Over the last decade social media has become an integral part of life and business. According to Statista, over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide in 2020. That number is projected to increase to 4.41 billion by 2025.

What does this mean for your small business? 

It means that there is a huge audience out there ready for you to tap into. You just have to be ready to take advantage of this opportunity.

Social media can be difficult though. It takes time, patience, and most importantly a plan of action. 

Let’s examine some hacks that will help you be better on social media as a small business.

Set Goals

Setting goals is something that we have mentioned several times before. The reason for that is by setting goals you are defining what success looks like to you. When you know what success if supposed to look like, then you are better able to understand what actions will best help you achieve that success. 

For social media, are you looking to grow an email list? Or sending people to your online shopping cart? Or maybe have them schedule a phone call with you? Or maybe you just want to establish your authority and grow a following. 

Whatever the case might be, once you understand what you are working towards you will know how you can best allocate your time and resources to achieving those goals. 

Know Your Audience

This is a key, yet often overlooked step for social media. A lot of businesses focus on themselves and their needs. What you need to do is focus on your target audience. After all, your audience should be composed of potential customers. Potential customers that you are trying to attract. 

Knowing your audience will help you know which social media platforms you should be using. This will prevent you from wasting time on a platform where your audience is unlikely to see your message. 

Knowing your audience will help you address the pain points that will get the attention of your potential customers and get them to starting following you. 

Knowing your audience will help you develop content that will get your potential customers to take the action(s) you wish them to take. 

In short, knowing your audience will make you more effective and efficient on social media. 

Establish Authority

Social media is a fantastic way to showcase your knowledge and expertise. This allows you to establish your authority. You can share marketing content developed by you that highlights your experience in dealing with the pain points your audience experiences. 

You can comment on posts made by established influencers in your industry with larger followings. You can also present yourself as a resource ready to answer questions or address concerns on topics relating to your industry.

All of these things help you establish credibility and trust with your potential customer. 

Be Engaging

It is important to remember the “social” in “social media”. Social media is ideal for starting conversations with people or groups that you otherwise would not have access to. 

Use whatever social media platforms you are on to reach out and make connections. Not solely with the purpose of making a sale, but with the authentic goal of creating a connection and being a resource. 

If you do this, then the sales will come naturally.

Start With One Platform

This one comes from experience. If you are just starting out with social media or if you are looking to get back into it, we highly recommend starting with one platform. This means selecting ONE social media platform that you feel would be the best place to engage your audience and work on establishing your brand there, and only there — for now. 

The reason for this is that being effective on social media takes time. You have to grow your audience, find the best way to interact with them, and interact with other people and groups. 

If you try doing this for multiple social media platforms at the same time when you are just starting out or getting back into it, you run the risk of burning out or putting out content that is unlikely to convert. 

Create a Process

To really help you be more efficient and effective on social media, we highly recommend creating a process. By this we mean selecting a day and time to develop and publish content. Create a procedure for interaction with people and groups. Determine what tools and software you will use to create and schedule content. 

The most important part of creating a process is to make it sustainable. You want a process that you can do yourself each week and eventually teach others. 

Social media is a great marketing tool that allows any small business to grow a large and dedicated audience. Like any tool, you have to know how to wield it. The above hacks will help you get into the correct mindset and develop a plan of action that is suited to the needs of your small business. If you get stuck along the way, Beacon Marketing is happy to help.