Social media marketing can be an excellent tactic for local businesses. You can use it to distribute content, promote products or services, and build a community. While social media marketing is broad, there are some fundamental best practices. In this post, we’ll reveal social media marketing tips for local businesses.
The Value of Social Media for Local Businesses
Being present on social media is no longer nice to have. It’s imperative for local companies because that’s where people seek out new products or services. In fact, 74 percent of consumers rely on social media to guide purchasing decisions. Those who engage with a brand on social media spend 20 to 40 percent more money. You’ll miss these opportunities if you aren’t active on these profiles.
You can also use social media advertising to promote products and services to targeted users. That allows you to land in the feeds of those most likely to need what your company sells.
So, what tips should be part of your social media marketing?
The Best Social Media Marketing Tips for Local Businesses
These best practices can make your social media efforts more impactful.
- Don’t be overly promotional: Too many ads disguised as posts can turn off potential buyers. You should have variety in posting that includes educational content and third-party resources.
- Post for your audience: Make it clear in your posts who the content is for and why it’s important to them.
- Be consistent in posting: Ideally, you should be posting every day or at least three to five times a week. Long pauses between posting impact if your followers remain engaged.
- Define your social media marketing goals: You need some guardrails around how you’ll use social media and what you expect to get from it (e.g., greater brand awareness, more web traffic, customer acquisition, etc.).
- Identify your audience: Determine what buyer personas you believe will interact with you on each social media profile, which can be different.
- Focus on three profiles: As a small business, you can’t be everything to everyone. It’s a good idea to limit your work to three profiles. Base those choices on your audience, industry, the content you create, and ease of posting.
- Create posts that engage audiences: If you post something that users recognize as a topic that matters to them, they’ll be more likely to engage. An engaging post could include posing questions, addressing issues, sharing customer stories, and timely content.
- Take advantage of trends: There are always hashtags that are trending. If you spot one relevant to your company and customers, get in on the posting action.
- Plan out your posting: Developing a social media calendar is critical for posting consistency. With one, you can schedule posts and eliminate most manual work.
- Include content from trusted third parties: Your posts shouldn’t be all about you. Add content from respected industry publications and tag those companies when you do.
- Post high-quality imagery and video to attract attention: Posts with images and videos tend to get the most engagement, so make sure it’s part of your content.
- Use social media advertising to engage and convert new customers: It’s a critical part of your social media strategy and can deliver excellent returns.
Social Media Tips for Local Businesses: Get Help from the Pros
Social media marketing can be time-consuming and hard to manage for a small enterprise. We can help. We provide monthly social media services curated for local businesses. Explore our solutions today.
