Love it or loathe it, Social Media is part of our lives now. It can actually be very useful when used in conjunction with large and small local businesses. But there are a few important pointers we should remember…

  1. Make your brand well known

As Gregorio (2015) suggests, when companies use social media, this means that they are able to make their brand awareness increase. The ability to catch new customers is huge and local businesses should especially use this to their advantage. Given the amount of huge corporations on our high streets these days, it is imperative for small local business to make themselves known. Using social media can do this. For example, setting up a twitter and corresponding Instagram account too, businesses have the opportunity to hashtag and link the two sites together. Customers are then able to get to know the brand more.

 

  1. You can form conversations with customers and potential customers

The ability to build a conversation with customers is what is so great about social media. Whether it be about a new product that you have or simply about some piece of news in the world, sharing this information and starting a conversation among customers on your page, makes you as a business seem very down to earth- as well as responsive. An example of this was illustrated by Kietzmann et al. (2011), with Unilever and their Dove campaign in 2004. The campaign sparked lots of conversation, across blogs and social media sites. The campaign also asked people to vote on a billboard and this therefore generated more conversation across social media. You don’t have to be a big company to do this, a bright and interesting conversation can be started from anyone.

 

  1. Recognising that your customers are real people

As Daykin (2016) suggests, when you think of your customers as being real people, you are then able to target them specifically and not bombard customers with stuff that they won’t like. A more personalised approach is beneficial in getting your local business the recognition and respect it needs, in order to grow.

 

  1. Work out a time frame needed for each platform

When you decide on the social media platforms you want to use, you need to work out how often you should post on each network. As suggested by Powers (2015), when dealing with Facebook, you should post ‘1-2 times a day’, Twitter should be ‘3-4 times a day’ and Pinterest should be ‘2-3 times a day’. It is obviously very important that you post enough but you do not post too much. As a local business, you don’t want to be annoying customers with constant posts throughout the day, but the use of interesting, funny or informative posts during the day will keep customers involved in your business.

 

Taking all this into account…

So, if you are stuck in a social media rut and you’re not sure how to get out of it, use these tips to kick start your online presence, sure to enhance your local business.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Lordoftheblogs

 

References

 

Daykin, J. (2016) ‘Five things great brands will do differently on social media in 2016’ The Guardian, 5th January 2016 [Online] <http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2016/jan/05/brands-social-media-marketing-2016> [accessed 26 January 2016]

Gregorio, J. (2015) ‘Top 8 Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Small Business (Infographic)’ Business 2 Community, 1st June 2015 [Online] <http://www.business2community.com/infographics/top-8-benefits-social-media-marketing-small-business-infographic-01240453#MIIMkdV27H0lq6EB.97> [accessed 26 January 2016]

Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011) Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business horizons, Vol. 54, No.3, pp241-251

Powers, K. (2015) ‘Social Media & Your Business: Choosing the Best Platform’ VerticalResponse, August 1st 2015 [Online] <http://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/social-media-your-business-choosing-the-best-platform/> [accessed 26 January 2016]