10 Ways to Use Social Media as a Small Business


Social media is a whole new frontier that many companies have started venturing into in the past few years. Many social media platforms offer unique features that are less prevalent on other sites, so you can choose what type of medium in which you want to make your content. It is not easy to get the hang of social media when you are brand new. It seems like there are so many things to keep track of and buttons to press.

What are the best ways to use social media as a small business? The best way to benefit from social media is to just start using social media, adjust using analytics, measure customer engagement, utilize employee creativity, share your company brand and information about your business, and try various types of content format.  Social media can also provide insights into what your competition is doing.  If you don’t have the skills in-house, hire s specialist. 

Here are ten ways that you can use social media to the benefit of your business.

1. Just Start

Even if you do not think that your business will benefit from social media, you should still give it a try. You might be surprised by the results you get and the new customers you might accrue, even if you run a Philadelphia riggingOpens in a new tab. company. Even if you only set up a basic Facebook page that you only post on a few times per month, it is better to have a small online presence than no online presence at all. It is also a good idea to create accounts on many platforms to prevent other people from claiming your name or impersonating your business.

2. Hire Someone

If you do not feel comfortable running a social media account by yourself, it could be beneficial to hire someone or ask one of your current employees to help. Younger people tend to be better at utilizing everything that social media has to offer, so even if the person you hire to run your social media accounts does not know much about your industry, he or she will likely still be able to run your accounts effectively. If you try to run your accounts without any social media experience people could be turned off by your lack of online knowledge.

3. Use Analytics

If you create a business account on some of the larger social media platforms, like Facebook, they will collect and show you several statistics for free. You can see how many people have viewed a post, how many people have clicked on it, overall statistics about how much engagement you are getting, and even in-depth statistics that a small business might not have a direct use for. Generally, the high your numbers, the better your business is doing, so when you see your numbers going up, you are doing something correctly.

4. Customer Engagement

Before social media, the primary way that customers interacted with companies was by speaking to employees and managers in stores or writing complaint letters or emails. Now you can respond to the comments and concerns of your customers almost instantly. You can set up your accounts to notify you whenever someone mentions or tags you in a post. When your customers see that you respond to them in a timely manner, it makes your company seem more human and caring. Customer engagement is the difference between good and bad public reputation.

5. Spread Information

At the top of the main social media page of any reputable business is some general information. This information usually includes relevant email addresses, phone numbers, store locations, store hours, and anything else that people may need to know. However, this is only the beginning of the information you can spread. You can make posts about advertising discounts, talking about events, and encouraging your customers to come in and shop. Many social media platforms have a sharing feature that reposts your posts from the accounts of other people. This can spread your message to many people who would not see it otherwise, so encourage people to share your posts.

6. Employee Creativity

When your employees take breaks, it is likely that they are using some form of social media. This is by no means a bad thing. In fact, creative ideas that can help the office often stem from the things employees see on social media. With the amount of content that is constantly being pushed out from sources all around the world, people are exposed to more creativity and media than ever before. If they can latch onto some of that creativity and bring it into your office, it could have untold benefits.

7. Brand Recognition

When you are browsing social media, the amount of content you are bombarded with can be overwhelming. However, one benefit that comes with the sheer amount of content is that people become familiar with the brands they frequently seeOpens in a new tab.. If you post often, your style of content and your brand will imprint itself in the brains of the people who see it. Make your posts and your account easily recognizable so that the people who see your posts register that you posted something even if they only take a quick glance and immediately scroll by.

8. Mental Health

Frequent breaks are vital for the productivity of your employees. Being focused on your work for several consecutive hours is not good for anyone’s mental health, and while browsing social media has been linked with negative ramifications for mental health, it is still something that millions of people enjoy, and it can be helpful if used in moderation. You should encourage your employees to take brief social media breaks every so often rather than extensive dives for minutes or hours on end. As always, if you suspect that your employees are not getting enough work done, you need to intervene.

9. Content Types

There are social media platforms for all kinds of content that you might want to create. Instagram is perfect for galleries of images if your verbal or textual message is not as important, Twitter is good for short promotional messages, and YouTube is most useful for companies who need a place to post videos. The best strategy is to learn how to use as many different social media platforms as possible. Since some types of content do better on certain sites than others, having a large library of social media content allows you to effectively use several different platforms.

10. Competitor Analysis

Perhaps one of the most useful aspects of being active on social media is not what you can do for your company, but what you can learn about your competitors. With social media, companies now have a way to monitor what their competitors are doing at all times. If you see that a major competitor is offering a deal on some of their products, maybe consider offering a similar deal to try to bring over some of their customers. It might seem like a cutthroat practice, and to some extent it is, but sometimes you have to be conniving when you are a small business owner.

If your small business does not currently have an online presence, it is high time for you to enter the world of the internet, and social media is a great way to start. Billions of people around the world use various social media sites, and you can take advantage of that in so many ways. Not only that, but your employees likely spend a lot of time on social media, and there are many benefits that could come from that. Social media is firmly cemented as a part of modern life, so embracing it is the next logical step.

Steve Todd

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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