5 DO'S AND DON'TS FOR GROWING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS'S SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING

In the digital age social media reigns supreme and can help small business owners market their product and brand, find new customers, and engage with current customers!

Unfortunately a lot of us don't know where or how to start when it comes to social media and growing and maintaining an audience. The good news is we've come up with 5 Do's and Don'ts of growing an organic online following! 

 

 

1. DO: Develop a content strategy and post relevant content consistently! 

DON'T: Post content that isn't relevant to your brand, your personal brand, or post inconsistency! 

DO develop a content strategy that is easy to stick to! Make sure the content you create is relevant to your brand and that you post consistently. This will help your small business build brand awareness! Posting inconsistently or sharing irrelevant content will make your audience less likely to engage with you online.

Engagement is a key factor to growing and maintaining your social media following. If you want to share random tidbits that may not be on brand, post them to your stories instead of making a grid or Facebook post. 

 

2. DO: Be yourself! 

DON'T: Be in authentic to yourself and your brand

Brand authenticity is critical, whether it be your business, brand, or personal brand! Being authentic helps you establish trust and loyalty with potential and existing customers. It also helps keep your brand's messaging aligned with your mission, vision, and values.

Consumers are becoming more and more skeptical of businesses and actively seek brands with purpose, values, and are true to themselves. It will also make running your business much more enjoyable because you won't feel pressured to maintain appearances or be someone you're not. We are all happier when we are our truest selves! 

 

3. DO: Research and use relevant hashtags

DON'T: Use irrelevant or spammy hashtags 

Hashtags are a great way to reach a wider audience if you use them correctly! When choosing what hashtags your small business is going to use you want to ensure that they are relevant to your business, your brand, and your messaging. When you use hashtags that are on topic with your content, you're opening yourself up to an audience that wants to view and engage with it. You can research industry-relevant hashtags on all major search engines or websites like Hootsuite. 

While using irrelevant hashtags may increase your likes on a post, it won't bring in new followers or engagement that converts to sales and bookings. You also want to avoid spammy hashtags such as #follow4follow or #like4like. Things like that will get you likes and engagement but it won't be organic and likely won't be from your target audience or ideal clients. 

 

4. DO: Establish a style for your content and your social media feed 

DON'T: Constantly post content that isn't cohesive or in different styles

Creating a content style is a powerful way to build brand recognition! When you consistently incorporate the same style of filming, photo, editing, and design elements it helps establish a cohesive vibe for your brand and your business. It helps your audience become more familiar with you and recognize your content at first glance. 

 If you are constantly changing content style it can confuse your following and make them question your professionalism and authenticity. Cohesiveness is a big part of appearing professional and credible. 

 

5. DO: Engage and interact with your audience 

DON'T: Ignore your audience 

As we mentioned in our first DO, engagement is a key factor in growing and maintaining your audience! When you like comments, reply to them, or share tagged content, you show your audience that they matter to you! This strengthens your bond with them and makes them even more likely to purchase, book, or inquire with you. 

Ignoring engagement can make your audience feel like you don't care and hurt sales and bookings. 

We know firsthand how easy it is to forget to like or respond to comments and tagged posts throughout the day! We recommend using tools like Meta Business Suite to track engagement and easily respond and interact with your audience. 

 

Bottom line: 

Authenticity, cohesiveness, and consistency reign supreme when growing your social media audience. 

Interested in learning more about the importance of content creation for small businesses? Click here! 

 

 

 

 

About Look Local First:  

Look Local First is all about moving local-minded consumers and lovers of small business from words to action, in a fun and easy way! By providing tips and tricks to easily include shopping small and supporting local in your everyday routine, to offering promotional merchandise with 100% of funds going back to supporting small biz - we hope to cast this net of love for local businesses as large and wide as we possibly can.

Elevating the voice of small business owners is a mission we can all rally behind. The small businesses we support and are surrounded by are owned by our friends, our neighbors, individuals that have the best interest of our own communities in mind at all times. To those that took the leap of faith to share a piece of their dreams with us - you've got this and we're here for you!

 

Sources: 

We've done our research, but you should too! Check our sources against your own and always use sound judgement. 

"6 Tips for Creating a Cohesive Look Across All Your Marketing Platforms, to Help You Build Brand Recognition and Gain Your Audience's Trust" https://www.alliemariedesign.com/blog/creating-a-cohesive-look-across-all-your-marketing-platforms

"What is Brand Authenticity? (And How to Build It) "https://www.frontify.com/en/blog/the-age-of-authenticity-why-brands-need-to-getreal/#:~:text=Why%20is%20Brand%20Authenticity%20important,than%20half%20are%20doing%20it.

"How to Use Hashtags In 2023: A Guide for Every Network https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-hashtags/