Social Media is one of the easiest and most basic forms of advertising. Every business owner should have a basic understanding of social media marketing.
Small business owners benefit from social media in 3 ways:
- Social media is an easy-to-use marketing channel. Creation and reporting with your ads is easier and cheaper than other marketing channels.
- Small business owners can choose to send users to their company website or to their social media page.
- Social media marketing provides companies with social proof, which is essential for consumers to take a company seriously.
Where Do I Start With Social Media Marketing
If you’re not sure where to begin, start by running a Facebook campaign. Set up a Facebook Business Manager account, attach your company page, employees, and an ad account, and get started running your first campaign!
You can run Facebook campaigns for as little as $2/day, and can advertise simultaneously through Instagram. As you get better at advertising through social media, try running an Instagram-only ad.
For Stolen Ground Media, I’ve linked to my website from the following social media channels:
Choose which of these social media marketing channels works best for your small business and focus only on those platforms. Business owners who try to juggle too many end up spread too thin.
Facebook is an unbelievable “catch-all” for advertisers. While you can expect younger demographics on sites like Instagram and Tik-tok or demographics on LinkedIn, everybody is on Facebook.
That’s why in my consultations, I always recommend Facebook as the beginning social media advertising channel. You can’t beat it for audience targeting and budget optimization across all parts of the buying funnel.
Plus, you get the added bonus of including Instagram as a default in Facebook ad, since Instagram is owned by Facebook.
Facebook Ads Manager is an easy-to-use platform that can set up in campaigns in minutes. You can create a professional campaign in only twenty minutes!
Finally, as the pioneer of social media, Facebook is equipped with more active users than any other social media platform. Their user base is double that of Instagram.
When it comes to social media marketing, you need high-quality images. If you know your images are great, however, you need to be maxing out your budget on Instagram.
Home builders, artists and businesses hooked on extravagance would benefit most from Instagram ads.
Instagram ads tend to be beautiful, crisp and informative. Normal Instagram posts do not contain links, but since your advertisement can, try and tease the audience with a great image.
On your website, work hard to show users that the quality images you showed them on their Instagram page are equal to what your business actually provides.
Twitter enables your small business to showcase a personality. Because of the character limit on Twitter (280 or less, which is wildly low), you can’t afford to be professional.
I like to make jokes on Twitter, and to troll other users. It’s also a great place to do some social listening. You can view posts from certain hashtags, or do a search of your own business.
Get in on those conversations and hype your brand. Give coupons and discounts away to upset customers like you’ve just won the lottery. Or, if you can’t afford to, make sure you’re at least asking them to shoot you a private message explaining the problem.
Users who are just looking for free stuff generally won’t pursue the issue, and you now look good next to an “irrational” user.
YouTube
Videos in social media marketing are a gold mine. Where are they all stored? On your YouTube channel.
To be honest, I’m not one of those people that likes browsing YouTube videos in my free time, but I know that my customers are.
That’s why every single video (including live) that I create on Instagram, Facebook, or any other platform also ends up on YouTube. My consumers demand it, and there’s so much good that comes from having a constant flow of content from a social media platform.
Embed your YouTube videos where you can (especially your website) and you’ll encourage content consumers on another social media channel to also subscribe to your YouTube channel.
Customers viewing your content from multiple channels can only mean big money for your small business.
Google My Business
My SEO (search engine optimization) friends’ eyes just lit up.
This is a social media marketing tool!
You can make updates to your profile, add pictures and log reviews. Small business owners who neglect this platform do not succeed; this channel is a living network of leads.
Update this social media channel daily, since potential customers are checking it daily.
Don’t just update. Encourage every satisfied customer to review your business. Most people only leave reviews when they’re negative, but positive reviews on GMB demonstrate to customers that you’re worth a phone call.
Don’t cheat yourself out of that phone call.
The Stolen Ground Media Process
My social media advertisements tend to come from mainly my Instagram and Twitter accounts. There, I can follow other users and comment on their activity, without having to convince them to accept a “friend request.”
In fact, my ads on social media have had the added benefit of follows from users who were interested in my business. Even $2/day can generate a ton of new traffic to your social media profile.
Stolen Ground Media is based in Cincinnati, and every social media ad we run only includes a radius of 15 miles from the city. For $2/day and the right target demographic, I can still hit my audience multiple times and get good leads for the budget. Your small business can too!
If you want more individualized information about your social media marketing presence, or how to gain more traction, let’s get in touch!
If you’re in a good place, these articles discuss pros and cons of social media marketing in different situations. Check them out and share any that you like. Thanks in advance!
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- How The Structure Of Facebook Ads Works
