How To Use Social Media To Grow Your Business

Featured alt: A phone with Facebook on its screen with wooden blocs next to it that spell Social Media.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, you are aware of how important social media has become. It seems that almost everyone has a social media account along with a smartphone that allows them to constantly check it. And, whether they’re looking for products or services, people tend to turn more and more to social media as their makeshift search engine. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that in order to develop your business you need to know your way around it. But, how are you actually supposed to use social media to grow your business? Well, that is what we are going to explore.

Before you use social media to grow your business

The ease of access to social media makes one think that you can pick it up at a moment's notice. That you can simply log on, create a profile for your business and that you are set. But, don't be fooled. In order to use social media to grow your business, you will need to deal with certain preparations.

In order to use social media to grow your business, you will have to spend at least three months on preparations.

Alt: A person looking at a wall filled with papers while doing research.

Research your target audience

As it is with most marketing, you need to start off by researching your target audience. Remember, you cannot possibly market your business to everyone. Well, technically you can, but it won't do you much good. Instead, you need to find the niche of people that will be interested in your business and then find a way to market to them. This will require research as you need to know the current trends in your niche and how your business fits in. If the trends are unfavorable, you might have to change your strategy or even move your business. But, don't worry. You will both alter your marketing and relocate your growing business with ease if you have a clear idea why you are doing it.

Pick your platforms

Along with figuring out your market, you will have to pick platforms. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, all of them require different posts and different marketing strategies in order to produce results. Now, an easy solution is to simply post on all platforms. But this can have mixed results. Instead, you should try focusing on one, and then build up from there once you feel that you've settled in. Figuring out how to organize posts, when to post them and how to address your market will take time. So, don't spread yourself too thin when using social media for business.

Create marketable content

Simply placing words and photos on your social media won't be enough. Sure, you will do so from time to time. But, in order to draw people towards your account, you need to offer something. And that something is usually marketable content. Buy this we mean blog posts, tips, pieces of advice, special offers, etc. Anything that you feel will help your target audience pay attention to your business.

Blog posts are becoming more and more necessary for social media marketing.

Alt: A person writing a blog post.

Ideally, you want to create this content before you open your social media account. That way, you will have plenty of things to post. As you will soon learn, regular posting is essential when it comes to using social media for business. And the last thing you want to do is to post useless, spam posts in order to stay relevant.

Using social media

Now that you know how to prepare for using social media, let's go over a couple of hints on how to actually do it. Keep in mind that even though social media is truly powerful, it is still relatively new. It is constantly changing, and there doesn't seem to be a continual trend when it comes to using it. So, feel free to alter any rules that you might think there are and find a way to get your message across.

Short and sweet

The first thing to do is to be short and sweet. You need to develop your vocabulary and your mode of expression so that you can get your message across in as little words possible. This doesn't mean that you cannot ever use large posts. You can. But, the general rule of thumb is to stick with the short and sweet ones. That way, once you do have a large post, it will have that much more of an impact.

Having a personal tone

Even though you are using social media for your business, you need to have a personal tone when using it. Multiple studies have shown that people react more positively to posts if they feel that there is a person behind them. Not a faceless corporation. So, when creating posts, try to speak of yourself as either a single person or a small team or a family.

Regular posting

This one is terribly important. In order to stay relevant on social media, you need to post regularly. This means that you need to post something at least once per day. Be it a photo, a reminder or a simple post. Something needs to get out. This is the only way to actually stay relevant with the fickle attention span of a modern consumer.

Knowing when to post is just as important as knowing what to post.

Alt: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, different social media platforms that you will have to deal with in order to use social media to grow your business.

Keeping up with current times

Addressing the latest events, promoting your business during holidays, special offers based on current needs... You need to implement all of that if you are to use social media to grow your business. The more you do this, the more ways you will find to make your business relevant and therefore - more noticeable.

Working with influencers

Lastly, you need to look into working with influencers. No one likes to pay someone to review them or to help them with promotion. But, if you are serious about using social media, this is definitely something that you should consider. Find people that are known within your target audience and see if they are willing to work with you. Know that by running your business properly, and by having good reviews, you will make working with social media influencers a whole lot easier.