One of the top things on the mind of any new small business owner is getting the word out about their company. However, this can seem extremely difficult when you don’t have the reach and budget of bigger, more established businesses. Here is how to market a new business on social media.
Luckily, social media offers a cost-free way to reach potential customers, and anyone can get in front of their target market with the right strategy.
Getting to Know Your Target Market
The first step in marketing your new business is to create a plan. This requires researching your industry and getting to know your target audience. Figure out their point of view so that you can think like your target audience.
This will allow you to consider what content would actually influence your customer’s decision-making. Once you understand your customer base, a good way to start developing your marketing plan is to look at what has already worked for your competitors.
Determine Your Marketing Goals
Social media marketing can be extremely effective, but it is important to determine what your goals are before you start posting. There are several possible goals, but the most common are to generate leads, engage customers, and (perhaps most notably) to raise awareness of your business.
These are all valid goals, and there are many more that your business could have, such as raising awareness of your customer service or more. But, whatever your objectives are, be sure to define them.
These goals, just like with any other marketing strategy, dictate what you want to accomplish with your social media posts. This will be important for planning new posts, which is difficult enough even with a plan in place.
Create a Teaser Campaign
When you are launching a new business, one of the best ways to get the word out before you make your official debut on social media is to start a teaser campaign. This is a great way to make potential customers curious and create anticipation for your business.
The key to this is to create content related to your brand that makes your potential customers curious without revealing too much. Drop just enough hints and small pieces of information to build hype, making sure to keep plenty of secrets about your new company to create suspense for your grand reveal and official debut.
Post Consistently to Market a New Business on Social Media
It’s not enough to just have a social media account – you have to use it. It’s time to post, ideally two or three times a week. One of the most important parts of social media marketing is to ensure you post consistently.
Think about it—if someone finds your account and discovers the newest post is weeks old (let alone months old), why would they follow you? After all, these consumers are looking for content, so why bother following if they aren’t going to receive it?
And those who do follow are unlikely to head to your page and think about your business without any prompting. You need to post fresh content in order for your brand to appear in people’s timelines and homepages. On average, a person has to see a brand or product 5-7 times before they become interested in purchasing from that company.
Create Unique Brand Hashtags
A unique, catchy hashtag is an incredibly effective marketing technique both on and off social media. Online, it will help your brand to stand out and allow users to develop conversations about your product and to find more information about your company.
Offline, you can place your hashtags around events you create or attend to encourage those who see it to share their experience online, expanding the reach of your event.
Build Relationships
A great way to spread awareness of your business is to build a relationship with influencers who already have a number of followers who fit into your target market. They already have established goodwill among a large number of potential customers, which means that if they put a good word in, it can spread awareness and go a long way toward improving your brand’s reputation. In order to get new followers, sometimes running Facebook ads is a way to grow and get your ball rolling.
Be Straightforward and Market a New Business on Social Media
One of the trickiest parts of social media marketing is engaging your customers. Make sure your posts are easy for users to read and recall. Remember—they have decided to follow you because they are interested in you, so be interesting.
In order to market a new business on social media, you need to let customers know what your brand has to offer, give them friendly reminders, and include links to your landing pages. It’s important to be creative and stand out from the other brands, but make sure your potential customers know what you are saying and what you have to offer them.
Build Awareness
Building awareness about your business is difficult when you are just starting out and don’t have the resources and large marketing departments of the big guys. But with a little strategy and ingenuity, your business can build a following and generate a lot of buzz. Just give it a try, and you might be surprised by the results.
Need some help? Contact MJI Marketing today to get started.
