5 Ways to Use Social Media for Small Business Growth in 2024

By Gaurav Sharma

 

A few decades ago, using social media as a marketing strategy was considered unconventional. Today, social media has become one of the most effective marketing tools. 

In fact, research shows that 70% of small businesses invest in social media advertising to grow. In this article, I’ll discuss 5 ways to use social media for small business growth and its advantages.

Benefits of Using Social Media for Small Business Growth

Social media is an invaluable tool for small businesses because it:

• Improves engagement
• Provides a highly focused reach with targeted ads and promotions
• Maximizes your brand visibility 
• Enables you to build long-term relationships

5 Ways to Use Social Media to Grow Your Small Business

Developing a social media strategy can be pretty overwhelming.  So, I have listed 5 ways you can use social media for small business growth.

1. Paid Advertising

Pay advertising is one of the most effective ways to use social media for small business growth. It is beneficial for small businesses struggling to generate organic traffic on social media platforms.

Some of the most popular platforms for paid ads include:

• Facebook: With over 2.09 billion active daily users, Facebook has a huge market for many businesses. Advertising on Facebook enables you to reach your target audience. You can filter your target audience by demographics using the Meta Ads Manager dashboard. For instance, work, interests, age, etc.

• Instagram: You can also use the Meta Ads Manager to create ads on both Instagram and Facebook. Instagram allows you to run paid ads on posts, stories, reels, carousels, videos, etc. Here’s an example of a sponsored post on Instagram.

Image via Instagram

• YouTube: This is predominantly a video platform. It’s ideal for showcasing explainer videos, and product demos to engage viewers.

• TikTok: Here, you can create single TikTok ads, ad groups, or ad campaigns. Depending on your goals, you can create ads on a small scale or execute full-scale campaigns.

• X (formerly Twitter): On X, you can create text ads, image ads, video ads, carousel ads, etc. It also allows you to use demographic targeting to define your audience by age, location, gender, etc.  

• LinkedIn: With LinkedIn, you can create sponsored posts or send sponsored messages. The LinkedIn InMail feature lets you advertise to your prospects in their inboxes.  

2. Content Creation 

Another great way to use social media for small business growth is through content creation. You can create informative and entertaining content to establish a relationship with your audience. 

You can create short—or long-form videos about your products or services. Attrock provides some creative social media content ideas for inspiration.

Here are some tips for creating content on social media:

• Use social media management tools for small businesses and content creation. For instance, tools like Canva and PicMonkey make your posts more engaging.
• Optimize content for different platforms. For example, use YouTube for long-form video content and TikTok for shorter videos. 

3. Influencer Marketing 

Collaborating with social media influencers can help you expand your reach and connect with a wider audience. Research shows the influencer marketing market is expected to grow to $24 billion by 2024. 

Image via Influencer Marketing Hub

This indicates that more businesses are looking to influencer marketing as an effective strategy for growth. 

Here are some influencer marketing tips:

• Research and choose influencers who work in your niche 
• Use branded hashtags or affiliate codes to generate traffic and drive conversions
• Keep track of social media metrics to gauge their effectiveness

4. Lead Generation

Lead generation is another great way to use social media for small business growth. Here are some effective tactics to get sales leads from social media.

• Launch referral campaigns using engaging content to encourage signup and participation
• Optimize your content by including CTAs and sign-up forms
• Create targeted ads with lead magnet offers to attract users to sign up

5. Business Branding

Establishing a solid business brand is an effective way to use social media for small business growth. Extend your business branding beyond your website and incorporate it into your social media pages. 

Here is how you can incorporate business branding: 

• Showcase your brand mission, values, and goals on your social media profiles

• Use your brand colors, logos, and assets in your social media content 
• Maintain consistent branding across all your social media pages
• Use social proof on your social media pages to establish your brand as credible

Ready to Grow Your Small Business Using Social Media?

The most effective ways to use social media for small business growth include paid advertising, content creation, and influencer marketing. You can also use social media to generate leads and establish your business branding. 

Maintain a consistent brand voice across all your social media platforms to establish trust with your target audience. 

Finally, use content creation and social media management tools to create effective social media strategies.

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