What can your small business do with social media?
It’s easy to understand how a small business might be confused on the exact use of social media in their business. With all the attendant working parts of a marketing initiative like this, no one could be blamed for not knowing what’s important to do and what’s not.
To get a better vision of what you may want to concentrate on, let’s have a look at what small businesses are doing with it now, and how you can shape that into a workable plan for your business.
How are auto repair shops employing social media now?
One thing that is clear, from a recent study conducted by LinkedIn, is that the small businesses that are growing are those making an effort in both time and expense with social media. 90 percent of those surveyed credited social media for a large part of their growth, brand awareness and 82 percent said it helps with new lead generation.
Of the small businesses that identified themselves as in hyper-growth, 73 percent of them increased their social spending in the last year, while of the businesses that aren’t experiencing growth, 53 percent reported no increased effort or spend.
Where should you focus your time and money?
It is becoming more and more clear that social media does some things very well. Among these are building brand awareness, as well as social advertising. Social ads are still very economical, and can be highly targeted to reach the exact audience you wish to engage. All of the major platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have ad platforms you can use from your social pages. Using social media for competitive intelligence, as well as ongoing business education is another effort well worth your time.
Last and surely not least, social reviews and mentions of your company or products can help you in many ways, from search to direct traffic, in addition to delivering timely social proof. Social media is not just a tool for large companies with huge advertising budgets. Small business can play too, but as with most areas of your marketing, it will take some strategic thought to make the most of it!