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A recent research by HubSpot shows that over 53 % of the global population use one or more social media platforms for news, politics, entertainment, socialization, and to check out their favorite brands for products and services.

It is clear that many small businesses are still struggling to pivot online and those who are already on social media fail to create an effective social media marketing strategy for their businesses.

Since social media has become an integral part of our lives and one of the most effective marketing channel it is very critical that small businesses create a successful social media marketing strategy to grow their businesses in the 21^st century digital age or be left behind.

There are myriads of reasons why most small businesses are hesitant to pivot online. The two most underlying reasons are: the lack of knowledge as it relates to how social media networks functions and myths surrounding the cost to develop and operate a social media business account.

Small business owners must now take the initiative to educate themselves regarding the countless and sometimes priceless benefits that social media marketing provides from the plethora of information that is available online with just one click of a button.

Here are 5 main tips to get you started on your journey to create a winning social media strategy for your business:

1. Locate Your Audience

Social media is all around and people are following them. Based on the product or service you offer it is very important to conduct your research to ascertain which social media platform(s) your niche is spending most of their time interacting with and create content to reach them in tandem with how that specific social media network functions.

2. Know Your Audience

Quite frankly, they may be thousands, if not millions of businesses that are similar to yours in the global business environment, especially since the corona virus pandemic has forced countless businesses to pivot online in order to remain viable and relevant. Therefore, after establishing the social media platform(s) that your audience uses it is very critical to study their behavior in order to find out their needs and seek to fulfill the ones that are not being met as there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Your business will not only grow exponentially but stand out in the competition when your content begins to attract new audience and keep your long standing members coming back because they find your content inspiring and useful. These visitors will ultimately convert to leads who will most likely become paying customers. Satisfied customers will always refer family and friends to your business and it is well documented that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool to expand your business.

3. Choose The Appropriate Social Media Channel

Many business owners believe that in order to be successful social media marketers they need to be on every social media platform. This is further from the truth. The universe is very massive and you can’t be all things to all people and that is why it is very critical in business to determine who are the people you want to cater to and locate them. Similarly, not every social media network caters to all demographics. For example, the 25-34 age group represents the largest audience on Instagram, so if your product or service is geared towards this niche then choose Instagram as your main social media marketing channel. It is recommended that you research the two most important social media platforms that your audience uses and work with those.

4. Define Your Goals

It is no question that with the 4.48 billion social media daily users globally, you will most definitely locate your target audience since social media continues to be the driving force behind businesses today. At the same time, social media provides myriads of benefits so it is critical to define your social media marketing goals to derive the greatest outcome for your business. For example, do you want to create brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, grow your audience or increase sales? Once your goal (s) is clear you are now in the position to create content that is not only specific to your niche but content that they will find useful.

5. Provide Top Quality Content

In this social media age people are more inclined to interact with visual content than they do with text. Therefore, it is very important to leverage visual content in order to keep your audience interacting with your platform. The old adage says a picture is worth a thousand words but in the social media sphere visuals are worth everything. After all, research shows that only 20% of what people read resonate but an alarming 80% of what they see remain at the forefront of their minds. The 80-20 formula is a good method to use when leveraging the use of text and video for your content marketing strategy. Another important element to consider when developing your content strategy is the art of good content writing. Content writing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Similar to knowing where your audience hang out in order to reach them, knowing the type of information your audience requires and having the skill to convert the information to top quality content that appeals to their interests or solves their problems is also of high importance.

Summary

Social media is undoubtedly the driving force behind social connectivity and business, investing quality time and resources to develop an effective social media strategy will extend your reach and maximize your return on investment(RIO). There is almost an information overload concerning social media marketing, as well as knowledgeable social media managers in this growing field who are also available to help you design a successful social media marketing plan. Do your business a favor and seek the help you need to pivot your business in the social media spotlight. You’d be glad you did!

For more information on how to grow your small business on social media please leave comments below.

Caren Waugh is the CEO of CW Media Consultants, a proven communications and social media strategist, blogger, and print media contributor who helps small businesses to create brand awareness, strengthen customer relations, and shape their online marketing endeavors with winning social media strategies.

It is well documented that social media plays an integral role in our lives – from news consumption to entertainment, socialization, education, career opportunities, accessing products and services among countless other benefits.

However, one of the many issues social media marketers and business owners struggle with is to determine when is the most appropriate time to post content on social media. In order to yield maximum visibility and audience engagement so that they can grow their businesses and stand out in the competition.

It is a fact! Social Media Marketing (SMM) has increased exponentially and with greater prominence over the last year-and-a-half due to the sudden onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic which has negatively impacted businesses on a global scale.

Most traditional small businesses, without prior knowledge or experience in Social Media Marketing (SMM)had to quickly pivot online in order to remain viable and relevant.

The influx of new social media businesses into the environment makes online marketing even more challenging.

As it becomes increasingly overwhelming for businesses to compete for visibility and engagement on social media, understanding the most ideal time to post content on the various platforms is very critical to an effective marketing strategy.

Many social media pundits discuss various times that marketers need to post on social media in order to gain the desired outcome. For example, some researchers suggest that posting on Twitter before the start of business each day (6am-8am) and again between 6pm and 9pm in your target market or country is the best time to gain visibility. Since most Twitter users are visible on the platform first thing in the morning for early news updates. These times also correlate with both morning and evening commutes when consumers are heavily interacting with their smart phones.

Others claim that posting on Facebook on Wednesdays between 11am and 2pm yields the highest level of engagement for businesses.

No matter what the various findings suggest the most important rule in this business is to understand that there is no one-size-fits- all strategy.

In order to unlock the secret as it relates to the most ideal time to post content that will reach your target audience requires an understanding of how to interpret your social media metrics, such as likes, impressions, and engagement rate.

Once this is achieved, you can now analyze when you publish content and the level of engagement those contents generate and take note of the times. The posts with the highest engagement rate would be the current best times to post content on those specific social media platforms.

While this may be a simple example, deciding on the best social media schedule for your business can be a very tricky exercise. The lack of proper insights can lead to poor decision-making and severely impact your social media marketing strategy.

In order to gain helpful insights, there are many social media management companies that employ the services of data scientists that analyze contents with the highest and lowest engagement rate, and best and worst times to post on social media. These include: Sprout Social which is one of the leading social media management platforms, Hootsuite, Hubspot, Quicksprout, Creator Studio, Later among many others.

It is also very important to bear in mind that each social media platform functions differently and algorithms and people’s social media usage continuously change. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to study these variables especially the consumption habits of your social media audience.

Once you ascertain the type of content they are interested in and when they are mostly visible on the platforms, you can now determine the best and worst times to post. This data will greatly assist you in creating an effective posting schedule tailored to audience needs.

As you extend your reach and grow your audience you may be required to update your posting schedule due to new audience data such as, demographics, locations, and interests in order to stay a head of the game.

Not to worry! There are myriads of social media marketing platforms and analytics free tools that are available at your finger tips to help you create a strategic social media content schedule for your business.

In this pervasive digital environment social media continue to be the driving force behind brands’ success. Understanding how to navigate the demands of consumers, social media networks, algorithms, and fierce market competition – is the only way to thrive in the global digital environment.

For more information on how to grow your small business on social media please leave comments below.

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