Did you know that nearly 64% of people say they would instead choose a business with a solid online presence over one without?
Small business owners are uniquely positioned to reach their customers through social media. Social media can help make your small business profitable, but only if you are intentional about how you use it. Here are some ways to leverage these platforms and make your business profitable.
Identify Your Target Audience
Creating a successful small business starts with knowing your audience. You can’t focus on growing your business if you don’t know who you’re trying to reach!
The first step in making your small business profitable through social media is defining your audience. Be as specific as possible by using:
- Demographic data like age, gender, and income level; location data such as where they live or work
- Behavioral data such as how often they shop online or at physical stores
- Psychographic data like interests and hobbies
- Affinity data that shows what their preferences are (e.g., sports fans vs. non-sports fans) based on an activity they’ve performed in the past (e.g., following a particular baseball team)
- Social media data that tells you if someone has liked or commented on certain types of content on Facebook or Twitter
Are You Working With a Content Strategy?
A content strategy is a process you go through to decide what kind of content you will use in your marketing campaigns and how often you’ll produce it. To create one, first, think about what types of things your audience likes.
What kinds of products or services do they need? How can you help them solve their problems? Next, ask yourself: What words would those people use when searching for these solutions?
Once again, think about what kind of language resonates with whom!
Finally, narrow down all these ideas into one big idea—the Big Idea that gets at why anyone should care about what makes up this business (what brings value). Identifying one main topic will help guide everything else, from writing posts to scheduling tweets and sharing photos on Instagram or Facebook (or whatever platform(s) matters).
Be Vigilant About Your Reputation
Monitoring your reputation is an essential aspect of any small business, but you can take it further by responding to negative feedback.
Responding quickly and compassionately will demonstrate no room for hate or bullying within your company.
If someone leaves a bad review about the product you’ve provided them, don’t retaliate—instead, respond politely with an offer of assistance or an apology if necessary.
This shows that you’re willing to do what it takes for customers’ satisfaction. It also demonstrates loyalty toward resolving issues on both sides of the equation rather than just brushing aside conflicts as a necessary evil of doing business (which could lead other customers to feel discouraged from leaving reviews).
Get Smart About Social Media
Social media is a great outlet to market your small business and boost its profits and reputation. Use these tips to develop further your social media marketing campaign for your small business, and you will increase online sales.
You can make a truly personal connection with your customers on social media, which will help make your business grow. With some hard work and thought, you could have a very successful small business now and in the future!
Visit our website to learn other social media marketing strategies that may be effective for your business.