Having a social media account for your business used to be a fun way to add another level of marketing to your company. But nowadays, that extra level of marketing is one of the basics of any marketing plan companies develop. Small business owners need to have a social media presence if they want to keep up with the competition and continue growing. Too many people make the mistake of downplaying the importance of social media marketing, which only hurts them in the long run.

Being consistent and effective on social media can seem overwhelming for some small business owners, especially if you only have a few employees. The good news is you have resources available to you to help manage your accounts, develop a solid social media marketing plan, and carry the plan out. Here are some of the top ways you can experience the benefits of social media marketing by making it as consistent and effective as possible.

Humanize Your Business

Many customers today want to know more about a company than just the products or services they sell. Humanizing your business can mean showing how you make your products or what your employees do behind the scenes that might be underappreciated by customers. You can earn a lot of credibility with your customers when they can see some of the faces behind the products or services they are buying from you.

Some ideas for your social media marketing plan can include:

• Providing virtual tours of your facility or offices
• Showing the steps taken to manufacture products
• Letting an employee show what they do during a day at work
• Interviewing happy customers
• Question-and-answer sessions with customers and employees

All of these strategies can help humanize your business and help customers see the faces behind your brand.

Practice Social Listening

Social listening is a high priority when developing a social media marketing plan. Pay close attention to what your customers are saying about your products, your competitor’s products, and what they desire. The most common way to do this is to look at the comments of certain posts. You could also collect your own data by putting polls and surveys on your social media accounts. The more you listen to the good and bad of what your target audience is saying, the more you’ll be able to create consistent and effective social media posts.

Evaluate Previous Social Media Posts And Learn From Them

One of the benefits of social media marketing is it’s fairly simple to learn from previous failures and successes. Take a look at some of your previous posts and see how much your customers engaged and interacted with them. Try to identify patterns so you can pinpoint exactly what they like and don’t like. For example, if a video you posted received a lot of shares, then your audience might prefer those over blog articles. It’s still important to mix in different content and media types, but you can place a higher emphasis on the ones your customers like more when you evaluate and learn from past posts.

Get Inspiration From What’s Trending

When you’re so focused on running your business, it can sometimes be easy to lose track of what’s happening in the world of social media. Take some time to look at what’s trending and whether it’s relevant to your target audience. Even sharing some memes about current events and tying them into your business somehow can be a great way to engage with your audience. And don’t hesitate to share third-party articles relevant to your company if it provides customers with the information they need to know. Doing so will boost your credibility since your customers will see it as you being proactive in providing them with the information they should know.

Share Relevant Posts From Other Sources

One of the benefits of social media marketing is you can share relevant content from other sources to boost your credibility. If you constantly post about your products, services, or company in general, you might end up burning out your audience. The types of posts to share could involve industry trends, eye-catching memes, or images that relate to your company in some way. You could also consider sharing other blog articles or news articles, but those shouldn’t be too frequent since they aren’t as effective as other types of media.

Always Evaluate And Adjust

The main thing to remember when developing a social media marketing plan is you always have to evaluate and adjust your strategy. Analyze key metrics to understand engagement and interactions with any given post or marketing campaign you design. You can also look at data from your competitors to see what’s working well or not for them. People consume different types of content at different times, so your willingness to adjust will be a major factor in your social media marketing success.

You Don’t Have To Handle Your Social Media Alone

The importance of social media marketing has never been greater. But the good news is you don’t have to do it alone. Many small business owners today work with a reputable social media marketing and content company to schedule the right types of posts, evaluate metrics, and more. Our team at iwebcontent can help you with everything involving your social media accounts so you can increase your number of followers and boost your brand.

Don’t hesitate to contact us at any time to learn more about our social media marketing services and how we can make your life as a business owner easier.