When you’re a small business or non-profit organization, marketing dollars may be limited. It’s important to make every campaign count and every ad spend yield results.
Building your brand on social media platforms and engaging people with your unique message is a cost-effective way to grow your business. Using channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, you can connect with your ideal customers and discover new ones.
Although there are many benefits of social media for business, it’s not a “set it and forget it” type endeavor. It takes continual upkeep and planning to reap the full benefits of social media for your organization. So, what can you do if you have limited resources, time and money to invest? Here, we’ll discuss tips and strategies to maximize your social media as a small business or non-profit organization
01. Focus on two social media channels that will best reach your target audience.
With the multitude of social platforms out there, it might be overwhelming to think about getting started or growing. You might feel like you don’t have the resources to build your brand on every channel. That’s probably true and it wouldn’t be worth it. Instead, determine which channels would be best to reach your target audience and start there.
- Are they business professionals? Maybe LinkedIn is where you need to begin building your social media presence.
- Creatives and DIYers? Investing in Pinterest might be the way to go.
- Twitter is a great way to share quick knowledge and educate your customers.
- With Instagram, you can build a strong connection with your brand with visuals and messages.
- Facebook’s ad targeting is invaluable for locating new customers.
- Finding new customers for your product can easily be done on TikTok.
Do a bit of research, talk to your customers, and determine which two platforms you will focus on building out a strategy and content
02. Find your “Guru”
When you have a small staff, each team member is already wearing several hats. It might be hard to imagine adding “social media guru” to your current job description. That’s why it’s important to designate someone to own your chosen social media channels. This person or team will be responsible for building out the content for posts, scheduling and interacting on your business social media accounts. This doesn’t mean that one person has to be solely responsible for the content. Valuable content for your social posts can come from anywhere in your organization, from team members who know your product or service inside and out and know your customers well.
03. Find your voice
The idea of building your brand on social media might seem nice, but posting daily, or even weekly could feel out of reach with all of the other demands on your time. There are several things you can do to save time on social media and maximize your success.
Decide on a voice and an aesthetic for your posts that fits your brand. Write it out as a guide for others in your organization to see. This will not only save you time on writing and creating each post, it helps your audience get to know you and recognize your content as they scroll.
04. Get organized with a content calendar
Next, create and use a content calendar to write and schedule your posts on each platform. Plan ahead and align your content with timely company priorities, promotions and messages. Are there seasons in your industry that are important to your audience? Make space in your content calendar for messages about those special events. Your calendar is going to look full and messy to the untrained eye. Embrace it. When you do the hard work of getting the plan on paper, the execution is the easy part.
Once your plan is in place, take the time on the front end to write and create several weeks worth of posts at a time. Instead of writing and posting each day, you can get the bulk of your work done in one sitting. This way your voice will stay consistent and you will have a better picture of the overall brand presence than if you kept it piecemeal. You can also use a social media management software to schedule your posts to auto publish at certain times. This may already be available with your marketing automation software, or your CRM system.
05. Stretch your budget
When you have a limited number of dollars to put toward marketing your business, there might not be much left for social media, especially if that is still relatively uncharted territory for you. Many social media management software options have free versions with limited features, or free trials. There are also free apps you can use for design and creating those extras that will make your social media content stand out.
Beyond pouring a large budget into paid social ads, there are things you can do to grow your audience organically. Make sure you develop content that connects with your specific audience. The majority of your posts should not be sales pitches and promotions. Address problems your customers are facing and offer education and helpful solutions. In this way, you can cultivate connections with your audience, keep them coming back for more and sharing your content with others.
06. Stick with the Strategy
When you don’t have very many resources, time or money to invest in building your brand on social media, it’s easy to let it slide. But, when you have a solid social media strategy and you are consistent with the things you can do, you will begin to see results and business growth.
07. Get expert social media help… for FREE
Whether you’re a social media newbie, or just looking for a little guidance, our Soulheart social media experts can help! Soulheart is a Facebook Marketing Partner. Let us help you increase the likes on your Facebook page and gather new qualified leads for less money. Sign up for our Free Facebook Likes Campaign below!
