Before the internet, the only way to promote your business was through flyers, banners, and billboards.
Understandably, these methods were and are rather costly, especially for small businesses. Fortunately, the advent of the digital era has opened a whole new dimension of marketing and unlimited reach for all sorts of companies.
The market reach through digital platforms is almost overwhelming and affordable for many. Yes, a lot is going on on social media, and it’s not just posting photos and videos.
People are leveraging these platforms and using targeted marketing strategies in ways that often seem effortless when an ad pops up during your everyday scrolling.
Social media came as lifeline support for small businesses to receive mainstream attention. So, suppose you are a small business owner looking to tap into the digital market. In that case, the following are the best platforms to do so.
1. Facebook/Facebook Business Page
A whopping 2.7 billion people use Facebook as of 2021, which means that with the right strategy, you can reach at least a quarter or less of that figure to promote your small business vigorously. Facebook is an unrivaled king of social media platforms.
Over 65 million small to large businesses use Facebook pages for advertisement and promotion. It is hands down one of the most important marketing tools for small businesses out there if used strategically.
It is possible that even after utilizing the most visited website in the world, your business still isn’t gaining the attention you want. You can get help from popular online resources such as marketing tools for social media at DigitalSupermarket where you can easily find other digital marketing tools as well.
With Facebook, the secret to promoting your business is to develop content that sparks interaction between the users.
2. LinkedIn
In the past, when anyone wanted to put out their resume, the best place was LinkedIn. Now, the site evolved from a job search site into a professional social media platform. It harbours millions of industrial experts, professionals, and businesses where they all share content and grow their brands.
It is one of the best platforms to receive relevant and business-related engagement for your brand. You can create a LinkedIn Company Page and also avail the platform’s advertising opportunities to boost your business and promote your content.
LinkedIn offers users to become part of a thriving community of business owners and professionals who share formal information rather than personal.
3. Instagram
Did you know that Kylie Jenner makes around $1.2 million per sponsored post on Instagram? Yes, that’s what you get when you have over 140 million followers on the world’s third most popular social media platform.
Even though it is one of the more recently launched platforms, it has quickly become a hub for digital marketing and business promotion. You can go for IGTV series, photos, story highlights, short-lived stories, and even live sessions to promote your products and services.
There are two ways to approach marketing on Instagram; you either go for an Instagram business profile or use an Instagram influencer for paid promotion. However, a business profile offers benefits like scheduling and analytics of posts using third-party tools and also of your profile.
4. Pinterest
If you want people to go on a platform to search for new products specifically, then your best bet is Pinterest. Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest’s primary focus is to allow people to discover new products, get recommendations, and make purchasing decisions.
It is a goldmine for small businesses to do product-focused promotion. The statistics related to the site are also promising, with almost 1/3 of the users mainly using it to follow companies. At the same time, 77% of the users utilize the platform to browse for new products. Business accounts on Pinterest feature analytics to monitor your marketing strategies on the forum.
You can use various methods to increase your reach, such as pinning content to Pinterest Group Boards or using Tailwind Tribes to share content with other businesses for a collaborative effort.
5. Reddit
The social media platform is trendy for discussing questions, images, links, videos, and other media submitted by users. The platform has dedicated forums for almost anything, which means your brand can become part of at least some of those forums. Once part of a popular forum (subreddits), you can gain access to the platform’s 330 million active users.
Your business can drive targeted traffic by creating engaging blog posts, links, a solid business profile, and more. Almost 1.4 billion native videos are watched every month on the platform. This means that your small business also has a profitable window if you share engaging media and other forms of content.
6. Twitter
With a series of small yet impactful tweets, businesses can engage people in their brand in just a few minutes. Twitter provides strategic importance for your business through sales channels and creating loyal followers. Since Twitter is known for giving a steady stream of information in real-time, users tend to get more attracted to this type of exposure rather than forceful ads and videos.
Almost every major business and brand in the world has a Twitter account that regularly updates customer interaction content. After Facebook, it is one of the most easily accessible platforms in the world for information and networking. Not only for promotion, but the platform is also used as a customer service channel which means even greater visibility and audience engagement.
Check out what social media is right for your restaurant.
Infographic created by Clover Network, a merchant services company
Conclusion
In today’s digital age, it is almost impossible to market your small business without digital promotion. That’s right; businesses now find better customer interaction through social media platforms like Facebook instead of through billboards or banners.
With almost half of the planet engaged in one or more social media platforms from the list above, it is effortless for your business to get noticed one way or the other. If it isn’t working on Facebook, you can go for Twitter. If your Instagram profile isn’t receiving attention, you can market through an influencer.
It all boils down to the fact that a solid yet interactive marketing strategy can successfully promote your business on popular social media platforms while generating revenue.
