By now, most small business owners have heard about how social media can increase customer engagement and awareness for their businesses. However, putting those strategies into effective practice is a challenge for many. Fortunately, there are some tried-and-true social media best practices that can help any small business take advantage of the tools these platforms offer to make their marketing efforts more successful.
Write Engaging Content
When it comes to social media marketing, there's a lot of noise. With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more, it can feel like you're constantly trying to stand out from the crowd. But how can you possibly make sure your posts are getting seen? Especially if you're running a small business on a tight budget and don't have a big team to help you out?
As we've learned from working with hundreds of small businesses in the past few years, it's not about the quantity of your content—it's about the quality. It's not about having the most followers or likes—it's about making sure that every post you create is engaging enough to keep people coming back around for more.
The key is to think creatively and embrace your inner storyteller. In our experience, this is where small business owners can really shine on social media. So get ready to flex your creative muscles and start writing engaging content that drives people back to your website—and hopefully right into your sales funnel!
Post at appropriate times
As small business owners, we're all looking for ways to grow our businesses. If you use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you have the potential to reach a huge audience of people who are interested in your products and services. But you could be missing out if you don't post at the right time.
There are several times of day when most people are online and paying attention to their social media feeds.
If you are a B2B company you must have some presence across Instagram and for B2B companies LinkedIn is the most attractive platform. I will mention below the most attractive time for posting across these two platforms.
The best time to post on Instagram is on Wednesday at 11 AM. If you are looking for the highest levels of engagement, Tuesday is the best day to post on Instagram. From Monday through Friday, between 10 AM and 3 PM, you are likely to get the most consistent levels of engagement.
According to the findings of Hubspot, the best days to post content on LinkedIn are between Tuesday and Thursday, either early in the morning, lunchtime or early evening, with an additional, bonus sweet spot between 10am and 11am on Tuesday.
Post High Quality, Original Images
Images get the most engagement on social media and they do wonders for your business when you use them in the right way. They can be used to promote your product, show off new features or services, highlight your employees, showcase special offers and more. You can even use Instagram as a free solution for selling products.
The key is to make sure that you're posting high-quality images that are relevant to your business. Don't post just for the sake of posting — be intentional about the images you share with your audience. For instance, we are associated with the telecommunication sector. We placed a high quality photo of the iphone in the article. If you run a retail store, create an album showcasing what's new in the shop this week.
Conclusion
The key takeaway from this post is that small business owners can and will benefit from social media, but they need to make sure that they have an effective strategy in place. Social media can be an effective tool for marketing and growing your business, but you need to spend time using it. So the next time you log in, don’t just post something and leave—give it a bit of time and really engage with all that these platforms have to offer.
