Social media is an invaluable tool for small businesses, from promoting products and services and reaching new audiences, to developing customer relationships and showcasing your business’ personality. The benefits of a strong social media presence can be huge for a small business and it can have a significant impact on success but it can also take time to build your audience and find the best approach.
At Orchard we’ve recently launched our social branch to support businesses of all sizes and in different sectors to make social media a considered and crafted part of their communications strategy, so I was interested to speak to two local small business owners (Steph from Little Puffin Signing and Chloe from DOH by Clo) to get an insight into how they are building their social media presence.
We discussed their approach to social, their social media goals, the importance of planning and strategy and the type of content they’re creating for their audiences. Watch the interview here:
It was great to how hear from Steph and Chloe how social media is benefitting their businesses and following our chat here are my three top tips for small businesses building their social media presence:
- Be strategic – Ask yourself why is my business on social media? What do I want to achieve? Who am I trying to talk to? The answers will help to define your approach from which channels you should be using to the type of content you should be creating. A clearly defined and creative strategy will ensure your social media is having the right impact.
- Be authentic – As a small business owner it’s likely that you’ll become the “face” of the business on social so the approach you take should reflect this. Your audience wants to connect with you so give them content that’s going to engage them and add value. It’s about being social after all!
- Be realistic – Managing your social media takes time so it pays to be organised. Planning and scheduling your content in advance is key but sometimes you have to be realistic about what you can achieve. Remember your audience wants quality over quantity!