Small Business Marketing Tips: How To Create More Engaging Social Content

According to a 2019 study, 3.5 billion people (otherwise known as 45% of the world population) are now using social media. 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Gen Xers and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are checking in on social networks daily. So why exactly can’t your business seem to get any kind of engagement on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn?

Your social networking efforts could be failing for several different reasons. Your posts may not be reaching enough people. You could be wasting too much time on a platform your customers aren’t using. You may need to experiment more with posting at different times of day.

However, the biggest problem most growing companies face with their social pages, is that the content they’re posting isn’t hitting home with potential customers. That’s the issue we’ll focus in on for this particular blog post. Below you’ll find three small business marketing tips for creating social media content that will actually get you new leads.

1- Let Your Customers Do The Selling

According to Lyfe Marketing, 46% of social media users will unfollow a brand for posting too many promotional messages. Many of you are probably thinking, what’s the point of being on social media if you can’t sell your business. Well there are several ways to showcase your company to social followers without coming across as overly promotional. Letting social users get to know you through the lens of a real customer story is one of the best ways.

Take the time to reach out to some of your top customers and see if they’d be willing to publicly talk about their experience with your business. Once you find the right customer to spotlight, ask them to hop on a Zoom call to film a video testimonial, in which they give some background on the issue they were experiencing before reaching out to you, and how your company was able to resolve their problem.

Consumers tend to trust the opinions of their peers a lot more than a business they’ve never worked with, which is why posting video testimonials from real customers on your social pages can be such a great strategy for attracting new leads. Your social followers will get to hear straight from a peer’s mouth what solutions your business provides, what it’s like working with your company, and what results you’re able to achieve.

If you don’t believe consumers want to hear from other consumers, consider the last time you made a purchase on Amazon. Did you spend much time reading all the info in the middle of the page posted by the company, or did you immediately scroll down to see the reviews from other buyers? No one wants to get fooled or waste their time with a service or product that doesn’t work. Social followers need to see those endorsements from actual customers to confirm that they’re making the right decision reaching out to your business.

2- Show Your Business In Action

Another way to spark interest on social media without coming across as too salesy, is to share visuals of your team members hard at work. Using video or photos to give followers a peek behind the curtain of your company can not only make your social posts more visually compelling, but can make the process of getting started with your business a lot less intimidating.

How can you show your business in action?

• If your staff frequently goes out into the field to do work (ex: HVAC, Plumbing), tag along with your crew for an afternoon, and document some of the work they do.
• If much of your work takes place behind the scenes (ex: Pet Grooming, Automotive), give your followers a look at what goes on in the restricted areas your customers usually don’t get to see.
• If your work results in an impressive looking finished product (ex: Construction, Landscaping), showcase the end product that your staff was able to put together.

Statistics show social media posts with video have 48% more views, so whenever possible, include these behind the scenes shots in video form.

3- Address Customer Problems And Concerns

According to Sprout Social, 53% of consumers say they’re likely to buy from brands that are transparent on their social networks. The more honest you can be with your social followers these days about what they can expect from your company and your industry in general, the more likely you’ll be to win their trust. This isn’t to say businesses should make public all of their shortcomings on their social channels, but they should be willing to address some of the things customers generally don’t like about your industry.

How can your business express transparency on its social pages?

• If your company tends to receive a lot of the same questions from its customers, provide answers to those questions in social media posts. Chances are your followers will be carrying similar concerns to your customers.
• Talk about an issue that has been plaguing your industry for a long time, and what your business is doing to solve it. Make it clear that you aren’t ignorant to the things that annoy your customers.
• When news stories that are relevant to the work you do, give your reaction on your social pages, letting your customers know how these new developments could impact their lives.

Being transparent gives you a chance to differentiate yourself from competitors, and show your followers right away that you’re interested in providing real solutions to the problems they really care about. Just make sure you take the time to research what those problems actually are before hitting the publish button.

Check back with our blog regularly for more small business marketing tips!