How to Capitalize on Social Media to Grow Your Business

Have you seen what's trending today? If you're a regular social media user, you'll know that it varies day-to-day, and often hour-by-hour. According to Hootsuite, there are now 4.2 billion active social media users. Consumers spend hours a day on various platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok. Social media isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so how is your business capitalizing on the potential to build brand awareness and develop relationships with your customers? Below are a few suggestions on how to fully utilize social media to grow your business.

Build a Loyal Follower Base

The first step to capitalizing on social media to grow your business is to build a loyal follower base. To do this, you need to know what platforms the majority of your customers use. It's common for small businesses to spread themselves too thin by becoming involved in too many channels. To avoid this pitfall, start with one platform and work your way up. It depends on the industry you're in, but the two most common platforms small businesses start with are Instagram and Facebook.

Next, try following influencers, thought leaders, your competitors, or those in your industry whose content you can learn from. If you want to build up a following, you should plan on posting content that people want to read at regular intervals, and learning from others is the quickest way to begin.

Engage With Your Followers

Conversing with your followers is a solid way to capture their loyalty to your brand. Contests and giveaways are popular forms of inspiring engagement - sign up for our newsletter and be entered to win a $100 gift card. It could even be something of lesser value, like a t-shirt or cup.

Contests and giveaways are also good at training people to be engaged. It's easy to focus only on follower count, but it's even more important to have a small group of followers who are actively engaged and purchasing from your business, rather than a large group of followers only liking your posts.

Drive Traffic to Your Website

Social media is a free resource you can use to drive traffic to your website. Small businesses tend to have small budgets, which is where social media comes into play. Through platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you can encourage your followers to share and retweet your content, allowing you to be visible to their friends and followers. This should drive new users to your website if they are interested in learning more about what your business does.

Is your winery now offering tastings? Encourage followers to book tastings on your website. Did you release new products on your e-commerce site? Tell your followers and ask for their feedback, anyone who provides feedback will receive a 10% off coupon on their next purchase.

It Takes Time

Social media can be used to market to both your existing and potential customers, but it can also be used to reach other audiences, such as your employees, potential investors, media, and competitors. Followers don't appear overnight (unless you go viral) and this isn't common for small businesses.

If you post valuable content regularly, engage with your followers often, and deliver value, your business will grow.