The Complete Guide to Social Media for Small Businesses in Tasmania
What is Social Media and Why Should You Care?
Social media is a powerful marketing tool that allows you to market your company and products to millions of people, locals and visitors alike. Social media is a powerful marketing tool that has changed how we live, work, and communicate. It has become an integral part of our lives, and it’s essential to keep up with the latest trends to succeed in today’s digital world and help market your business and attract new customers.
While this guide was written for small businesses in Tasmania (where we’re located) it also applies to other other small business in Australia.
How to Create a Social Media Strategy for Your Business
Social media is an integral part of any marketing strategy. It helps you connect with your customers, build trust and is an excellent source of brand/product/service awareness. But it can also be overwhelming, especially if you are a small business owner who has never tried social media marketing before, has hit road bumps in the past, doesn’t have enough time or struggled partnering with agencies.
A social media strategy is a plan that outlines how you will use social media to reach your goals. It is crucial to have a strategy because it helps you stay focused, manage your time, and get the most out of your efforts.
The first step in creating a social media strategy is determining what you want to accomplish. This may sound like an obvious step, but many people skip this one and just start posting on social media without any direction or purpose behind it. For example, if you want to increase sales, you might want to focus on using Facebook ads or LinkedIn to attract customers in your target demographic. If you want more people to follow your page and engage with content to help with branding awareness and reach, Instagram is a great outlet. Remember, different platforms have benefits and how people interact with your business.
The following points will help you create the best social media strategy for your small business.
- Define your goals: remember to use SMART goals
- Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
- Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
- Achievable (agreed, attainable).
- Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
- Time-bound (time-based, time-limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).
2) Consider your audience: social media is a great way to reach new audiences, so remember to focus on content to capture attention, engage current followers and customers as well as convert.
3) Identify the platforms that work for you: marketing for your business doesn’t mean you should use every social media platform – it’s strongly not recommended. Instead, focus on one or two platforms or platforms where your specific customers are.
4) Create a content calendar: creating a content calendar is a great way to save time and effort when it comes to managing social media. Plan monthly content calendars using online tools (or even Microsoft word or excel) and schedule your content monthly to save time.
5) Monitor and measure: Don’t just stick to your usual habits and routines when managing your social media. Review your performance monthly, double down on performing content, shift strategies for content that is under-performing.
How To Use Facebook For Your Small Business in Tasmania
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms that can be used for marketing. It has over 2 billion monthly active users and over 1.5 million active advertisers.
There are several ways to use Facebook for your small business. You can create a page, post updates, share photos, promote your products or services, and even advertise on Facebook. Most small businesses in Tasmania have a Facebook page as their main point of contact for customers, even using it in place of a website – which is not recommended. Whilst most small businesses in Tasmania get great engagement from their Facebook pages from locals and tourists, it makes it difficult for new audiences to learn about your business or search for the information they are seeking. Use your Facebook page to interact and engage with your audience, to promote your products and services, as well as any news, announcements and changes. An often underlooked feature of Facebook that many small businesses fail to use is Facebook groups. Join and engage with local Facebook groups to engage with locals and tourists and strengthen your brand presence on social media. As both a local in Tasmania and an avid Facebook user, we have stumbled upon some fantastic Tasmanian small businesses participating in groups such as ‘Lap of Tasmania’, ‘The Not Shit Guide to Tasmania’, ‘Dog-Friendly Places in Tasmania’, ‘That’s It! I’m moving to Tassie!’ and ‘Tassie Life’. As a result, we have discovered new distilleries, accommodation, cafes and retail stores to all visit! Remember not to spam your business offering, but simply engage with conversations posts and participate where you can.
How To Use Instagram For Your Small Business in Tasmania
Instagram is a social media platform that has grown exponentially in recent years. It has over 800 million monthly active users, and it is the fastest growing social media channel. It’s no wonder that so many small businesses are taking advantage of this platform to promote their products and services.
As with Facebook, Instagram is a great platform to use for small businesses in Tasmania. The method to success with Instagram is consistency; posting daily, posting stories and reels (now the content that gets the most organic reach), as well as engaging with other users and their content. Using hashtags and tagging locations as well as other relevant accounts is a great way to be discovered. With functionality such as tagging products and shops, it’s easier than ever to incorporate your business, services and products into your social feed. Again remember to work off content pillars with an overall aesthetic to your feed and content – this will help maximise engagement and growth.
Affordable Website Design and Development for Small Businesses in Tasmania
As mentioned above, businesses that rely on using a Facebook page in place of a website are missing out on HUGE awareness, traffic and ultimately sales and conversions by not having a website. For people trying to discover more about your business or look for an answer to a question, they have relating to your offering, having to trawl through a Facebook page is not a great experience. It can make readers go elsewhere and look for other businesses that answer their questions quickly. Did you know that:
- 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine
- 96% of global traffic comes from Google search, Google Images, and Google Maps
- Websites drive 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media.
- 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when searching on their smartphones
How to Use Social Media Marketing Tools for Your Small Business
As mentioned earlier, getting involved with social media is a bit like falling down a rabbit hole. It is so easy to spend too many hours creating, posting, engaging, responding etc. A handy hint is to check your screen time – on Instagram, tap your profile picture > then the top right > Your activity > Time spent. You might be surprised what you find.
The good news is that some great social media marketing tools are available for free that can help you plan, create and schedule your content, such as Meta Business Suite or even tools like Hootsuite. These tools can help you automate your social media posts, schedule posts in advance, and analyse your performance on these channels.
You can also engage the assistance of freelance specialists or agencies. However, we strongly recommend managing organic social media yourself and outsourcing specialist areas such as paid social advertising, content marketing and email marketing to specialists (like us!).
How To Create A Content Strategy For Your Small Business On Social Media
A content strategy is a plan that helps you create content for your business on social media. It can help you attract more customers and generate more leads when executed correctly. Content is the fuel of social media. It is what people share and engage with. A good content strategy will make it easier to create the kind of content that gets shared and generates leads for your business. As mentioned above, set goals and use a content calendar, as well as research your different audience types, regularly monitor your competitor’s social media, work off content pillars – then get started on creating compelling content. Try producing a large amount of content at once that you can use over time. Other sources for content can include sharing and regramming other content with credit using User Generated Content (from people that tag you). Get your team involved to help create content to increase ideas and output and reduce time stressing about content production.
The Best Tips To Get Started With Social Media Marketing For Your Small Business
Social media marketing is a great way to get your business in front of new customers and grow your customer base.
The best way to get started with social media marketing for your small business is by following these 5 social media tips:
- Create a social media strategy.
- Create a content calendar and post consistently on social media channels.
- Use Facebook ads to reach targeted audiences at scale (remember to use a specialist such as us, simply get in touch)
- Use Instagram for visual storytelling
- Engage with your community
The Importance of Using Social Media in Your Marketing Strategy
Social media is a powerful tool for marketing. It is a great way to promote your business and connect with your target audience. It can be used for lead generation, customer service, sales, traffic and brand awareness.
Social media marketing has been proven to be more effective than traditional marketing methods in many ways. For example, social media posts are more likely to be seen by the public than traditional advertisements on TV or print ads because people spend hours on social media every day. You can also use visual content on social media platforms to increase engagement and get more awareness for your brand without the cost of TV, radio or print advertising.
If you have any questions or want to get your marketing ducks in a row, simply get in touch!
Pink Lemonade is located on the traditional lands of the palawa people, the Traditional Owners of lutruwita (Tasmania). We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
Pink Lemonade Social is a proudly inclusive organisation and an ally of LGBTIQ+ community and the movement toward equality.
Helpful for small businesses that cant afford to pay big agencies! Thanks heaps!
You’re welcome Suzy!