When small businesses seek to use social media to promote themselves, they usually tend to have smaller budgets as compared to the big brands. However, having a small budget does not mean that you won’t be able to create a huge impact through social media just like the big boys do. Below, we will look at nine simple social media strategies small businesses can use to make themselves come across as a big organization. This is because people generally tend to trust large, established organizations compared to up-and-coming startups to cater to their requirements.
Table of Contents
Answer Customer Queries On Social Media
Try to answer your customer queries on social media. Neglecting it will not make your business look good. If a customer complains that something about your product is not working in one of your Facebook posts, then reply to them back and ask them what the problem is. See to it that their issue is resolved and that they are happy with the prompt response. When other Facebook users also read the comment chain, they will see that you have resolved the query of a customer appropriately. This will create a positive image of your company since people will trust businesses who show that they care about their customers.
Use Influencers
There are users who are known to be ‘influencers’ in the social media space. Such influencers have developed a large following that they are able to entice the opinions of such followers. Developing connections with such users and distributing information about your product or service through them can also make your business look like a big brand. Just remember to use influencer marketing only in niches similar to your business. For example, imagine that you are a newly set up business launching its first line of clothes targeted at young women. You should now identify influencers in the fashion niche and build up a business relationship with them where they will publish posts that portray your clothing line in a positive manner.
User-Generated Content
You should try to share user-generated content through your social media profiles. A good way to do this is by publishing small stories of how customers benefited from using your product or service. You can see big businesses doing this most of the time. Toothpaste manufacturers often use this tactic by creating adverts of real people who have used their toothpaste and benefited from having whiter, stronger teeth. And by posting such positive responses from existing customers, you are able to build authenticity and trustability of your business.
Use Video Ads
The popularity of video content is fast eclipsing that of pure text. This is mostly because people generally have a tendency to be attracted to viewing videos over reading text. When reading a text, a person is constantly trying to make sense of it. In contrast, when viewing a video, they are absorbing the information that is presented to them. This makes people more likely to check out a video than spend time reading a big block of text. As such, it becomes necessary that you leverage the popularity of video content to promote your business in a big way. Make sure that you use professional video content creators to make some relevant videos about your business that have the chance of going viral within your target group.
Get Personal
Try and get personal with your social media followers. This can be done by hosting live webinars from time to time where a representative of your business interacts with the followers and informs them about the specifics of your product and services. For example, if you manufacture oil paints for artists, you can host a weekly or monthly live Facebook video where you display new ways to mix and use the paints. The presenter can also take live questions from the followers who are watching the live stream and answer them in real time. Maintaining this kind of personal interaction with your social media followers will definitely help to keep them loyal.
Branded Hashtags
Try to use branded hashtags on special occasions. This will definitely make your company look more like the established players. So, if you have any promotional sale coming up for Christmas, then you can use something like #SaveBigBucksXmas or something similar that will identify the hashtag with your business.
Strong Visual Identity
If there is one thing that separates big brands from small businesses, it is a strong visual identity. Big companies often use high-quality graphics in their social media profile, while small businesses tend to use amateurish, stock graphics in their social media accounts. And this does have a big impact. People are by nature visual creatures who will judge everything first by its beauty. As such, it is imperative that you use the highest quality graphics and images in your social media profiles. This will easily make you look like a top brand.
Humanize The Business
Try to humanize your business. This is the easiest way to make the followers feel a personal connection to your company. A good way to do this will be to publish video content that shows how employees perform in the workplace. By showing how workers are chilled out at work while ensuring that they are 100% committed to the quality of their work, you can create a positive impression in the minds of the viewers. You have essentially shown the human side of your business, and this will make the followers care more about your company.
Topic Consistency
Always stick to the topics that are related to your business. Never stray away from it. Big brands always publish posts that are mostly related to their niche. So, restaurant chains will post things related to food, IT companies will post things related to software and tech, and so on. This gives off a very professional feel to the social media profile. In contrast, cheap, small businesses often publish posts of all topics with the intention of getting more likes and shares. As far as possible, avoid such posts. Stick with topics related to your niche, and your business will come across as being more professional.
