How Small Businesses Can Smash Social Media

We help businesses grow. Not just meet growth targets, but outdo them and with offices in the heart of Stockport and Bromsgrove, and direct connections to businesses and communities you couldn’t get more local.

That’s why ahead of this Small Biz Saturday we wanted to share our top tips with small businesses on how to use our three favourite platforms. A solid social media strategy can drive growth for your business and so, here’s a breakdown guide to help you decide which to focus on.

Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media platform of them all. It is predominantly a B2C platform with 2 billion plus active monthly users, making it ideal for businesses that are wanting to build relationships with their customers. Despite the largest demographics of users being aged 25-34, people of all ages are logging in to Facebook and almost equal numbers of females and males are too. All this, combined with the fact that you can actively target your direct audience through paid advertising with a budget of as little as £5, means you’re onto a winner with Facebook.

Top tip: Don’t treat your business Facebook page in the same way as your personal one. You need a clear strategic plan on what you’re going to share and when. We recommend posting no more than once a day so that your posts have the opportunity to receive optimal engagement.

Twitter

Twitter is an excellent tool when looking to provide business updates to your customers and an even better place to provide quality levels of customer service… if you have the time. If you’re going to invest in Twitter as a platform make sure you do it wholeheartedly as it can be a demanding platform where users want answers and quickly. With Twitter, you can actively listen to what your customers are saying, providing yourself with useful feedback which you can use to expand and grow your business. It’s not just customers you can listen to though, you can also listen to your competitors too.

Top tip: Try using Tweetdeck to monitor your competitors, keywords or hashtags to find opportunities to respond to your current and potential customers whilst never missing a mention of your brand!

Instagram

People use Instagram to be inspired and to discover more about the things they care about. Recent statistics show that 200 million+ Instagrammers visit at least one business profile daily and if that isn’t enough to push you onto Instagram, we don’t know what is! However, Instagram isn’t for everybody and if your services can’t be shown in an effective and engaging visual way, you will soon get lost in the algorithm. Instagram allows you to go crazy with your creativeness so make sure you stand out.

Top tip: Make the most of apps available such as Prime for Instagram to let you know the best time of day to post to get the most engagement from your followers.

Creating goals on social media will help your business get to where it needs to be. Here at Platform81 we don’t just create goals, we reach them too. Get in touch with us today for a winning social media strategy.