In today’s rapidly-changing and fast-moving digital world, consumers are increasingly turning to social media platforms to connect with and engage with their favourite brands in real-time.
With a heightened expectation for immediacy and responsiveness, social media has evolved as a ‘make or break’ for brands – requiring them to be active and engaged across all social channels, whether that be Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or even TikTok. And when it comes to consumers, there is often little regard for what is happening behind-the-scenes; whether it’s one individual running a brand’s social channels or a full marketing team, consumers want a response – and want it instantly.
But with limited time and minimal resources, how can small businesses manage their brand’s social media presence effectively?
Review and align content with a content calendar
Ideally, small businesses should already have a social media marketing plan and content calendar in place. If not, make sure to set aside the time to prepare one, and schedule time each month to brainstorm ideas and update the calendar to piggyback on timely trends and cultural moments.
When it comes time to post, check the content calendar to see what content is planned for the day, and double check that visuals, photos, and copy are all good to go.
As small businesses are often short on original content, incorporating user-generated content, memes, or other third-party content into the social media calendar can also help to fill content gaps.
Pre-schedule content
With the right automation tools in place and social content developed in advance, it can be quick and easy to schedule social posts. Social media management platforms enable businesses to schedule content in advance, and manage multiple social accounts from a single dashboard.
This is also particularly helpful for scheduling content at times when the target audience is most likely to engage. By using social media management platforms like Hootsuite, this is made easy by built-in recommendations on the best time(s) to post, based on the specific platforms used and where the target audience is based.
Conduct social listening
Social listening is the practice of monitoring the conversations people are having on social media in real time – via tracking keywords, hashtags, mentions, and brand messages – to stay on top of trends, uncover new insights specific to relevant sectors and set social strategies with confidence. For example, through tracking keywords, prospective customers may signal products or services that they are in the market for (i.e., “winter blues” and “sunny holidays” for a travel-related business) – or existing customers may post feedback and/or ask questions about a brand’s products online – providing an opportunity for the company to ramp up messaging and offerings in that area.
But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean manually searching the internet. Social media monitoring tools are built with automation at their core, and can make tracking a lot easier.
Analyse brand mentions
Viewing brand mentions individually is helpful to see how consumers are talking about a brand, but to truly drive success and improve marketing strategies in the long-term, businesses need to take the extra step to analyse what the mentions are saying as a whole. Reviewing mentions together allows businesses to identify recurring insights that can be acted upon quickly, such as restocking a product based on positive customer feedback.
Engage with your audience
It’s also vital to engage with social media users by responding to questions, liking comments, and sharing posts. The more active the brand is, the more likely it is that consumers will engage.
Having a positive experience on social media has also proven to increase the likelihood that someone will buy from and recommend a business – or, taken one step further, become an ambassador for it. Hootsuite research found that more than 70% of consumers who have a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to refer the brand to friends and family.
Social media for small businesses success
While managing social channels for a business will always be demanding, by using automation tools to schedule content, listening to what people are saying about your business, and interacting with customers, small businesses can make the most of their time on social media. Plus, by providing the information and engagement that customers want, brands can attract new business and strengthen their relationships with existing customers – benefits that small businesses can’t afford to miss.
