Challenges of Social Media for Small Business
Whether you're a start-up business or an established SME, you’ll be advised by everyone everywhere to get yourself out there on social media and it's not without its challenges. It’s an essential part of conducting business today in order to connect with your customers and clients, especially for small businesses — but doing it properly is another matter
We have listened to countless business owners explaining their difficulties, the various issues they face and what stands out is almost all SMEs have similar questions and social media challenges.
Which Social Media Platform Do I Choose?
This is a very good question. There are at least a couple of hundred platforms, but three or four would be ideal for most companies. The big 5 include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram & Pinterest.
Which social media platform you choose to focus on depends on who you’re targeting and what you need to tell them. For example, a fashion designer should concentrate heavily on image-sharing platforms such as Instagram, which may not be a priority for an accountant who may get a better return on Facebook or LinkedIn.
How Do Social Media Platforms Work?
Each social media platform is different and you’ll get the most out of it by posting and writing content according to its strengths, whether it’s ephemeral approach like Twitter or more permanent such as a video on YouTube.
Find out how to make the most of your posts. For instance, on some platforms such as Facebook, you have the option to pay for your post to be seen by a wider audience and using right hashtags will help your content be found by a much wider audience.
What Should I be Posting?
Social media posts come in many forms. They might broadcast information about your products or services, seek to engage readers and encourage interaction, or build a community that can help spread the word.
All these are valid approaches, and the choice depends on what you want to achieve and your business goals. It’s important to develop a planned social media campaign strategy, rather than posting randomly. A professional service such as our Social Media Content Writing option can help in not only writing creative but also ensuring it is being scheduled in at the optimum time.
What Does It Cost and How to Measure Value?
Ordinary social media posting costs nothing except your time. Many platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer pay per click advertising, where you only pay if someone clicks the link to your landing page or social media profile. Paid or sponsored social media advertising is an extremely effective way to accelerate growth and reach larger audiences if done right. Done wrong, you'll be wasting vital time and budget!
There are numerous tools offered for tracking performance, and therefore your return-on-investment (ROI), of social media advertising. Perhaps the most effective approach, though, is to create a dedicated landing page for each campaign, letting your site analytics (e.g. Google Analytics) track the behaviour of visitors from that source in line with your business goals - which should always be configured.
How Do I Fit It All In?
When you're running an SME, it feels like you need 48 hours each day, and social media can seem expendable. The key is to build it into your schedule. You can make this easier to manage using our FREE social media management tool which allows you to schedule postings and content in advance on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
The list of social media challenges for businesses, especially for owner managed smaller businesses is quite daunting.
If you need to talk about your social media needs, feel free to contact us for a chat.
Get in touch with our expert social media consultants and start building your audience today.
