7 social media marketing tips for SMEs

Getting your brand noticed by customers and gaining advantage over your competitors is both vital and challenging for many SMEs, which may not have the biggest of budgets to invest in marketing. Building a community of customers is no easy task and one key step to connecting with your target audience is the effective use of social media. We’ve put together seven tips on how your small business can utilise social media to help your brand gain the traction it deserves.

Why should you engage with social media marketing?

In 2023, an estimated 4.9 billion people use social media, and 52% of online brand discovery is through social media so it is one of the most valuable tools a business can use. While social media is likely to only make up one part of your marketing strategy, it can be a useful foundation and the first step towards cutting through the noise and establishing your presence in the market.

Depending on the good or service you provide, consider whether social media marketing will be beneficial to your business. Will it help you reach your potential customers, and can you convert engagement to revenue? Social media marketing is also the most effective when it’s consistent, so consider whether you will be able to dedicate sufficient time into your strategy for it to be worthwhile.

What platforms?

Before you start spending time and money on your marketing, undertake research to decide how you will implement your strategy. Not every social platform is the same and different demographics use different platforms. So it is important that you focus on the platform your target audience uses most, as well as the platform they are most likely to engage with a brand on. For example, if you want to connect with customers on a fun level with eye-catching aesthetics, Instagram is probably your best option, whereas if you need to connect with professionals, and be thought-provoking within your industry, LinkedIn is probably going to be more suitable.

1. Establish a strong brand image

Before you start posting on social media, make sure you have a strong brand identity so that it is clear exactly what you are trying to communicate. From colour palette consistency to keeping all your profile pictures, bios and brand voice aligned across all your channels, this will help to set your business up for success.

2. Test it out

It is worth being experimental when you begin to roll out social media posts. Test to find out what works and what doesn’t, and then adapt to strengthen your campaigns. Try out different posting times, different content forms (for example videos vs long form content) and then do a deep dive into your analytics and see what posts achieve the most engagement.

3. Hashtags

Hashtags help algorithms to direct your content towards the right people. Research the hashtags most relevant to your industry and also find out which are trending. Hashtag strategies vary from platform to platform, so make sure you tailor yours correctly. Find out more about using hashtags here.

4. Engage

Engaging with your audience will be one of the key drivers in building a community using social media. Reply to comments and start conversations or use polls and interactive features to get people talking about your business.

5. Provide value

To put it bluntly, no one will be interested in your posts unless they provide value. Value can be informative, entertaining or inspirational, but your content has to offer your audience something that will get them interested or excited. Consider your brand values and identity and what you can offer to provide your audience with something attention-grabbing.

6. Stay relevant

Social media is always changing, and its users’ attention spans are dwindling. So churning out the same content in different forms won’t cut it. Your strategy will need to evolve as user habits, trends and algorithms develop. Ways you can stay relevant are by sharing news stories which relate to your sector, adapting content seasonally and around global holidays. Of course, trends can also boost your reach, although be wary, and only jump on trends which align with your brand values and will connect with your audience.

7. Plan

The success of your social media strategy will be short lived unless you build a plan to make it sustainable. It might be easier to create a batch of content in one and schedule it using a content calendar. There are plenty of software options for social media scheduling which can help your efforts to remain consistent without impacting your day-to-day activities.

Social media can be an extremely powerful tool to market your business and drive its success if used effectively and efficiently. Research before investing in your strategy, plan out your ideas, and stay consistent to optimise your chances of engaging and building with your community.

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