The 10 Key Steps to an Effective Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses

There is no question that social media is one of the best ways to promote your products to your prospects. With the right usage of its features, your sales will plummet without having to wait for a long time. The question now is, how to create a social media strategy for  small businesses?

Social media has dominated the marketing side of business because more people have been using it to either sell, buy, or promote products. However, before achieving that success, you have to know these…

The 10 Key Steps to an Effective Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses

1. Goal-setting

Creating a social media strategy starts with setting the right goals. Ask yourself these questions. What do you want to accomplish for your business in social media? What are the outcomes of the platforms you have chosen?

You have to establish goals that are feasible and that make sense. Remember the acronym SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely) when you set social media goals.

Goals that are well-thought of gives the right direction to make your business known in social media. The right goals will keep track of significant progress which you will need for your business growth.

Examples of social media goals that you can set can be boosting social media engagement, driving more traffic to your website, or increasing brand awareness. After choosing which general goal you wanted to achieve, you can go to the specific steps you must do to achieve that goal.

Read More: The 15 Ways to Boost Facebook Organic Reach

2. Research your targets

Understanding your audience is key to determining the right way of connecting with them. You have to know your audience well to get a better grasp of what they want from your business on your social media platform.

There are social media analytics tools out there that will give you significant findings of your audience. You also have to understand that every platform attracts different kinds of audiences.

Given this, you have to understand your targets on the different social media platforms that you will be using.

3. Choosing the appropriate social media platform

You can’t just put your content on all social media platforms out there. You have to carefully choose the right platform where your audiences are most active and participative.

There are a lot of platforms out there so you must examine its overall usefulness first before deciding which to use. 

4. Identify your brand voice

In business, you need to have that distinct brand voice for the audience to remember you. While it is challenging to create that unique brand voice, you have to think outside the box.

Your brand voice refers to how you speak with your targets – a representation of your company’s personality. 

If you’re having a hard time figuring out your tone of voice, you can ask these questions: Are you speaking in a serious tone? Or are you talking in a relatable and friendly manner?

5. Create a social media calendar

To be consistent and organized with your social media posts, you can create a social media content calendar where tasks are planned ahead of time. When you plan and schedule your posts ahead of time, you get better results. A calendar will help you save time and effort.

6. Choose the most significant metrics and KPIs

Your social media metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you analyze the behavior of your audience. This is helpful when creating marketing strategies to gauge the audience to purchase your products. The results will help you identify the right steps to reach your business goals.

Now, what are the crucial social media metrics to take note of then? These are reach, clicks, engagement, hashtags, organic and paid likes, and sentiments,

These numerical results from every metric will you determine the audience behaviors and preferences in social media.

7. Use visuals

The attention span of most people nowadays is getting lesser. Thus, there is no question why creative and relevant visuals are more preferred by almost anyone.

Pictures and infographics can translate information into a more understandable and engaging way. When you use creative and relevant visuals in your social media platform, people will most likely participate in it than those with text-only posts.

Make sure that you incorporate photos for your products and services for the audience to get a clearer picture of what you’re trying to offer to them. After all, who doesn’t like photos, right?

8. Create relevant and engaging contents

It is already a given fact that when you post something about your business on social media, you have to publish something relevant and engaging for the audience.

Put yourself in the perspective of your targets. What do you think are the contents that they would like to read? What topics do you think are most engaging for them? You have to consider their preferences first before delivering your content online.

If you are having a hard time choosing the right topics for your audience, you can always ask or look out for their suggestions by creating a poll or Facebook community. In this manner, you build connections with your targets which help establish your reputation online.

9. Choose the best time to post

When posting content on social media, you have to select the appropriate time to publish the content. You can use social media analytics to determine what time of the day is your target most active.

When you select the best time to post, there’s a higher chance that Facebook algorithms will put your posts on top of your target’s news feed. 

However, you must also consider your competitor’s posting since they might also do the same. A little tip that might help you is disseminating content minutes or an hour before peak hours to have less competition.

10. Connect or start a conversation with your audience

Lastly, an significant step for an effective social media strategy for small businesses is establishing healthy relations to your targets.

Social media is all about building relationships and connections with different people. Thus, you have to start a dialogue with your prospects. You can do that by showing appreciation to those who purchase your products or services.

If you’re still a start-up entrepreneur, you can post business-related questions or content that will engage the audience. 

You can share posts about rewards or promos related to your services. This can help entice audience participation.

Research! Choose the Right Platform

Indeed, social media has a lot to offer when it comes to marketing. While it can be too overwhelming sometimes, the list above will help you create an effective social media strategy for your small business. 

Promoting your business doesn’t have to cost much. With the appropriate skill sets and the right platform, you’ll be one step closer to achieving a successful social media strategy.