For a small business, gaining steam on social
media is undeniably an uphill battle. You have to contend with algorithms that
make it nearly impossible to get discovered until you achieve a certain level
of visibility. This situation puts you in a catch-22: you can’t get anyone to
view your content until you get engagement, which requires views!
Nevermind the fact that social media
overwhelmingly prefers silly or opinionated content—two things that really
don’t gel with the average business’s branding. Sure, you can gain thousands of
shares by posting ridiculous cat videos, but there’s a slim chance all that
attention will aid your business goals.
Despite all these challenges, putting your
business out there on social media isn’t just worth it; it’s necessary.
According to research from Stone Temple, [63 percent of all web traffic in 2017 came from mobile\\
devices](https://www.stonetemple.com/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-study/)
. In the U.S., 87 percent of mobile internet time is spent in apps
.
What are the most common apps? Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat
,
to name a few.
Following this logic, people on the internet
spend the majority of their time looking at social media apps on their phone.
While Google Search is another top app—meaning SEO is also critical for
businesses—social media is by far the most common way people discover content.
Consider that [two thirds of U.S. adults say they get their news from\\
social media](http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/)
.
Put simply: if you aren’t on social media, you
will have an incredibly hard time gaining brand recognition for your business.
You will also have a tough time getting attention for your laboriously crafted
content.
So how can you climb uphill to earn engagement
and, eventually, legions of fans? Start by following these six tips below.
Talk About Your Audience, Not Your Business
No one logs into social media to talk about
you! Okay, that may be an unfair exaggeration, but our point is that most
people enjoy social media because it’s all about _me_
, _me_
, _me_
.
You should use that tendency. Instead of
talking about your business, talk about your industry in a way that people can
relate to. Suddenly, you’re not just promoting. You’re conversing. Or, you’re
informing. Sometimes, you might even be commiserating.
Here’s an example: consider a post written by
a local dry cleaner that says, “Our new powercleaning process can bust the
deepest stains! Come in today and mention this post for $5 off.”
While the offer may be tempting and the
service may be useful, people may tune them out. Instead, the business can say,
“Got a piece of clothing hiding in your closet because you can’t remove a
stubborn stain? Bring it to us! With our new powercleaning process, your
favorite outfits can find new life. Get $5 off your service when you mention
this post!”
The difference is all about perspective. When
you write content, don’t just subtly hint at relevance to your audiences.
Instead, write things _for_
them that
subtly steer them towards your business services. Flipping your thinking around
can be a quick path to more consistent conversions.
Cover Interesting Industry Topics Rather Than Just Your Brand Alone
Another way to branch away from overpromotion
is to be a font of news and information for your industry. A restaurant can
discuss exciting new culinary movements. A healthcare provider can offer
self-care tips and the latest studies on which health practices are most
effective. A local gym can share stretches and exercises people can do at home
to start feeling better.
When done right, this content earns your
audience’s interest without your business appearing like it wants something in
return. You also round out your subject matter pool to include topics that are
universally interesting and helpful to people in your target market.
Participate in Discussions in Groups and Trending Hashtags
What if your brand were a really helpful
person? That’s the approach many of the most successful social media marketers
take when they’re trying to build an audience. They get proactive, reaching out
to target audiences in the social niches they occupy.
For example, the same hypothetical dry cleaner
mentioned above could join laundry and housecleaning groups. As long as they
are not overtly promoting or stealing focus from other discussions, the
business can become a valuable contributor to the group. After all, who better
to offer expertise than the experts?
When building your initial audience pool, try
to be very active in Facebook groups and public discussions. Avoid coming
across too opinionated, but don’t be shy about setting facts straight. With
enough effort, you can gain some initial followers—and maybe even customers!
Aim for Emotional Content That Tells a Story About Your Customers
Going back to one of the main drawbacks of
social media marketing for small businesses: only certain types of content seem
to excel on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These popular
content categories include humorous content, content that impresses/amazes,
content that sums up people’s feelings succinctly, content that isn’t afraid to
state a strong opinion and content that stirs emotions.
Of all these options, emotional content can be
the easiest for a small business to pin down. While getting an emotion out of
your audience may seem like a tall order, it’s actually fairly hard to fail
completely at it. An attempt to make a joke or be “cool” might go over like a
lead balloon. Being controversial is never a good idea since it, well, stirs
controversy. But no one can 100 percent fail at communicating emotion as long as
they’re sincere.
Think from your heart, and start by telling
stories either about your customers or related to their lives. Get to the
emotional core of what your product or service offers. If you’re an event
caterer, you’re offering strong memories and good times. If you’re an IT and
cybersecurity services provider, you’re providing reliability and peace of
mind. If you’re a dry cleaner, even you offer customers an emotion: a feeling
of control over their lives and the ability for them to wear what they need
when they need it.
When using a storytelling approach, start
small. Highlight a customer whose day you made. Or, mention the emotional
benefits of whatever information your content offers, such as information to
help make people’s day less stressful.
From there, you can learn more about how to
combine images and text in a way that stirs people’s souls.
Consider Gatorade’s mini film “ The Boy Who Learned to Fly
,” which
earned the sports beverage company 15.3 million views and over 68,000 “likes”
on YouTube. It told a powerful story that ranged from exciting to tragic to
joyous in just seven minutes.
You may not have the budget for something that
ambitious, but at the very least you can be inspired by businesses able to tell
a story where they’re just a supporting character or an outside observer.
Engage Your Social Media Marketing Audience Directly by Asking Them Questions
There is probably no more powerful social
media marketing phrase than “What do you think?”
Arguably, all of social media is just one big
pile of people telling others what they think. When they share art or humorous
content, they’re really saying, “This is the type of thing I like!”
“People like to think things through,” explains Barry Feldman on Hubspot
.
“They like to hear from other thinkers. Certainly, they want other people to
know what _they_
think.”
Soliciting opinions is a surefire way to get
your audience talking. Try to avoid controversial topics, and moderate comments
that include vulgar, hostile, harassing or otherwise off-brand statements.
Having someone mad at your business for deleting your comment is a whole lot
better than being the business that let someone attack others in their comment
section.
The beauty of asking others for their opinion
is that it can be done with just about every post. If you’re a cybersecurity
company talking about the dangers of weak passwords, you can ask people for
some of the worst passwords they’ve ever seen. Or, if you’re a restaurant
writing about the best foods from around the world, throw in a question on your
post asking your audience about the best meal they’ve eaten abroad.
Soliciting opinions is easy, and it can
reliably earn engagement. Just be wary of doing it too often, especially if no
one’s taking the bait. You don’t want to be the brand that [gets mocked for throwing a poll that absolutely no one\\
clicks on](https://thetakeout.com/what-if-subway-threw-a-twitter-poll-and-nobody-responde-1826262461)
.
Research Your Audience’s Interests and Influencers
All of the above tactics work well on their
own, but you turbocharge their effectiveness by doing a little digging and
documentation on your audiences. Try to identify the types of content topics
they seem to be most interested in. Look at influencers they frequently
interact with, and try to write content you think that influencer would share.
Above all else, write down your strategy,
measure your results, and experiment to find better performance over time. The
nice thing about social media marketing is that your engagement numbers are
easy to track! Keep an eye on your graphs, and let your “likes” point the way
to a bigger, more interactive audience.