you: create videos about your WHY, successes, failures and why should people buy your product or service. Also make your team a part of your content creation process. You employees are your brand ambassadors so educate them and allow them to tell stories using video.
Connect with Ali Mirza on Twitter
Mike Schiemer | Founder of Bootstrap Business
The best way to market a small business on social media is by proving that you are an authority in your industry. Whether you are a marketer or a gardener, you need to prove that you are the most knowledgeable and experienced professional available.
Share tips on your area of expertise on all major social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and YouTube. Write and post informational blog articles about topics that will provide value to current and prospective customers.
Engage with other industry professionals via Facebook comments, LinkedIn posts, and Tweets. It won’t happen overnight but your knowledge and value will become known across social media. You will then have a steady stream of organic high potential leads, referrals and repeat customers on social media.
You can connect with mike on Twitter
Temi Odurinde | Social Media Expert Hopespring.org
To market your business effectively on social media in 2019, you need to separate your personal preference, from what works for your business. Personally, Twitter is my favourite social media platform.
I however noticed that my businesses get better conversion, engagement and interaction on Facebook. So I have deployed 90% of my social media marketing resources to Facebook.
Small businesses tends to have limited budget, it follows that the budget is allocated to promoting your business on two or three social media platforms.
If you try to be on all of them, you will stretch your budget/time too thinly, to the extent that your marketing efforts will not be effective on any of the platforms. My final tip is not to get carried away by having xyz thousands of likes or followers. The most important thing is how many of your followers of likes actually converts to sales.
Brenda Stolz | CEO at Ariad Partners, LLC
Social media is not for selling. It’s about relationship building. It’s about increasing the number of people who know about you, your content and business. It is not for making sales.
The best thing you can do is to pick one or two platform where your prospects are and be present.
Don’t spread yourself too thin across a number of platforms. Share tips that address their needs, share content that would be of interest around your topic area of expertise.
Use relevant hashtags to reach more people interested in your topic. And remember, even if aren’t getting leads or sales, you’re helping your SEO as promoting your content helps you get high-quality backlinks.
Connect with Brenda Stolz on Twitter
Social Media Branding Today
Having your brand stand out on social media today is very important. You must be sure all your channels have the same logo and photos.
Often, I included, put up images on various social media networks and other networking channels and then forget to update them.
I like to do a seasonal adjustment 😊
Set up a date on your calendar to check out your networks and be sure all have the uniform look and feel to them.
Of course, you can have a few slightly different as each have their own audience and demographic.
Use the same colors for your brand along with your logo and most important your own personal photo.
I always tell people “People love doing business with other people!”.
Connect with Lisa Sicard on Twitter
Pat Ahern | Cofounder at Junto.Digital
The best way for small businesses to effectively market themselves on social media is to promote themselves to fans of their largest competitors.
Start by pulling up the Twitter page of your competitors (start with the largest local competitors in your industry). Navigate to their list of followers and start a conversation with these followers one-by-one. Offer them a free pizza if they swing by your pizza shop; offer them a free beer the next time that they stop by your bar.
This approach works best for business with a low average order value. However, those selling items with a high average order value (ex. furniture stores) can switch the approach away from discounts to building a relationship through genuine interactions.
Connect with Pat Ahern on Twitter
Marko Saric | Founder of Howtomakemyblog.com
One of the best ways for a small business to get some traction in social media is by listening. Listen and understand what your target audience is doing and saying in social media.
Be it what they are saying about your product directly, or about a competing product or about the problem that your product is solving for people.
Listen to what people are saying, learn from the trends you see and directly engage where it is appropriate. This type of a “social” social media approach has potential to give you better results faster.
Connect with Marco Saric on Twitter
Dorien Morin-van Dam | Social Media Consultant at MoreinMedia.com
The most important things a small business can do to effectively market their business on social media in 2019 is to create a strategic plan and set a realistic budget!
Just throwing things out there and seeing ‘what sticks’ isn’t going to cut it anymore. In order to have success, small businesses have to create quality content, engage with their audience, run ad campaigns and build their online presence. Without a written plan of action, nothing can be measured.
Connect with Dorien Morin-van Dam on Twitter
Gill Andrews | Founder of Gillandrews.com
Social feed is a noisy place where you compete with hundreds of other posts with the algorithms playing against you. So, if you hope to post a link to your website on social and immediately get sales, you’re up for a big disappointment.
Yet, you can still use social media to sell. It just takes focus, determination and patience. I would recommend the following:
Select 1-2 social networks you know your target audience uses.
Give your 100% while posting there: Posting regularly, creating custom posts and images, asking and answering questions, engaging with the content of others.
Give more than you get in terms of sharing your knowledge and expertise, and make it about helping and not selling.
Learn the tricks of how to maximize engagement on a particular network: How the algorithms work, how to visually structure your posts for them to stand out, what kind of posts generally get more engagement, etc.
Slowly but steadily, you’ll grow a tribe of dedicated followers and fans who look forward to your new posts, don’t mind when you occasionally promote your offers, and even help you do that. Some of them will also subscribe to your newsletter, and this is where you’ll be able to sell to them more effectively.
Connect with Gill Andrews on Twitter
Robert Katai|Content Marketing Manager of Bannersnack
Before you even start creating content, doing paid ads on social media you have to understand your audience: where do they spend their time, where is their attention and what they are looking on social media. Talk with your clients, see what your competition is doing and take the amount of time you need to really understand your audience.
When you understand your audience you will start creating content for them, you will understand what they need and what’s the kind of content that they are engaging with. There is too much talking about the platforms, about their algorithms and other stuff but there is less talking about the importance of content. That’s why it is always about the content. That’s why I wrote this article: (https://robertkatai.com/it-is-about-content/). To make every marketer and small business owner to understand that the real deal it’s in content, not in platforms. Don’t get in love with one platform, get in love in content.
I know that people are asking what is more important: quantity or quality. But today they are both very important. You have to put the energy to create high quality content and make it consistent, every week, every day or whatever strategy you choose to use.
These are the 3 simple tips every small business can use in 2019. It is not rocket science and it won’t boost your business in 1 or 2 months. But when you are doing it consistent, every week and you pay attention to your user, you will figure it out what’s going well and what’s not.
You can connect with Robert Katai on Twitter
Seb Brantigan | Award Winning Affiliate & Featured Content Expert Sebbrantigan.net
The best thing you can do is piggyback off current trends. Create content around what is already popular and getting attention. And then add a subtle call to action to tie this into your products and services. Try to avoid politics and religion too much.
You can connect with Seb on Twitter
David Leonhardt | President at THGM Writers
My top tip for social media success is to focus on the images. As important as headlines and text are, most people don’t even see the words until they stop to see the picture.
Mistake #1 that small businesses make on social media: no images.
Mistake #2 that small businesses make on social media: stock photography.
You need an image, and it has to look interesting. It has to make people stop and think, “What’s going on here?” The best image is one that people will want to share to their followers. Or an image that will make people click through to your website (usually it’s a combination of the image and headline). An image that does both is pure gold.
What I find people seem to relate to is an image that includes text, to tell a message. The text can do one of two things:
It can tell a story complete enough to stand on its own, so that people pass it around for their followers to see.
Or it can ask a question or raise curiosity.
Combined with the right headline, it can do both. Either image or headline delivers a strong message, worth passing on. The other raises curiosity, so that people click through. It’s a powerful combination. Used repeatedly, it can generate great traffic.
Connect with David Leonhardt on Twitter
Amy Howell | Founder & CEO of Howell Marketing Strategies
Standing apart for a brand or business means having valuable information that is relevant, timely, interesting and helpful. Being real (not automated) and engaging with others is also critical in my opinion.
You can connect with Amy Howell on Twitter
Erika Heald | Marketing Consultant | Social Media Coach | Blogger | Freelance Writer and Editor at Erikaheald
As a small business owner, you have a lot of to do’s on your list. that’s why when it comes to social media, you’ve got to make sure you are spending your limited time on the most effective channels.
Although it can feel tempting to join every new social media channel that comes along, it’s important to first find out what social media platforms your customers are using for researching businesses like yours.
Once you understand how your customers prioritize their time, you can put together a social media plan that reaches them where they already are.
Connect with Erika Heald on Twitter
Jonathan Aufrey | Co-founder and CEO at Growth Hackers
To be successful on social media, I recommend small businesses to think about their target audience before posting.
Ask yourself this question: “Will your community enjoy your posts?”. If the answer is ‘yes’; then, don’t hesitate to post. If the answer is ‘maybe’, ‘no’, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I am not sure’; then, don’t post.
Also, I suggest diversifying the types of posts. Don’t always share the same things and don’t over promote yourself. You could post information posts, entertaining ones, discounts, blog posts, infographics, curated posts from influencers in your niche, industry news, tips, etc…
You can connect with Jonathan Aufrey at Twitter
Paul Gillin | B2B Expert at Gillin.com
The best way a small business can market on social media is to deliver an experience that customers want to share. Ratings and reviews are the primary marketing channel for many small businesses these days.
Embed sharing links in all your communications and send follow-up email to customers whenever possible with sites where they can tell others about their experience. If your business or product is visual, so much the better.
Posts with photos get more attention on social networks and are the foundation of sharing sites like Instagram and Pinterest.
You can connect with Paul Gillin on Twitter
Jordie van Rijn | Founder of Email marketing specialist
“Quick tip: Talk about the (exclusive) content that will be in your newsletter before and after you send it. That way a simple status update or post can lead to more email subscribers”
Connect with Jordie van Rijn on Twitter
Anna Bennett | Top 15 Pinterest experts chosen by Pinterest White Glove Social Media
Did you know that it takes about seven touch points before a customer will trust and buy from you? And those 7 touches can’t just be product and service pushing efforts either. Modern buyers do not like that hard sell direct approach. Building trust on line requires time just like your relationships in life. On Pinterest you have an opportunity to build trust by helping people solve their problems as well as showcasing what you sell.
Most people gravitate towards Facebook because it’s the number one social. But Facebook doesn’t favor bloggers and businesses. Facebook favors connections, discussions and Facebook groups, NOT posts from businesses and bloggers. On the other hand, Pinterest wouldn’t survive without the content that businesses create and sharing on Pinterest.
Pinterest is business friendly and its users are in a shopping mindset.
Jacob Cass | Founder of Justcreative.com
Here are ten easy ways to use social media as a way to gain more clients for your business.
Geotag your posts to attract local businesses or clients
Connect with influencers
Create micro content & stories
Use social media to promote giveaways
Integrate posts with your overall content strategy
Simply provide value.
Connect with Jacob Cass on Twitter
Liz Jostes | Founder of Elirose
Because small businesses are limited by time, manpower, and budget, my recommendation to my clients is always to select 1 or 2 social media platforms to learn the ins and outs of, and fully utilize those couple platforms.
Spreading yourself too thin by trying to manage 3, 4 or 5 platforms means you are doing only the bare minimum – if even that – on those platforms.
You are far better off making the most of the 1 or 2 platforms you choose in order to utilize social media as effective extensions of your brand.
Connect with Liz Jostes on Twitter
Neil Eneix | 3x Startupreneur | Speaker | Founder Fannit
“Being effective as a small business on social media really depends on who your target market is. For B2B companies, your social media focus should not primarily be broadcast marketing (blast posts to your audience), it should be rifle shot, and a part of your prospecting strategy.
Day 1: Introduction Message (LinkedIn Message, Twitter Message, Email)
Day 3: Phone Call
If Left Message, Follow Up Email
Day 5: Social Media Action
Favorite a tweet and follow target profile on Twitter
Day 9: Follow Up Email
Day ?
6. Launch, Test, & Iterate!”
You can connect with Neil Eneix on Twitter
Ivana Taylor | Small Business Influencer at Diymarketers
Before you begin marketing on social media, it’s important to have a strong visual brand and marketing message. That means that your social media profiles have a consistent look, feel and voice.
The first step in marketing on social media is building relationships and building a community that you regularly engage with.
Focus on helping your community be successful by sharing your specific expertise with them.
The next most important step is to have clear offers (products and services) that you can promote.
Keep your ratio of social sharing at 4 “gives” for each “get” — that means to provide 4 helpful pieces of information for every offer that you promote on social media.
Connect with Ivana Taylor on Twitter
Tom Pick | Founder of Webbiquity
Keep in mind social media works best for engaging in conversations. It’s not great to use directly for promotion, lead generation, or direct sales. Share content and ask questions your followers are likely to find interesting, respond to, and share. Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are the three “must haves.” Beyond that—focus efforts wherever your customers are!
Connect with Tom Pick on Twitter
Srish Agarwal | Founder & CEO at A1 Future Technologoes Pvt. Ltd.
Social media can be time-consuming. Use social media monitoring and management tools to help you identify the most relevant topics to address, conversations to join, and content to share. Automate what you can, but don’t over-rely on the technology; ultimately, it’s the quality of your human interaction that will drive social media marketing success.
The only thing a small business owner doesn’t have in abundance is time. That said, every step taken must be planned, so that no valuable time is wasted. Sticking your head up in the social media marketing arena is tough, but if done right it can make sales skyrocket. As an expert some of my suggestions for SMEs to make it big by using social media most effectively in 2019 would be –
Identify your objectives
Create a social media calendar,
Post more visuals.
Follow the tips to effectively market your business on social media and help your brand gain more prominence.
Some of the most potent tools SMEs can use are SEMrush, BuzzSumo, MeetEdgar, Quuu, Statusbrew, HootSuite and ManageFlitter. All these tools are there to help the startups and young marketers make a successful presence on social media.
Connect with Srish Agarwal on Twitter
Maria Johnsen: MariaJohnsen.com
Social media marketing has become very tricky these days. The majority of companies have their own in-house social media marketing agents.
As a small business owner you should build your brand first by posting quality content within your niche. Don’t follow those who sell the same service or product unless you wish to monitor your competitor or want to outsource to them.
Direct selling and direct marketing don’t work in social media marketing.
.Don’t advertise your services in people’s posts unless they directly ask for an expert in your niche.
For example: if someone is talking about poetry on Twitter, don’t post your service that has nothing to do
with it. It is annoying and hurts your business and brand.
Marketing on social media sites requires implementing strategies tailored to your business. If you are selling bridal dresses, then you should target those who look for bridal dresses, don’t’ be afraid to target a larger area.
Sometimes it is relevant to use paid social media advertising, then you have to be prepared for getting spam on comment section. The solution to this is to write a powerful ad copy that targets the right audience.
Avoid talking about politics and your private life on social media sites unless you are a politician or relationship coach.
However this doesn’t mean to be robotic when you interact on social media. Share with your audience nice stuff to get them to open up and share with you their
stories.
Story telling is a great strategy in social media marketing however you must pay attention not to sound like a salesman.
Just have fun with your campaigns on social media sites. When you are happy your audience will be happy too.
Connect with Maria Johnsen on Twitter
Sofiya Deva | Vice President of Marketing Zen Media
“For small business owners, social media can be a great tool to connect with their past, present, and future customers. However, since their time is limited, it’s important that their efforts be intentional and their results be measurable. I always recommend that small business owners begin with strategy.
What’s their story? Who is it relevant to, and how? Once they can answer these questions, they can reflect on the best ways to reach their personas. Maybe that’s through video content on LI to reach b2b buyers, or through client case studies and testimonials on IG to reach millennial customers.
The good news is they don’t have to be on every platform, creating a ton of content; they simply have to understand their audience and engage them in meaningful ways on the platforms that are going to be the best fit for that message and that audience. This can still be pretty overwhelming, which is why at Zen, we offer small business compact “digital storytelling strategies” that lay out the narrative, the audience profile, and the targeting recommendations. Then, they can focus on doing what they do best, running their businesses.”
Connect with Sofiya Deva on Twitter
Conclusion:
We are grateful to all experts for taking out time to share their social media tips for small business. Interacting with them helped us to develop a better understanding of social media & how it works.
We are hopeful that these social media tips would help you to grow your business on social media. In case if you like this post then don’t hesitate from sharing it with your friends & followers who could get benefit from these social media tips.
Moreover, if you have any advice for small businesses to grow on social media, then we would love to hear from you in the comment section.
