Social Media Marketing Strategies for SMBs

Your follower count itself is a marketing tool. People will follow profiles just because they have lots of followers; everyone else is doing it, so businesses must be doing something right. A large audience also legitimizes your company, showing that thousands of people trust your brand.

The downside is that everybody starts at zero. Fortunately, these social media marketing strategies for small businesses could turn a dozen followers into a thousand, then multiply your audience until you need to hire a full-time social media manager--and one day, maybe an entire team.

Find Your Demographic

Have you ever noticed that children's shows air commercials for toys, vacations and snack food? That's because kids aren't thinking about insurance or mortgages--they're fantasizing about birthday gifts and trips to Disney World. Advertisers get the most out of their budgets by targeting their audience directly, not buying airtime on every network, and hoping for the best.

Finding your demographic is the key to your marketing strategy. Your audience tells you:

1. Who buys your products or services
2. What types of content to share
3. Which platforms to use
4. Whether you should chase trends--and if so, which ones
5. How to interact with your followers

If you don't already have audience data, your sales give you a clue. Study your clients' average race, gender, age, location, career, household, and educational level, then use this information to determine who buys your products. With this knowledge, create a persona that represents your ideal customer.

An example persona looks like this:

1. Name: Maci Baker
2. Age: 22
3. Gender: Female
4. Occupation: Massage therapist
5. Education: Two-year degree
6. Hobbies: Hiking, taking road trips, volunteering at animal shelters

Not every client fits in this box, but when you have a persona in mind, you'll generate clear, specific content that's relevant to today's world. Your business becomes a friend instead of a corporation.

Explore Your Content Options

Diversifying your content is one of the strongest social media marketing strategies for small businesses. Social media platforms support pictures, videos, text, and links, plus some exclusive features, such as music or livestreams. Mixing it up ensures that your followers never get bored, and you'll have assets to share across multiple websites.

Photography

Photography offers a first-hand look at your business operations. Corporate events often hire photographers, so ask a manager how you can get your copies to share. For in-house activities, professional photographers can snap clear, high-definition pictures of your store, products, facilities, and coworkers--perfect for social media and press kits.

Grab the occasional picture of your dog while you're going for a walk or at a local Halloween display, and you'll have free content in seconds. These spontaneous moments also make your profile more personable, showing a glimpse of the real, unpolished life behind the screen.

Videos

Your storefront might not seem like a movie set, but TikTok's explosion has turned mundane tasks into online sensations. Here are a few ways that businesses have gone viral:

1. Customers filming Chipotle workers to get bigger servings
2. Brands demonstrating their products with whispering and ASMR triggers
3. e.l.f. blowing up on TikTok with an original song and challenge

While the videos have brought Chipotle bad press, this example shows that anything--even a restaurant worker fulfilling your order--can go viral under the right circumstances. Consider how this applies to your company. What seemingly ordinary task could earn millions of views if you added a twist?

Try adding these clips to your content calendar:

1. Whispering while giving a product demonstration
2. Unboxing supplies, mail, or new products (don't show anything confidential!)
3. Cutting, painting, dyeing, scraping, or otherwise altering materials
4. Playing soothing music while you repair a damaged item

Of course, you'll need regular content to inform and educate alongside the quirky memes. These make up the "meat" of your feed:

1. Advertisements
2. Product reveals
3. How-to videos
4. Employee spotlights
5. Customer testimonials
6. Behind-the-scenes peeks

While you're at it, take advantage of Instagram and TikTok's live features to host online events. Film concerts or corporate meetups, host a Q&A, unveil your new location, or reveal a giveaway winner. You can even sell products or accept donations to monetize your celebration.

Images

Starbucks' Instagram account alternates photography with drink illustrations to break up the pattern and give their profile a little cheer. You can do the same with drawings, memes, motivational quotes, and infographics that make your followers think, surprise them with fun facts, or brighten their days. For cross-promotion, share a screenshot of one of your viral tweets.

Text

Written content might seem tedious in our fast-paced world, but blog posts have a few advantages over videos. Your audience can read at their own pace, avoid overstimulation from loud voices or music, and print out articles for offline use. Disabled clients also appreciate the plain text, often seeking video transcripts for this reason.

Twitter/X also encourages short greetings, such as "Good morning!" that earn engagement in seconds. Ask questions, announce flash sales, discuss trending topics, and share coupons for free--no elaborate videos required. For lengthier content, post articles on your website and share a link throughout social media.

Note that some platforms, such as Instagram and Pinterest, don't support text-only posts. However, you can post screenshots, incorporate text into images, or write your message in the captions.

Select Your Platforms

Sticking to a few platforms sounds counterintuitive, but it's actually one of the smartest social media marketing strategies for small businesses. McDonald's is one of the world's biggest corporations, but it hasn't updated its Tumblr since 2015. Why? Evidently, they reach more people when they post on other sites.

After all, which would you rather have: a hundred thousand TikTok followers or ten thousand followers scattered across a dozen profiles? Being selective also frees up your time so that you can answer more questions, host fun activities, and produce your best work.

Find out where your demographic gathers, then focus your efforts on these websites. Each platform has its features, subcultures, celebrities, and communities. As you gain expertise, you'll learn how to slide into trends and polish your content to boost engagement numbers. You might even build relationships with influencers that lead to future collaborations.

Generally, younger generations prefer TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter/X. Older generations spend time on Facebook and Pinterest. If you have a niche audience, you might find success on smaller websites, such as Tumblr and Mastodon. YouTube and Reddit skew older, but they have cross-generational appeal.

Build a Content Calendar

How often do successful companies share content? Looking at their profiles, you'll see one or two daily posts with the occasional day off. This steady stream shows followers that the business is thriving without overwhelming their feeds.

Content calendars offer a roadmap for social media marketing. At a glance, you'll see what you're going to post today, then prepare for tomorrow, get ready for the holidays, and glance ahead so that you don't share the same piece twice.

Monday might look like this:

1. Instagram: New product illustrations
2. Twitter: Question about haircare routines
3. Website: Blog post about protecting your hair from sunlight

Grab a calendar template, and start with a rough draft. On each day, write down your social media platforms and the content that you want to share. Next, start refining your schedule. Are you covering different topics every day? Is the material spaced out? Will your project team have enough time?

Finally, input your schedule into marketing software, color-code your calendar, and assign project duties. Always plan at least a month with a few extra materials so that you stay on target. If an issue arises, such as an event cancellation, you'll have pictures and articles to share while you get back on track.

Use AI Sparingly

Why hire content creators when you can generate text, drawings, and even fake photographs with just a few clicks? Many professionals share that thought process as they replace their teams with ChatGPT and Midjourney. Artificial intelligence (AI) has its uses, but don't underestimate the value of real human-generated content.

AI isn't an industry secret: Customers know that it exists, and they scour your posts for signs that something isn't quite right. Brands such as Google and Wizards of the Coast have faced backlash for promoting AI or selling AI-generated works. In fact, many businesses have sworn off AI altogether.

Consumers view AI usage as lazy and disrespectful to human artists, leading to bad press and lost profits. Plus, artificial content looks real at first. Still, a closer examination reveals the hallmarks of AI: strange artifacts, confusing backgrounds, hands with six fingers, and creepy expressions with a distinct "uncanny valley" vibe. Followers know immediately that you didn't hire an artist--you bought a Midjourney subscription.

AI can help you brainstorm, generate rough drafts, polish your work, and offer advice, but you must rely on real people--including yourself--for the final piece. Clients will appreciate your dedication to maintaining a human connection.

Connect with Your Audience

For better or worse, people view comment sections as an open forum. You'll get questions, complaints, theories, and remarks--and sometimes, they have nothing to do with your original post. Fortunately, this provides an easy opportunity for customer interaction.

Read everyone's comments, and respond thoughtfully. You could lift someone's mood, offer helpful advice, thank them for a courtesy, or turn an irritated customer into a satisfied one. Silent lurkers see that you value your clients and might become customers in the future.

For the record, you don't have to respond to blatant trolling or spam--simply report it and move on. However, be patient with people who might not be tech-savvy.

Research Hashtags

Making hashtag research part of your brand awareness strategy increases your visibility. Non-followers see your pictures and videos in the search results, boosting your likes, comments, and views.

Surprisingly, the biggest hashtags don't always lead to more views. You could tag a selfie with "#girl," but with hundreds of new posts every hour, what's the likelihood that anyone will see it?

Narrow it down with specific tags, such as "#goldenhour," "#haircareroutine," and "#naturalshampoo," and you'll reach people looking for a specialized topic. See which hashtags your competitors use to learn how they built an audience.

You can even give your business its hashtag. Just remember that users need an incentive to use it, such as a giveaway entry--strangers won't advertise a company for free.

Streamline Your Social Media Management

E-Marketing Associates' social media software consolidates all your profiles into one dashboard so that you can schedule posts, share content on multiple platforms, respond to comments, browse ready-to-publish content, and use AI responsibly, all from one convenient dashboard. Schedule a free 15-minute call to learn what our Social Marketing Software can do for your business.