Small Businesses Have the Social Media Advantage

Bigger businesses can spend thousands of dollars on big-budget marketing campaigns. But small businesses have it big online, especially on social media.

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As a small business owner, you're always looking for newer and better ways to get your company's brand in front of potential customers. If you're not using social media, you're missing out on a big advantage over companies bigger than you.

Fact: small business social media marketing strategies have an advantage over enterprises. Small businesses often have a smaller target audience, which narrows the pool of people you're marketing to. Unlike bigger businesses, you know the small pool of audience, therefore, you can easily customize your strategies, as well as immediately reply to their needs.

Whether you're selling simple sweets or complex products like an acrylic guard, you need social media to improve engagement with potential customers, which guarantees more traffic and income.

The Importance of Minding Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Customer engagement on social media is an important tool you should have in your marketing toolbox. Using Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media platforms to build brand awareness will connect you with current customers AND increase your customer base.

Today, about seven in 10 Americans are active on social media. If you don't use social media, you'll miss out on a massive customer base.

Fortunately, marketing through social media is easy for small business owners. Unlike bigger companies, you don't have to launch multiple campaigns (just yet). For starters, you have to actively post on your social media pages. Also, set a schedule to regularly engage with your followers.

Understanding the Small Business Advantage of Social Media Marketing

Success on social media does not depend solely on the number of your followers. As mentioned above, it depends on how well you do with customer engagement. So if bigger companies have more followers than you, don't panic.

Consider your advantages:

• Small businesses are individual and community-focused.

Small businesses set themselves apart from enterprises with their number of employees, revenue and legal structure. They are also more community and individual-focused. Many smaller businesses focus on involving themselves in their communities, which establishes a stronger connection with their customers. They also have the opportunity to join their community's chamber of commerce and connect with other local businesses.

In terms of social media marketing, small businesses are more likely to respond to customers compared to enterprises. Small business owners can easily handle the flow of comments, so make sure you reply quickly. Also, to increase customer engagement, ask customers to post reviews or photos of your products on their social media profiles. Have them tag you if they can. Finally, welcome their comments, questions and concerns.

• More affordable advertising.

Though you can pay for additional social media marketing features (like on Facebook), social media is FREE. Use your social media account to update followers on sales, new products, events, promotions and other industry-related information.

Target your advertisements to reach consumers within your business's radius so you won't have to pay additional advertising fees. But if you want to pay for features, use these paid ads mindfully.

For instance, if you want to start advertising on Facebook and use its paid features, set a budget and choose your target market. Instead of spending more money on marketing across the country, focus on your locality.

• Joint social media marketing efforts.

Small businesses can collaborate with other small businesses to collaborate on marketing strategies. Partner with neighboring small businesses to target customers within your niche.

For example, post on your social media accounts that customers can get a discount or coupon to a partner business if they buy from you or vice versa. You can also team up with another small business in the same niche for an online contest or giveaway. Winners will receive prizes from both businesses. To show camaraderie, you can also showcase your neighbor's promotions on your social media account.

• Personalized attention.

Small businesses are all about personalization. Since you cater to a smaller target audience, you can easily know their preferences. Use this information to customize your business according to their needs. On social media, ask your customers via posts about their preferences on products and services. You can also tap into what customers are into these days. For example, if you're a small tech business that sells games, publish a post on how to install Skyrim mods and ask your followers what they think.

Social media enables small businesses to give a more personal response to customers. Customers love genuine responses; they prefer it over a corporation's generic, robot-generated replies. This direct connection between small business brands and customers gives small businesses the social marketing advantage.

Bigger businesses can spend thousands of dollars on big-budget marketing campaigns. You may not have the same budget, but keep in mind: you still have the small business social media marketing advantage on bigger enterprises. Good luck with your venture!