Nowadays, social media marketing is considered an essential part of any good social media strategy for a small business. And for a good reason too.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a little corner shop or a multi-million pound franchise, social media marketing is important.
By ensuring you have a strong presence on social media, you can connect with your customers, engage them with your brand, increase awareness of your offering and most importantly, boost sales.
Think about it. With millions of people checking into social media throughout the day, you really can’t afford to not be on there.
Still on the fence? We’ve rounded up seven reasons why social media marketing is important for a small business, and why you should invest your time into it.
Why is social media marketing important?
1. It's cost effective
If you’re starting up a small business and you’re on a tight budget, then social media is your new best friend.
Often, when turning a passion project into a money-maker, marketing can be forgotten about in favour of more operational investments. However, the only thing you really have to invest into social media marketing, is time.
Starting up a social media platform is completely free, making it one of the most cost effective and successful ways to engage with an audience and advertise your products. This makes it one of the best ways to get your name out there as a small business, trying to attract new customers.
2. Improve brand awareness
As we said above, marketing a business can be expensive, but it’s also essential. The more people know about your business, the more sales you’ll drive - it’s a simple rule of business.
By creating a Facebook or Instagram account, you can put your stamp on your social media. Think about creating something that reflects your business. Whether that’s in the way you speak to people, the images you post or a combination of the two, if you create a social media presence that’s consistent with your business, people will recognise and connect with your brand.
3. Develop your identity
From your first post, you need people to know who you are, your values and your product. Social media is a great way to help develop your identity online.
You can do this through the aesthetic you use on your Instagram page, or the types of posts you create on Facebook. As long as you’re consistent and you develop a strong identity that your customers can relate to, then social media can be a great way to develop who you are and carve out your own space in your field.
Just remember, don’t try to be something you’re not and stay authentic. Everyone is social media savvy these days, and the accounts that do well are always those with a clear, relatable identity.
4. Become an authority
If you’ve decided to start your own small business, then it’s likely you’re a pro in your area. You know what you’re selling like the back of your own hand. Social media is a great way to show your customers that, when they shop with you, they’ve come to the experts.
And, as you may know, people nowadays are very savvy when it comes to researching something. It’s likely your customers will do a lot of research before landing on a product they will actually buy.
So, why not showcase your expertise? Start up a social media account and share your knowledge, showing them that you’re the authority and that they should be turning to you.
5. Engage with your audience
As a small business, you’ll know that each and every customer is important to you and the future of your company. In the same way, your social media followers are important too, and the platform is the ideal place to show that, giving you the tools to treat them like they really matter to you.
Encourage engagement by responding to your customers, share their support on your profile and always get back to direct messages. By keeping people engaged with your pages, it shows them you care and you value them too.
6. An easy support tool
Social media has become a go-to for customers looking to enquire about products, check on their orders or even to complain. As such, business large and small should be there to respond.
By always being on hand to provide authentic, genuine and speedy response, you can deal with issues quickly and provide memorable customer service. And, since reputation and service is often a selling point for a lot of customers, it’s a very important part of your social media marketing strategy.
7. Reflect on your successes
One of the great things about social media marketing is that it’s easy to see what worked and what didn’t quite hit the mark. It’s free to set up a business account on most social media platforms, and when you sign up you get access to a whole host of analytics about engagement with each post.
Every once in a while you can take a look at these, see what worked and what achieved the most engagement, and look to replicate that in your upcoming marketing strategy. By being able to reflect and update your social media, you can keep growing and keep your business moving forward.
With these seven points, hopefully you can see just how important social media marketing is to a small business. The impacts it can have on growth, sales and customers experience are invaluable.
Get in touch if you want to learn more about how social media marketing can effect your business.
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