David vs. Goliath: Small Businesses on Social Media

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<a href="https://www.mbacentral.org/small-businesses-social-media/"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.mbacentral.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/SmallBiz.jpg" alt=“Small Businesses Social Media” width="500" border="0" /></a><br />Source: <a href="https://www.mbacentral.org/">MBACentral.org</a>

David vs. Goliath: Small Businesses on Social Media

Social media advertising is possibly more important for small businesses than for huge corporations with virtually unlimited money. However, due to a limited budget, fewer employees and less time, small-business owners may want to run their accounts a little bit differently than large corporations.

It’s Important…

92%

Percentage of small-business marketers who agree that social media is imperative in creating and helping their brand(1)

More than 50% small businesses agree that social media marketing helped them increase sales after two years. (2)

Approximately 70% of small-business owners see a return on investment from their social media advertising after five years. (2)

30%

Expected growth in digital marketing over the next year(3)

Social media use over the years(3)

Year: Users (in percentage of Americans)

2006: 20%

2008: 30%

2010: 65%

2012: 68%

2014: 75%

… But It’s Different from How Large Corporations Do It

It isn’t really fair to compare small-business social media presence to that of big corporations. Let’s take a look at how small-business owners should handle their accounts, and how they are different from bigger companies. (2)

You won’t match their volume of content, and that’s OK.

Corporations have numerous employees churning out content 24/7. Since you won’t be able to afford this (with time or money), consider your posts carefully. Make sure you are choosing your content wisely, and use your marketing experts to ensure your ads are interesting, captivating and clear.

You will need to track your metrics more often.

Especially in the beginning, you will want to closely monitor the following: impressions, reach, mentions, follower growth, and the general sentiment of your company and your posts. This helps you keep track of how your posts are being received and what to remedy or keep.

You will need to pay attention to the location of your followers.

Major corporations usually have the benefit of being everywhere and anywhere in the U.S. and worldwide. But you will have to take the time to see where the majority of your followers live. Perhaps it’s time to expand if a large majority of your audience is in another state or even country.

You should increase traffic to your website.

Companies like McDonald’s and Sony don’t have to market their websites that often, as it’s easy to guess their URL. For your company, you will want to link your followers to your website or websites as often as possible.

Directly answer customer concerns as much as you can.

Don’t get into arguments or try to fix complex problems in comments. But letting your followers know you are paying attention to their suggestions and praise is a great way to differentiate yourself from the big competition.