In 2024, it’s estimated that there will be 5.17 billion total social media users globally. This underscores the immense opportunities that businesses have in store to grow their businesses online.
A typical user spends around 2.5 hours per day on social media. That’s a whopping 864 hours per year. This means your potential customers are hanging out on social media and targeting them can get you more business.
Whether you are a small business or an established one, you need social media marketing. But in particular, small businesses need them more because they are new to the market and build their business’s visibility from scratch.
Did you know that social media marketing has created multiple rags-to-riches scenarios for businesses? Yes, a single viral post has brought in more followers, leads, and conversions.
Since most of your potential customers are active every day, when you target and market your product or service, there’s a good chance they will see your posts and updates regularly.
This constant exposure keeps your business at the top of mind when they are ready to make a purchase or need your services. In this blog, we will highlight how social media marketing services for small businesses help and the challenges they face.
5 Practical Ways Social Media Marketing Services Assist Small Businesses in Expanding Their Market Reach.
Here’s how social media marketing services can enhance a small business’s online presence and boost its ability to connect with potential customers.
1. Increase brand awareness
One of the biggest struggles that small businesses face is brand recognition. When you are new, nobody knows you exist. So, you must put up signs everywhere so that everyone knows about your business and what makes it special.
When customers recognize your products and gain your trust, they start buying products or services from you. Here, social media marketing is the best and most affordable way to build brand awareness.
According to SCORE, 77% of small businesses use social media to build brand awareness, simplify customer service, and increase revenue.
83% of Instagram users state that they discover new brands while scrolling the platform.
So, by creating engaging content, interacting with your audience, and maintaining a brand identity across all your social media profiles, you can make your ideal customers recognize and remember your brand and what you offer.
2. Social posts drive high website traffic at a low price.
Answer this question: What’s your ultimate goal in getting social media marketing services for your small business?
You want to create brand awareness and make your customers purchase from your brand, right? Besides creating brand awareness, social media posts have the power to land your ideal customers on your website.
Driving traffic to your website this way is simple. For example, add your website link to your Instagram bio or to your post. There’s a high potential for intrigued users to click it, check your website, and make a purchase. How?
Only curious customers who like your service would mind clicking on the link. So, there’s a bright chance for them to shop or at least inquire about your service.
Social Media Today, a leading industry publication operated by Industry Dive, integrated memes into their social media strategy for just 1 month. The result? They saw a 12% increase in website sessions and a 16% increase in website users from social media.
So all you need to do is give them the best taste of what your business offers to pull them in.
Did you know that 94% of small businesses that use social media rely on organic (non-paid) content? Because small businesses have budget constraints, that shouldn’t be a problem here. Choose the right content format by researching. This way, small businesses can easily tap into a larger audience.
3. You can gain robust business insights.
The top advantage of social media marketing is that you will know if your marketing stunts are working and what your ideal customers expect. Thanks to the social media platforms that offer built-in analytics tools that provide valuable business insights on how each of your social posts, ads, and overall account activity.
These tools also let you track metrics such as post reach, engagement, number of clicks, conversions, and demographics. This allows you to connect with people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer and turn them into loyal customers
Here, knowing the demographics is important if you are a local small business owner. Because you can target a particular group of people interested in your products or services.
Here, the stats back this up. 75% of mobile searches with local intent make customers visit the store within 24 hours.
Beat your competitors
Small businesses can use social media to monitor and analyze their competitors, identify areas of opportunity and tailor their marketing efforts accordingly.
But being a small business, you shouldn’t copy every move your competitor makes, watch out for where your competitors are and what they are up to.
With effective social media marketing for small businesses, you can reach the right people at the right time with the right marketing message.
Gain insights on which platform performs better
You must know which social media platform works well for your business. Because plastering your business on every platform is not recommendable.
For instance, LinkedIn is the best for B2B marketers, and studies show that 80% of them use it because it’s a professional network filled with business owners. So, analyze your analytics, learn which platform has your strongest brand and engage with customers there. CNBC strongly vouches that Instagram and WhatsApp remain very popular with their user bases.
4. Obtain leads and conversions
Many people misunderstand that social media marketing is all about gaining likes and followers. But the truth is, turning those interactions into meaningful leads and converting them is the main goal.
But how do you obtain leads? Offer valuable and clickable content, run promotions, and provide a clear call to action. If you aim to bring customers to your website, ensure you have user-friendly landing pages.
This way, you encourage your customers to interact with your content and take the next step, which is either visiting your website, making a purchase, or simply contacting you for more information.
A quick way to get promising leads is via lead generation ads. Lead-gen ads let you get leads on a social platform itself. You don’t have to send your customers to a landing page and collect leads. And the best part is that they have proven effective. For example, LinkedIn lead generation forms show a conversion rate of 13%, while website landing pages have a low rate of only 2.35% conversions.
So understand the importance of social media marketing for small businesses clearly and ensure that your plan brings ideal customers to the bottom of the funnel.
5. Build long-term relationships with your customers.
Have you heard about the power of word-of-mouth? Wondering what it has to do with social media marketing?
Well, creating personal relationships with followers not only builds their trust, but you can also win their loyalty. They can refer your brand to their friends and family. So, nurturing these tiny little connections by showing that you care about your customers can reap big benefits in the long run.
Remember, on average, a social media user has 8.4 social media accounts. Connect with them on different platforms for various purposes. For instance, you can use Twitter for customer service and Facebook or Instagram for building your potential audience and generating leads. This builds connections.
Another way to make genuine connections is by engaging with your audience, responding to their comments and messages and showing your genuine interest in their lives. Studies point out that customers who feel emotionally connected to your brand have a 306% higher lifetime value and will mostly recommend your brand to others.
What Are the Challenges That Small Businesses Face with Social Media Marketing?
There’s a risk of negative feedback:
In some cases, social media marketing can make or break your business. Customers have the freedom of speech. While receiving positive feedback is helpful, failing to respond properly to negative comments or reviews can put your brand’s reputation at stake.
Not targeting the ideal audience:
As a small business, you must have a bullet-proof strategy targeting your audience. But the problem is that only 32% of small businesses have a clear social media strategy. If the content doesn’t appeal to your audience, it can certainly affect engagement.
Time-consuming:
In many small businesses, the business owner takes care of the social media marketing and we know it’s a bit time-consuming. In fact, 61% of small businesses invest 5 or more hours per week in social media marketing. But small businesses either lack the resources or time for this.
How can we mitigate these risks?
Hire a dedicated digital marketing company for small businesses like Demanzo that has an expert team specializing in social media marketing and helps clients achieve better results.
Final Words
Researches shows that 43% of small businesses and marketers vouch that Social media marketing services for small businesses are one of the most effective channels for driving leads. So, we can’t underestimate its power.
Tapping into the larger audience pool doesn’t have to be a long road filled with challenges. With the right set of tools and strategies, you can increase your small business’s online visibility, gain a large customer base.
