How a Social Media Marketing Consultant Will Help Grow Your Business
Having a presence for your small business on social media is not just expected in the minds of your target audience, it can actually drive potential customers away if they can’t find your brand on the top platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn. As your prospects and customers evaluate your business and make decisions about their long term loyalty to your brand, they look to social media to get a deeper sense of how your brand operates. They want to see your brand demonstrate its values, be responsive in communications, showcase new offerings, and they want to see what others like them think about your brand by reading ratings and reviews.
Now more than ever, it is imperative that small businesses incorporate the needs and wants of their target market into their social media marketing strategy. But how can a busy business owner like you keep up with the dynamics of social media marketing and ensure you have a content plan that best suits their business goals? By leveraging the expertise of an experienced social media marketing consultant, you’ll save yourself time every week and better position your brand to stay competitive and relevant in the marketplace.
When to Hire a Social Media Marketing Consultant
Managing your business’s social media channels effectively so that they contribute to overall sales growth takes not just experience but also an ongoing focused effort. It’s time to bring in an expert social media consultant when you find yourself faced with these challenges while managing your business:
- Your time and resources are limited.
- You struggle with consistently creating new content that resonates with your target audience.
- You’re feeling overwhelmed when trying to choose the right platform, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, Nextdoor, or all of the above, and decide what content and targeting settings are best on each one.
- You don’t know how to attract more followers and increase engagement on your posts or ads.
- You’re tired of trying to keep up with social media trends, decide which are right for your business, and determine how to implement them.
- You don’t have the time or interest to teach yourself all about the latest platform updates, new features, and algorithm changes.
- You’re out of ideas on how to improve the return on investment (ROI) of social media efforts.
- You’re not sure how to understand the effectiveness of your social media efforts or analyze the data in a way that helps you make better business decisions.
- You need help maintaining a consistent brand voice and content across your marketing channels.
- You’re unsure how to adapt your social media strategy to support your overall business goals.
An experienced, professional social media marketing consultant will be able guide you through all of these points and save you time while improving your social media marketing results. They will help you navigate the complex world of social media marketing and provide a two-fold approach of strategic thinking and hands-on execution essential to elevating your online presence.
Here’s how a social media consultant will benefit your business:
- Strategy Development: Just posting on social media isn’t a strategy. A social media and marketing consultant will conduct audience research and analyze competitors as they develop a customized, data-driven strategy with recommendations tailored to your business’s unique needs and growth goals.
- Content Creation: They will help your brand build a thriving online community with fresh creative and consistent posting to drive more engagement on social media. Additionally, they will maintain a content calendar and plan for testing new content in your ad campaign or company page.
- Data Reporting: When you have a greater understanding of how your social media efforts attract new prospects and influence sales decisions, you’ll be able to make smarter business decisions. Consultants track results, analyze key metrics important to your business, and then use that data to optimize your strategy and maximize your return on investment (ROI).
- Relevance and Trends: As the social media landscape continues to evolve, a social media consultant will save you time and provide deeper expertise on how to adapt your strategy so your business stays relevant with your target audience.
Success Story: Social Media Marketing Helped Drive 22% Sales Increase
Success Story: Social Media Marketing Helped Drive 22% Sales IncreaseLIFE The Place To Be, an event venue and services company in Ardsley, New York, needed a new marketing strategy to drive more business growth and better reach their local market.
What We Did: After conducting extensive analysis of their marketing programs, competitors, and target audience, we developed an integrated marketing plan featuring a revamped social media marketing strategy and new website along with other marketing tools best suited to their business goals.
Results: Engagement on the brand’s Facebook page grew dramatically after a new social media management program was launched, which contributed to an annual sales increase of 22%. Read the full marketing consulting case study to see more.
What to Look for in a Social Media Marketing Consultant for Your Business
When searching for a social media marketing consultant to support your business, the most important factors to consider are their expertise across multiple social media platforms, depth of experience, and their communication style.
Expertise in Social Media Consulting and Management:
- They should be up to date on the latest trends, rules, best practices, and policies for the social media platforms that best match your business goals.
- An expert social media and marketing consultant will start by assessing your business’s strengths and weaknesses on your business’s social media channels and provide recommendations to you about next steps to meet your business goals.
- When it comes to social media advertising and analytics, it's common for consultants to specialize in certain aspects of social media strategy. Different tools, such as organic social media posts and paid social media advertising, require different skill sets. Consider not just the needs for your business now, but also your goals in the future when choosing a social media consultant.
Expert Tip: Your business will see more growth from a comprehensive marketing strategy that incorporates multiple small business marketing tools, such as social media ads and organic social media management together with other marketing programs. That means you’ll get more value for your efforts by working with a team that brings expertise across all types of social media marketing.
Experience in Small Business Social Media Management:
- Hiring a social media consultant who has extensive experience working with small businesses will lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness in the long run. By contrast, a consultant accustomed to working with large multinational companies may have great ideas but will also have a poor understanding of the constraints and challenges that are part of every small business owner’s day.
- It might be an added bonus if the social media consultant has experience working with small businesses in your industry, but don’t spend too much time searching for an exact match. A consultant who specializes in small businesses and has worked across many industries will be more likely to bring a fresh perspective than one who repeats the same approach over and over in only one industry.
Clear Communication Style:
- In addition to expertise and experience, the right marketing consultant for your business should provide you clear, helpful communications. Your time and your consultant’s time are both hugely valuable–it’s part of why you are hiring them in the first place–and their efforts should reflect that with concise, professional communications and reporting.
Pricing that Fits Your Budget:
- Look for a consultant who not only fits your budget but also offers a high level of transparency so that you know what is and is not included in the types of services they offer.
4 Tips for Success with Social Media Marketing and Consulting
- Start the relationship off on the right foot by giving your social media consultant a clear overview of your goals for the program, what makes your brand unique, and how to best communicate with your team.
- Be sure to discuss your needs and limits on in-house content creation, including what your team can provide and what you will need created for you for organic posts or ads.
- A great social media marketing consultant will be collaborative with your team and adaptable to your business needs. They will want to hear your constructive feedback about what is working well or needs improvement so that they can tailor their efforts and maintain alignment with your business goals.
- Remember that it takes time to build a community and connect with your target audience! Sustainable growth doesn’t happen overnight, or with one post or paid Facebook ad.
Success Story: 43% Revenue Increase with Optimized Social Media Marketing and an Integrated Marketing Plan
Success Story: 43% Revenue Increase with Optimized Social Media Marketing and an Integrated Marketing PlanSyracuse Drains, a drain and sewer service company in Syracuse, NY was struggling to manage the daily demands of serving customers together with marketing their business to drive sustainable growth.
What We Did: We crafted and executed a cohesive integrated marketing strategy that combined traditional print and digital elements to increase the efficacy of their marketing campaigns. This unified marketing strategy built upon the brand’s existing strengths and optimized their social media presence with organic and paid ad campaigns in addition to improvements across their other marketing channels.
Results: Along with greater brand awareness in their local area, the business quickly saw a surge of qualified leads from their target audience, all of which led to a 43% increase in annual revenue growth. See our case study to learn more about the solutions we put in place to help Syracuse Drains expand their customer base and grow sales.
What Social Media Platform is Best for Small Businesses?
When selecting the best social media platforms for your business, the answer will depend on your industry, where your target audience spends their time hanging out online, and your marketing goals. While some platforms consistently offer great opportunities for small businesses due to their wide user base and engagement features, others cater to niche audiences who utilize the platforms for specific purposes. Here are the best social media platforms for small businesses:
- Facebook: With over 3 billion monthly active users on average, Facebook is still the best option for greater reach to a higher volume of users who are likely to engage with ads or organic posts. If your business targets consumers directly, it is expected by your potential customers that you have a Facebook business page where your brand shares content, collects reviews, and maintains current contact information about your business.
Instagram: Similar to Facebook, currently Instagram averages over 2 billion monthly active users with similar opportunities for a B2C business to reach consumers. Instagram’s focus on visual content makes it an essential platform for businesses in the food, apparel, consumer products, travel, or decor industries. Both Instagram and Facebook ads are managed with Facebook Ads Manager, but require separate business pages on both platforms. Instagram is an excellent option for businesses targeting younger users in the 18-24 and 25-34 demographic segments.- TikTok: With TikTok’s future for US users uncertain, it is a smart idea for small businesses to plan for alternatives in their social media marketing strategies. TikTok’s user base skews younger than the other top social media platforms for small businesses, with the majority of its users in the 18 to 24 age demographic, which means it may not be a great fit for businesses with customers who tend to be older than Gen Z.
- YouTube: YouTube has 2.5 billion monthly active users and remains the second-largest search engine globally, behind Google Search, which means it offers even more potential for small businesses looking to raise their profile in their marketplace. Since the content is rooted in visual storytelling, it gives small businesses an unparalleled opportunity to communicate what makes their brand unique and build a following with relevant, interesting, helpful videos. As a search platform, it allows businesses to be found by new prospects looking for what they sell and immediately showcase their products or services.
- LinkedIn: If your business’s target market is decision makers in other businesses, then your social media strategy is missing sales growth opportunities without LinkedIn. Like Facebook, most B2B customers expect a brand to maintain a LinkedIn company page and update it regularly with organic posts about the company, industry news, and informative content. Not having a LinkedIn company page or primary profile can negatively signal your prospective customers that your brand might lack authority and credibility. With a thriving LinkedIn company page and paid ad campaigns, your small business will be able to build trust and increase connections with decision influencers and leaders across the spectrum of your target audience.
- Nextdoor: For service businesses, such as electricians, plumbers, or similar businesses who serve customers in their local communities, Nextdoor is great for small businesses to connect with potential customers, raise brand awareness, and offer special promotions to increase sales. Nextdoor’s largest user base in the US is in the 55-64 age demographic, followed by the 45-54 segment, and the platform grew by 5% last year.
- Reddit: Reddit offers unmatched potential for both the breadth and depth of its audience segmentation and targeting options for small businesses. With an estimated 1 billion monthly active users and over 73 million daily active users, Reddit’s user base has been steadily growing over the years. Users can find a Reddit thread on just about any subject and are passionate about their favorite topics, making Reddit an attractive option for businesses to engage with their target audience–if done in a helpful and authentic way. Reddit does offer paid ad campaigns for businesses, and brands choosing to engage in organic posts with their audience should be mindful not to be too pushy or salesy in their comments. Such content will turn off potential customers and may not be allowed on certain Reddit threads. As with all organic social media content for your business, you will keep more customers engaged and attract new followers with posts that offer helpful, entertaining, and relevant information.
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What are the Biggest Mistakes Small Businesses Often Make with Social Media Marketing?
A poor understanding of your audience and the lack of a content strategy are the root causes of many wasted efforts for small business social media marketing.
Avoid these 8 common errors in your small business’s social media strategy to keep your efforts from falling flat.
- Poorly Thought Out Strategy: It’s crucial to have a clear plan for your social media content that includes a schedule for content posting as well as defined goals and a deep understanding of your target audience. Throwing up posts just for the sake of adding new content will lead to your brand coming across as scatter-brained and render your efforts ineffective. Align your content with your overall marketing strategy and brand message using an integrated marketing approach that brings together all of your marketing tools into one cohesive plan.
- Only Talking to Followers: The nature of social media is that it facilitates a conversation between multiple parties. Treat your social media pages as community areas where you prioritize your conversations with followers, not as places where you only speak to them. Bring interesting content to encourage their engagement. Promptly reply to comments and questions. Demonstrate how you listen to your followers as a way for potential customers to see how they can expect to be treated by your brand if they buy from you.
- Not Posting Consistently: Once you have the attention of your ideal customer, hold it with ongoing consistency in your posting schedule. Sticking to a content plan will also show your followers that your brand is dependable.
- Not Analyzing Data: The more you understand about what posts or ads drove the most actions from viewers, which types of visuals get the most attention, and how clicks from your social media pages turn into leads and sales on your website, the more capable you will be at making smart, data-driven decisions. One of the biggest time-saving benefits of hiring a social media marketing consultant is getting an expert behind your business who is consistently monitoring your account and analyzing the data for helpful insights.
- Not Using Paid Social Media Ads: Boost sales, grow your follower count, capture more leads, and drive more traffic to your website with expertly managed social media ad campaigns optimized for your business goals.
- Pursuing Quantity before Quality: Your followers are less interested in how often you post on social media and more concerned with whether or not your content is worth their time. If your content isn’t relevant, authentic, and offers value to them, avoid using it and instead put more effort into high quality posts.
- Doing the Same Thing Over and Over: Your followers will get tired of the same type of posts, the same sales pitch, or the same images and videos the more they see them. Once they start to ignore your posts and scroll right past them, the social media algorithms behind the platforms will take that cue from users and may give your content less exposure, too. To keep your social media pages full of fresh content, experiment with new ideas on a regular basis and be sure to plan ahead for what and when you will publish to your feed (see mistake #1!).
- Not Adapting Your Strategy: Social media trends and technology will continue to evolve at a rapid rate, which can bring positive and negative effects for small businesses. Failing to adapt your social media strategy, not taking advantage of new tactics to engage users, or ignoring trends driven by your target audience will eventually grind any progress from your social media channels to a halt and make your brand look out of touch. This is another area often overlooked by busy small business owners and a great way for a small business social media and marketing consultant to support your business and save you valuable time.
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