Social Media 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Using Social Media for Business
July 5th, 2021 in News & Blogs, Year of Positivity
We have said it before, and we will continue to say it… In order for your business to be successful in the current climate, you need to be using social media and using it well.
We understand that for some business owners, the thought of having a social media presence is quite daunting and some just don’t even know where to begin. We have put together this guide to talk you through how to get started, which platforms to choose and the type of content you should be posting on a regular basis.
Building your following
Believe it all not, social media is not all about the amount of likes you have on your page and how many people your posts are reaching. The main aim is to build relationships with your following.
Your following is classed as the people that follow your social accounts and business. They need to be either customers or potential customers or partnerships that help you and your business – from a business point, the rest is all just vanity. You could have a following of 10,000, but if none of those people are actually interacting with your content, you won’t be gaining anything from that.
Choosing the right platforms for your business
As small business owners, we only have limited time and social media can take up a lot of that time, so it’s really important to use it wisely to promote your business, not waste hours of your life for a vanity project. In order to choose wisely, you need to consider your target demographic and research what social media platform they are using the most.
Here are some current statistics for you to consider:
- Facebook – 44% female, 56% male. Great for the 45+ age group
- Instagram – 57% female, 43% male. 25-40 year olds
- Tik Tok – 59% female, 41% male. Primarily aged between 18-24, although the 30+ demographic is growing quickly
- Twitter – 32% female, 68% male. 30-49 year olds
- LinkedIn – 51% male, 49% female. 46-55 year olds
- Pinterest – 78% female, 22% male. 30 – 49 year olds
- YouTube – everyone
Things to remember about your content
- Create a feed that is interesting for your customers (and potential customers) – share things they would like to see, things that will help them, things that are interesting. It’s not really about you – it’s about how you can educate, inform and entertain your following.
- Share who you are as the people behind the business – let your following know about you, why you do what you do, what you like about it, how you got started, your qualifications and experience. People buy from people, so let them know who you are, why they should choose you and what makes you special.
- Make sure you make it easy for people to buy from you – Whilst your feed shouldn’t be too heavily focussed on sales, it’s important that you include plenty of opportunities for people to buy from you. Aim for an 80/20 split.
- With any content that you publish, you should be monitoring the results and seeing which posts work better for your current audience.
How often should you post?
As a small business, we would recommend posting 4 times a week as a minimum. However, once a day is the optimum amount for you to be gaining a real following that will be impacting your sales in a significant way.
Remember to engage
Engaging on social media is where all of your efforts really start to pay off. This is where real, genuine relationships between customers and other brands will start to be built. It’s these relationships that will generate the sales.
This means you need to be spending time each day to like, comment and share other people content and posts, be active in local groups, reply to messages and comments left on your posts and generate content that will get your following talking to you and each other.
Keep you eyes peeled for more Mutneys Business Skills Lives coming your way soon.
All our Business Skills Lives are held in our Facebook community group. If you are a professional dog groomers you can request access here!