How Small Business can Effectively Use Social Media

Social media is no stranger to any of us. Billions of people around the globe are active across many social media platforms. As more people join online communities, the influence of social media expands daily. What makes social media is that users aren’t simply joining social communities, they are contributing too.

Let’s take YouTube as an example, the site has over a billion users, and 300 hours of videos uploaded every single minute. It is not surprising that users watch 3 billion hours of videos a month (Tuten & Solomon, 2018). And that is one of many platforms. Businesses of all sizes attempt to have a larger presence across all social platforms.

Social media is not only where billions of people connect for different reasons, but it has become a battleground for businesses. Speaking in terms of social communities, for an enterprise, they make an excellent marketing platform. However, information overload and competitors with huge budgets could cause visibility issues for small players. How can small businesses be significant and seen by their target market in the world of social media?

Mark Mayr, who works in the creative production department for Vayner Media, says that any business, whether big or small, can take advantage of the many marketing benefits social media can provide.

1. Leveraging word of mouth in social media

Think about the conversations you have in the course of your day. Most of it is related to a product or service. When you talk about a restaurant where you eat, or when you ask where someone bought a shirt, or complain about a bad treatment at the bank – those are all considered word of mouth. Word of mouth is still the most effective form of advertising, though people are increasingly turning to the web to find more about local companies. Over 90% of consumers will take recommendations from family or friends over any other form of advertising. Considering how powerful word of mouth is, business owners should be focusing more on that advertising approach.

Social media expanded the number of people a single person can reach. In the past, a customer would come in contact with a determined amount of people; friends, colleges, coworkers, etc. Mayr explains that social media changed communication means and not business methods, and companies can use these platforms to capitalize on word of mouth. “It’s all about tapping into the social network. How can you get your customer to talk a little bit more about your business.”

Keep in mind that word of mouth is a two-edged sword, and if your service or product fails, the word can travel very fast. 

2. Create content

Research shows that only 1% of a typical social media community is active, and another 9% contribute intermittently. Similarly, 90% of users are lurkers – people who view content but don’t contribute (Tuten & Solomon, 2018). With such unfavorable statistics, the content is crucial to convince users to participate. The main reasons people will share content via social media are because they find interesting or entertaining, they think it can help others, or to get a laugh. When creating your content, you must think like someone receiving it. 

Let’s be honest, not everything you create will be a home run, the content you have, the more you will understand what your audience responds to. Therefore, consistent content creation is an essential element in building a following base, even when you don’t see results. Post relevant yet enlightening information to create value-driven marketing. One method is by posting questions; it is a proven way to engage with your followers. Also, service providers can post before and after pictures to intrigue people looking for a particular work. It also automatically builds a portfolio while informing your prospects of what work your company is capable of doing and how well it is done. 

3. Getting your customers to talk more about your company

The primary way to get consumers talking about you is to provide excellent service or have a good product. But sometimes that is not enough to get your clients engaged. You can incentivize people to talk about your brand. For instance, offering a discount to anyone who shares posts or likes your page is a way to get people to engage socially. Each person that engages with your content opens more doors, as their followers will view the content and influencing them to participate as well. “When your followers like or share your posts creates a nice snowball or domino effect, because that content is now on their feed,” Mayr explains.

Additionally, you can offer other incentives to get people to create genuine online reviews for your company. These incentives could consist of 10% off of your service or a free t-shirt. The discount will ensure people will return to your establishment. The free t-shirt will get your name out when people wear it around, win-win. 

4. Tell a story

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book where you were so deeply connected with the characters? That is why everyone loves a story, and that is one of the best ways to get followers to engage. This is especially true for e-commerce, where there is no face-to-face connection – creating a storyline will put a face to the company. Stories will help build trust, nurture relationships, and convince visitors to buy a product or hire your services. It is also a great way to build your brand. What kind of story should you be telling?

• Origin story: where it all began. It helps people to understand why you started your business, then challenges you faced, and who you are.
• Customer story: not a testimony. But tell your audience your customer story, and how your product or service make their lives better, and why they chose you instead of your competition. 
• Personal story: getting people that know you on a personal level to tell a story about you or your company. Those types of stories will humanize your brand and build a deeper connection with people.
• Employee story: tell your customer who your employees are, and why they work for you, and what they think about your company.  

Another post, here, has more details on how to structure a story. 

5. Create a contest

A chance to win a contest, whether it is receiving free products or even earn hard cash, can generate a lot of engagement. For instance, if you are searching for new followers, requesting people to share your content is an entry to win something that could drastically increase engagement. Keep in mind that in such a case, the focus should be on increasing user participation, and your posts should be geared towards that purpose. But it is also a great way to get your customers talking about your brand.

Conclusion

Even though word of mouth still the most relevant form of advertising, social media is increasingly becoming part of our lives, and it can be leveraged as word of mouth. It is an unmeasurable benefit for businesses to stimulate customers to use social media platforms to talk about their experience with products or services. There are many ways you can motivate and give reasons for people to talk about your company. The most important is by providing quality service or useful products that enrich people’s lives. But most of the time, that is not enough to create a desirable engagement. Hence, different methods can be used to get your customers to be willingly involved and participating in the conversation. This article summarizes five simple things that will spark the interest of customers to either talk about their experience or share content.

Properly using these tools can assist your company in building a community while increasing customer loyalty. What are your thoughts?  

References:

Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2018). Social media marketing. London: SAGE Publications.