How to Create an Effective Social Media Strategy as a Small Business

Social media has proven to be one of the strongest tools to promote growth in small businesses. For some, running social media may be overwhelming. Creating a plan, choosing the right platforms, being consistent, you name it! Take a deep breath, step back, and take a look at these five tips for an effective social media strategy.

The first thing you need to do in any marketing plan is to set goals. What are you trying to accomplish through social media? These goals may be anything from raise sales of (x), drive traffic to your website, increase social following, build brand loyalty, you name it. These goals could be anything, as long as they are measurable! An acronym I learned way back in high school about goal setting; S.M.A.R.T. goals. Nostalgia anyone? Each of your goals should be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-Bound

After setting measurable goals, you should be able to point everything you do on social media back to one of these goals.

You have your plan; now which platforms should you use? Consumers expect to see different types of content across all social media platforms. For example, you would not expect to see the same content on LinkedIn as you would TikTok.

I am a fan of the "more the merrier" concept, posting as much content as possible, as long as it is relevant and brings value to the consumer. When done right, this concept can be highly effective for businesses. To be effective, you need to know where your content will perform best. For example, a B2B company will want to optimize different social sites than a B2C company. Check out my rankings of these platforms:

You have your plan and have chosen the correct platforms for your business. What next? Create a social media calendar. This calendar should include a day-by-day, week-by-week social media plan that states the day, time, platform, and content you will be posting. There are tons of free tools like Hootsuite, Later, and Facebook Business Suite that allow you to schedule social media posts ahead of time.

Furthermore, you can come up with #'s to go along with days of the week to help generate content. For example, for Murray Marketing, I have #MarketingMonday. By doing this, I know that every single Monday, I need to post some marketing value for my followers. This not only keeps me disciplined, but it also can give your consumers something to look forward to.

You don't run into the "I don't have time to post today" excuses or forgetfulness by scheduling out your content ahead of time. Set aside a set time each week to plan, create, and schedule your social content.

What kinds of content do your followers want to see? Try A to B Testing. A to B testing is essentially an experiment.

For example, take the same content idea; I did an example of "5 Social Media Small Business Tips". Next, I used an attention-grabbing graphic (seen below) and long-form content writing for Content Style A. For Style B, I created a video. This video includes the same information as Content Style A, but it is presented differently. A to B testing can be used in various ways, but always make sure that the content idea is the same, the only difference being the way it is presented. See my example below!

You have successfully started your social media marketing journey. What's next? After you have developed a plan, chose your platforms, scheduled your content, and figured out what content works, it is time to build relationships with your followers. The beautiful aspect of social media is that it allows you to engage with your followers directly. This engagement could be anything from responding to comments or DMs to giving special shoutouts to your loyal customers.

The marketer's goal is to create an engaging, inclusive brand community amongst the social media platform. Do not constantly push the sale; as a consumer myself, this can be annoying. Bring value to your followers, provide free content for them. Make it worth their while to follow your page. By providing value to your followers, they are far more likely to bring the value back to your business when presented the opportunity.

Ready to elevate your social media marketing efforts? Murray Marketing Services is a social media ad agency located in Kearney, Nebraska. From paid social media campaigns, to organic social media management, we tailor our data-backed strategy to meet your business goals! Schedule a free 30 minute strategy session today!