How to use social media to promote your business

Some of the advantages of social media marketing include:

Brand awareness -compelling and relevant content will grab the attention of potential customers and increase brand visibility.  

Brand reputation - you can respond instantly to industry developments and be seen as 'thought leader' or expert in your field. This can improve how your business is seen by your audience.  
  
Cost effective - it can be much cheaper than traditional advertising and promotional activities. The costs of maintaining a social media presence are minimal. If you choose to invest in paid advertising, you can spend as much or as little as your budget allows.  
  
Website traffic - social media content can boost traffic to your website. This can lead to increased online conversions, sales and leads.  
  
Evaluation - it is easy to measure how much website traffic you receive from social media. You can set up tracking to determine how many sales are generated by paid social advertising.  
  
Customer service improvements - You can deliver improved customer service and respond effectively to feedback. Positive feedback is public and can be persuasive to other potential customers. Negative feedback highlights areas where you can improve.  
  
Target audience - customers can find you through the social media platforms they use most. You can choose to maintain a presence on platforms that are in line with your target audience. For example, if you are targeting young people, you could reach them through Snapchat. If you are seeking business customers, LinkedIn may be the best channel.

Brand loyalty - you can build relationships with your customers through social media. This can help increase loyalty and advocacy , particularly in product and service industries.  

Many of us already use some social media platforms for personal use and so, a lot of things we do on our personal pages can be applied to our business. 

Let’s go through some of the most popular platforms for businesses and how you can use them to promote your business:  

Facebook 
- Create your own dedicated business page 
- Share your business as a new start and share new products, services, offers and competitions
- Share customer reviews 
- Receive direct messaging and provide customer support 
 
X (Previously known as Twitter)
 - Allows instant, public communication  
- You can publish short comments and links to web pages, blogs and images 
- By providing links, you can boost traffic to your website 
- You can also retweet posts that grab your attention
- Follow and engage with customers and partners 
 
LinkedIn 
 - Create your own dedicated business page 
- Build networks, create your own groups, find and connect with potential clients 
- Share video content and link to other social media platforms
- Comment and post about business issues to position yourself as a thought leader 
  
YouTube 
 - Create your own business channel 
- Create new video content showcasing your products, services and expertise 
 
Pinterest 
 - Share images, blogs and how to guides 
- Create and theme your Pinterest boards 
- Build your own community 
- Drive traffic to your website, online stores and other social platforms 

Instagram 
- Share images and short video clips  
-  You can improve your clips and images with filters and other tools 
- Hashtags allow you to promote your content more widely 
- Encourage customers to upload their own clips and images about your brand 

It can be easy to fall into the trap of creating a social media page on all of the platforms we have mentioned. However, you should do a bit of research, take a look at what platforms may suit your business and choose the right ones.  
  
Before you start, you might also want to create yourself a plan of what your first month on social media platforms may look like, set yourself some targets and goals on what you would like to achieve.

As part of your plan, research your competition or take inspiration from other accounts. As you create your plan think about using a social media calendar so you can plan and note down any ideas.   
 
Social media management tools can also help with the scheduling of social media posts. Tech Radar has this useful summary of the best management tools to use.

When producing social media content, don’t use these platforms solely as promotional tools. It’s also important to engage with your followers, ask their opinion, ask questions, create polls and start discussions.   
 
Don’t just use words and pictures too. Sharing videos can help keep people more engaged and make your content more accessible.   
  
When you are getting engagement, keep tabs on any mentions of your business and products, and any reactions to your posts. Make sure you reply appropriately to direct comments and mentions and also do not forget to track direct messaging. 

On some platforms like Facebook, you can set an automated response to set expectations on response times when someone gets in touch with you.