Best Social Media Channels For Small Businesses
As a small business owner, you have likely realized how vital social media is to getting your company’s brand on the radar of potential customers. Without a big well-known name driving your traffic, it’s hard to get noticed. Yet as online-based communication and different social technologies continue to rapidly evolve, it is more important than ever for a small business owner to know exactly how they can maximize their digital marketing strategies and get their name out there. Social media is one of the most powerful tools you can invest in to rank at the top of your industry and connect with millions of individuals instantly.
Learning to navigate through the information–dense digital world is challenging. Luckily, we’re here to help. Whether your business goal is brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, or online conversions, there is a platform for you. In this article, our social media engagement experts will guide you through the best social media channels for small businesses and why they will make you successful.
Facebook is the leading social media platform for small businesses. It is the most widely used social channel with 2.41 billion daily active users, making it the ultimate method to reach a wide variety of demographics and communicate directly with target audiences. This is done with two different features of Facebook:
Facebook Business Page
A brand is nothing if people don’t know about it. A great way to build brand awareness and introduce your company to the local market is through building a business page on Facebook. With this page, users can view information about your products and services, as well as learn more about your culture, values, and what you support. Businesses are also given the opportunity to communicate directly with their consumers and respond to questions, concerns, and reviews. Facebook is a great way to be discovered as more than 80% of people reported finding new retail products on this platform. Your business page will only continue to grow as your Facebook traffic builds and re-shares itself to relevant customers.
Facebook Advertising
Facebook’s advertising platform allows you to gather age, gender, employment, interests, purchasing behaviors, relationship status and so much more information about the people registered with the channel. Facebook is also unique in that it analyzes these user’s likes, shares, comments, and clicks to attract relevant information to the consumer. Small businesses can then use this information to create strategic Facebook ads that target and communicate with their prospective customers.
Although this channel is the most effective in reaching large audiences, you’ll need an advertising budget to reach them. To run an ad on Facebook, businesses have to pay to play. Yet the price you have to pay will be well worth Facebook’s extensive data, user base, and ad platform.
Instagram comes in second to Facebook with 500 million daily active users. This app is different from any other social network as information can only be shared as photos and videos. As the world has largely moved to a digital landscape, this app is essential to successful marketing. Studies have shown people remember 80% more of what they see as opposed to what they read or hear. This reiterates how powerful of a tool Instagram can be in reaching consumers and creating a memorable brand.
Benefits
- Same extensive user base and advertising platform as Facebook
- Receive and release information instantly
- Don’t have to pay to achieve results or perform promotional functions
- Easily update your followers about sales and special promotions
- Build a visual presence by providing fresh content regularly
- Stay up–to-date with consumer trends
- Go live with real-time information
Twitter is the fastest way to instantly get on millions of people’s phone screens. With 336 million monthly users, Twitter is the platform that gives everyone a voice, but limits the noise with a 280 character limit. Users can “tweet” photos, videos, and character-limited copy to share stories, news articles, or humorous anecdotes every day. Everyone from businesses to celebrities to journalists to high schoolers use Twitter to give real-time updates on what is happening around them. No other social media platform’s feed is so reliant on real-time content. That is why this is the perfect social network to release and consume who, what, when, where, and why almost instantaneously.
Benefits
- Real-time information
- Direct two-way conversations
- Communicate brand personality
- Chance to communicate with high profile individuals
- Gather instant feedback from customers
- Follow the work of other experts in your field
- Respond to customer complaints
LinkedIn is a platform that has revolutionized how we seek, find, and get hired for jobs. With 65+ million active users, it is one of the most elite networking tools exclusively for professionals. Users are allowed to go learn more about an industry, see what others are professionally up to, and seek out new career opportunities. LinkedIn’s feed provides you with relevant conversations and information through sponsored content, other companies, and your network. This social media is a great way for a business to build credibility, create a powerful network, and gain expertise in your industry from other successful companies. It is also unrivaled in recruiting and hiring top talent.
Benefits
- The largest, most expansive network of professionals
- Industry-leading knowledge easily accessible
- Research other companies and interviewees
- Post job listings and receive an extensive list of recruits
- Increase your professional social presence
- Make vital business connections
- It can help rank your name on Google
YouTube
YouTube is a video-based platform that has revolutionized the social media world. With 2 billion monthly users, YouTube has become the world’s third most-visited website, after Google and Facebook. It has changed the way individuals view, receive, and process news, music, educational information, and entertainment as a whole. This channel is completely free for anyone who wants to view the content or upload their original videos. Never has it become easier for talented individuals or businesses to be discovered.
Benefits
- Quickly and easily share information via video
- Connect with users directly and personally
- Utilize videos to back up text-based content
- Use YouTube SEO to attract viewers and increase traffic
- Little time and money to make video content
- Easily accessible with smartphones
- Video content is 12 times likelier to be watched than text is to be read
Blackhawk’s Social Media Engagement Experts
These five powerful tools are what you need to achieve a successful social media presence. Once the apps are downloaded, you still might not know what to do or how to build your account for success. Blackhawk’s social media experts will help you define or reboot your brand, making you stand out from the competition. We strategically create engaging, insightful and professional content, designed to help you become a thought leader in your industry, attract new followers, and engage your existing audience. Let us help your company propel to the top of it’s industry.
Blackhawk has the potential to use these apps to bring your small business the following successes:
- Increase brand awareness
- Stay up to date on the latest trends
- Show off your blog content, videos, presentations, etc.
- Boost your website SEO and website traffic
- Receive instant feedback about your products and/or services
- Further the impact of your PR initiatives
- Gather real-time info about your competitors
- Monitor and promote your brand reputation
- Recruit directly with potential employees
- Access to high profile individuals
