As a small business social media marketing is very appealing. The idea of reaching thousands or millions of potential customers is exciting. However, what is most appealing is that our marketing efforts will cost little if any money. Truth of the matter,  connecting with potential consumers via social media marketing takes work and resources.

Designing Content

You must design content that is relevant to your audience’s interest, problems, pain points and day to day life. Content must be visually enticing. Consumers are emotional. Research shows that joy and surprise are two emotions that increase consumer response. Tell a story. We are hardwired to respond to stories. How can you tell a story with your product? Who is the protagonist and what problem is solved? Create curiosity with your story and watch consumers respond.

Selecting a Platform

All platforms are not the same. Facebook users tend to be older than Instagram users. Twitter is better for frequent posting. The Pinterest audience tends to skew female and is primarily a visual platform. When selecting a platform the following question must be answered.

1. Who is your target network or market?
2. Does the message require the ability to be accessed from many locations? ( Computer, tablet or smartphone.)
3. How rich is the content? (Video, Image, Text)
4. How do you want the message to look?
5. What kind of interactions with consumers are you targeting?

Marketing Objectives

Marketing objectives for small businesses should focus on lead generation and sales in my opinion. Brand awareness is very important however it is unlikely that customers are likely to remember your business from seeing a post once or twice. Companies like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola can run brand awareness campaigns because they have an established business and don’t have the pressure to generate income right away when money is spent. A new business builds brand awareness through sales.

 Analytics…It’s All About The Data

Social media listening is the process of monitoring all of a brands social media channels for mentions of conversation about your brand and your competition. Social Media listening occurs in real time and allows companies to respond quickly to positive and negative news. The 3 levels of data monitoring are:

1. Observation and Monitoring (What insights are available about customer consumption?)
2. Data Mining (What are the numbers? Many platforms have dashboards which allow you track numbers.)
3. Predictions ( Making decisions based on the data.)

To read more about social media listing tools read this article. https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/top-10-free-social-media-monitoring-tools/

Open Innovation

Open innovation is where you allow your customers to co-create content with your brand. For example, you ask your customers to post a picture of them using your product to their social media and tagging your brand account. Real people using your product adds credibility. Authenticity sells.  You will also reach a bigger audience. Make sure you asked that they use a hashtag that you specify! #HASHTAGS Matter.