Social media continues to grow as a key tool and strategy for businesses of all sizes. Small businesses especially have an opportunity to make their business stand out among their competitors.
If you haven’t started using social media for your small business or haven’t done much with it, here are 3 valuable reasons why you should start investing time in social media each week.
Cost Efficiency
Although many social media platforms offer paid advertising, you can go a long way with social media with just your time and effort. It’s a trade-off for sure, but if you’re on a tight budget, investing time into social media may be a good play for your small business.
If you do decide to try paid advertising through social media, it tends to be less expensive than, say, pay-per-click (PPC) through Google if you do it correctly.
Visibility in Search Engines
Social media profiles or posts can appear in search results on sites like Google. Social media accounts give your target audience another touch point to find and interact with you online.
If you have a blog, social media is a great way to further spread your helpful content and also give it a better chance of being seen by your ideal customer. The opportunity is there, but as I’ve mentioned previously, what you save in money you will pay with your time. So be ready to make a regular time investment to make this machine go.
Increased Traffic to Drive Sales
Facebook alone, the most popular social network worldwide, has over 1.7 billion active users. Other social networks like Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn have around a hundred million active users. Now the question is, so what? What does that mean for your mom and pop paint shop or any other small business?
What this means is that social media marketing provides an opportunity to engage a vast audience. However, I’m not saying you should set up as many social media accounts as you possibly can. That would be largely ineffective and dilute your efforts. You need to do some research and find out which social media platforms your ideal customers are using. Within that vast audience, you can hone in on and engage your target audience. By building up your profile and offering helpful content, you can build trust for your small business and drive your audience to your site. That is the true value of social media for small businesses.
Social media marketing takes time, and results are not instantaneous. If you’re willing to invest time to build your audience and provide relevant and helpful content, then you can start building your social media presence to contribute to your bottom line.
Need help? Qualbe Marketing Group can help you get started.