What is the real problem?

Why Shiny New Photos or Videos Won’t Make You More Sales

Many small businesses come to us looking for help with their social media marketing. They often want us to create more professional photos or videos of their products, or to help them post more often on social media. While these are all important things, we often find that they’re not the real problem.

In fact, in 80% of cases, the problem is not with the photos, videos, or posting frequency.

Originally I thought that because we deal with small businesses it was a small business issue- but after speaking to other agency owners it seems to be a problem that occurs no matter what the size of the business is.

The Real Problem.

The real problem is that most small businesses haven’t defined who they are or who they’re talking to. They don’t have a clear vision of their brand or their target audience. As a result, their content is all over the place. They’re not sure what to post, who to post it to, or why they’re posting it.

But fear not! There’s a solution.

The Solution.

The solution is to start with the basics. Before you do anything else, you need to define your brand and your target audience. What are your core values? What makes your brand unique? Who are your ideal customers? You can grab our worksheet here or there are plenty available online.

Once you have a clear understanding of these things, you can start to create content that will resonate with your audience.

Let’s dive deeper into the benefits of having a clear vision for your brand and target audience:

1. More Engagement: When you have a clear vision for your brand and know exactly who you’re targeting, your content will be more relevant and relatable to your audience. This will naturally lead to increased engagement on social media platforms such as likes, comments, shares and ultimately increased visibility for your business.
2. More Sales: Connecting with your ideal customers on an emotional level plays a crucial role in converting leads into actual sales. By understanding who your target audience is and creating content tailored specifically for them, you’ll increase the likelihood of converting these engaged users into paying customers.
3. More Efficiency: With a clear vision for your brand and target audience, you can create content that is more targeted and effective. This means you won’t be wasting time or resources creating content that doesn’t resonate with your audience. Every post will be purposeful and aligned with your business goals.  

Importance of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Social media marketing has become an essential tool for small businesses to reach their target audience, build brand awareness, and drive sales. With billions of people using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, small businesses have the opportunity to connect with potential customers on a global scale. Social media allows businesses to engage directly with their audience, share valuable content, and create a strong online presence. It also provides a cost-effective way to advertise and promote products or services.

Common Challenges Faced in Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

While social media marketing offers numerous benefits, it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Small businesses often struggle to create engaging content, build a loyal following, and stand out from the competition. Limited resources, time constraints, and a lack of expertise can hinder the success of social media campaigns. Additionally, keeping up with the ever-changing algorithms and trends of different social media platforms can be overwhelming. Understanding and addressing these challenges is crucial for small businesses to maximise the effectiveness of their social media marketing efforts.

Strategies and Best Practices for Social Media Marketing

To overcome the challenges and achieve success in social media marketing, small businesses should adopt effective strategies and best practices. These include:

1. Defining goals: Clearly outline the objectives you want to achieve through social media marketing, such as increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or generating leads.

2. Understanding the target audience: Research and analyze your target audience’s demographics, interests, and preferences to create content that resonates with them.

3. Consistent branding: Maintain a consistent brand identity across all social media platforms to establish brand recognition and trust.

4. Creating engaging content: Develop high-quality and relevant content that educates, entertains, or inspires your audience. Use a mix of images, videos, infographics, and written posts to keep your content fresh and engaging.

5. Building a community: Interact with your audience responding to comments, messages, and reviews. Encourage user-generated content and foster a sense of community among your followers.

6. Leveraging influencers: Collaborate with influencers or industry experts to expand your reach and gain credibility.

7. Monitoring and adjusting: Regularly monitor your social media metrics, such as engagement, reach, and conversions. Use the insights to optimise your strategy and make data-driven decisions.

Success Story Example.

A good example is Apricotton, based in Toronto, Canada they won Hootsuite’s Social Media Makeover for Small Businesses and partnered with Hootsuite to enhance their social media presence. By using Hootsuite Academy, they learned how different social media platforms serve different purposes and tailored their content accordingly. With Hootsuite Analytics, they tracked insights and metrics from their organic and paid content, identified target audiences, and optimized the best times to publish content.

As a result, Apricotton achieved impressive results: they garnered over 66,000 impressions on their social platforms, saved time from metric tracking, and experienced a 108% increase in sales.

Another example is Australian Frank Body. They gained significant traction and brand visibility through their engaging social media campaigns. Frank Body’s Instagram account, in particular, has played a crucial role in their success. By sharing user-generated content, incorporating humor and authenticity, and using visually appealing images, they have managed to create a strong and loyal community of followers. Their social media efforts have resulted in increased brand awareness, customer engagement, and we suggest sales.

Measurement and Analytics

Measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing efforts is vital for small businesses to understand what is working and what needs improvement. Utilize social media analytics tools to track key metrics such as reach, engagement, click-through rates, and conversions. Analyzing these metrics can help identify trends, optimize content strategies, and allocate resources effectively. Regularly reviewing and analyzing data will enable small businesses to make informed decisions and continuously improve their social media marketing campaigns.

Keep your vision clear.

With a clear vision and a deep understanding of your audience in place, you can now focus on creating content with a purpose. Instead of churning out random posts or promotional material, you’ll be able to craft targeted messages that resonate with specific customer segments.  

If you’re not sure how to define your brand or create content that’s targeted and relevant, there are plenty of resources available to help you. You can find books, articles, and online courses that can teach you the basics of social media marketing.

You can also hire us to help you get started. We can help you define your brand, create a content strategy, and track your results.