8 Social Media Tips For Small Businesses

Aug 18, 2022

I had this feeling when Google Adwords first started that it was going to explode. At the time, to purchase Google Adword campaigns and advertising campaigns for our business it was about one to two cents per click. Unfortunately, I didn't take action at the time and now they're around eight dollars per click. Due to inflation and the increase in competition, the cost of the campaigns increased.

In 2018, I was sitting in a seminar and felt the same way. We weren't doing enough with social media and I didn't want to regret that I didn't give it my all and use it to my advantage. In 2020, I went full steam ahead during the pandemic for Best Practice's socials. I betted that the businesses that spent time building their brand awareness would likely succeed more than those that didn't.

"The best advice I can offer to you is don't leave it up to others or fate for the success of your business. Take control!"

In 2020, we managed to do an average of 100 posts a day across multiple social media platforms. By the end of the year, we posted around 36,000 social media posts. Now, I'm not saying that you have to post 36,000 social media posts, but I do suggest that you post more often and consistently. If you do, it will allow you to practice and receive informative data which you can use to understand and connect with your audience/market better.

Furthermore, when curating content, avoid the perfection trap and start posting. Don't be the judge of your content, let your audience decide what they do and do not like. In 2020 at the end of each week, I had gained already a year's worth of experience in terms of what works and what doesn't on social media. Today, at Best Practice, we've significantly reduced the number of posts we do. Instead, we focus on consistency and applying the knowledge that we've learned in 2020 to produce more valuable content more efficiently.

Here are some tips that I've put together to help you with your social media...

Set goals and objectives- If your goal is to increase brand awareness, what metrics will you use to determine and increase brand awareness? For example, will it be likes, comments, shares, views, or website visits? These may be vanity metrics, however, they're still valuable as they provide credibility. For instance, your friend tells you, "check out how many followers this guy has". It helps provide you with authority on the platform. Are we likely to talk more about the guy with 500 followers or the guy with 200,000 followers?
Provide value- It's one thing to produce content and another thing to actually help your audience with challenges and problems. The internet has become an amazing source of information- I taught myself to weld steel with a welder on YouTube! Moreover, your audience might think, "I'm really enjoying knowing how to do something, but I don't necessarily want to do it" and that's where your business may come in. The internet and social media are your ways of letting people know that you exist and how you can help them and produce results.
Are you struggling to become motivated to produce content? Focus on social media at the start of your day rather than the last half an hour before work finishes. Furthermore, set yourself a goal. This can be to produce content one day a week at the start of your working day. If you leave it till the last hour of the day, you'll be busy reacting and doing other things. Think about how you will measure your goal to hold yourself accountable.
Make sure you represent your business's identity and values through your page. Now, the best way to do that is to just document what you're doing and don't get caught up in creating. Take photos or videos of what you're doing in your day-to-day. From your documentation, you can then find the value pieces and splinter content across all your platforms and your website. Videos turn into podcasts and podcasts can be turned into articles.
Let the audience determine your style and don't get too hung up on your 'theme'. It comes with time.
The secret that has helped bring me the most success in social media is to focus initially on the newest feature of the platform because the platform rewards those that are early adopters. For example, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels are competing with TikTok's concept of bite-sized content and therefore are likely to reward those users that use it to motivate others to do the same.
On a side note, there's a lot of organic reach on TikTok at the moment because it's still growing. If you're going to be focusing on boosting your post with money, TikTok will be cheaper than other platforms for reaching more people. However, it is important to consider where your audience is likely to hang out.
Lastly, engage with your audience! Stay active and be present. Answer questions, encourage discussion, give your audience a call to action and create an exciting place for like-minded people to connect.