Is social media actually a viable marketing strategy for business owners and companies?

The short answer is absolutely! Creating a strategic inbound marketing strategy using Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and even Pinterest is helping small and large companies to attract their ideal customers.

There are over 7 billion people in the world and 3.48 billion of those people are on social media [via Hootsuite]

The days of marketing and advertising using TV ads and Billboards are long gone. Sure, you may see ads from super large companies and household brands but, for the small businesses and medium-sized companies who are trying to figure out the best way to get more eyes on their business -- social media is the way to go.

Social media marketing comes down to a few important points that we'll cover here in this article. While figuring out how to bring more revenue to your business and connect with your customers, keep in mind that inbound marketing strategies are NECESSARY for everything you do on social.

So, Where Should You Start?

Can I answer your question with a question?

Where is your target customer?

If they're on Instagram then you better head over there and create a business profile, Instagram strategy and figure out what content they need to see from you.

Now marketers know that marketing and analytics is all about numbers. The more eyes that are on your website, business profiles, and content the better for your brand and the more likely you are to get referrals to your business.

Here’s a basic guide to help you maneuver where your audience is on social media: 

Facebook:  Mostly everyone has a Facebook page but it is difficult to get traction on this platform without ads. Right now you need to go to Facebook and create your business page using the elevator pitch from the previous modules. 

Invite your friends to like the page, and start cross-posting content from your YouTube to Facebook. You can even edit little bits of your full YouTube videos (10 seconds to 1 minute) and create more posts that way. 

Every business should have a Facebook Business Profile simply because people will go looking for your business. 

*Use relevant Facebook Groups to find clients and customers using the attached PDF*

Instagram: If your service-based business has a creative side then Instagram is an excellent platform for you. 

Understand that finding your first few clients on Instagram is simple once you upload your elevator pitch to your bio (find the attached download on this topic) 

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is for the business or expert who is into tech, finance, real estate, and other similar industries. These industries require a more serious audience which is undoubtedly on LinkedIn. 

YouTube: This is one of the most powerful platforms next to Google. Get vanity metrics (subscribers and number counts) out of your mind because as discussed you ONLY need to market and educate a small group of people who desire a high-quality service.

Think about your least viable audience. These are the people that know you are working within a specific industry and they're ready to throw their money at you in exchange for a problem being solved efficently.

Homework: 

Choose 2 social media platforms you want to focus on and go full-throttle with the video content in this module. This is also the time to go through your workbook (download it in module 1 if you haven't already) and fill in the content marketing calendar and social media worksheets.

Canva is a content creation, design application that is used to create social media content, branded content, and plenty of other items

It is perfect for small business owners, brands, and bloggers. Branded content shows who you are, what your brand is, and allows your audience to know you right off the bat.

When you see certain logos or colors you automatically know what brand they are from. Picture this: Red and White with a polar bear. Who did you think of?

Coke-a-Cola!

Other photoshop type apps usually cost a bit of money so if you want to go the free route with quality content, Canva is the way to go. Canva also allows you to print workbooks, business cards, posters/flyers, and more.

The options are unlimited with this app. Let’s look at the top 5 reasons to use Canva as a small business owner.

Top reasons to use Canva for business 

If you know how important content creation and branding is for a business marketing strategy then Canva will be like a gold mine for you. Here’s why:

1. It’s FREE

When you are starting out your business or blog you won’t have the capital to invest in hundreds of dollars worth of software. This is for the people who may still be at the 9-5 and have a side hustle with hopes to increase their brand.

Here’s a link to the site to get started for free. Canva gives you the option of purchasing additional images and features but they have plenty of stellar options for your content creation needs using the free version.

2. It’s super easy

Unlike Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Canva for business use is fairly simple to use. You don’t have to be some kind of savvy tech genius to utilize this app. You really don’t even need to go through the tutorial. 

Everything is labeled for easy use so when you download the app or log onto the website you can get started with their pre-made layouts and add your own pictures, logos and colors to make it unique to your brand.

3. Create multiple marketing/branding materials

This app is awesome for business owners and bloggers because you can create a host of different materials. Here are a few to start with:

• Instagram story covers
• Social media posts (FB, IG etc..)
• Business cards
• e-books
• Worksheets
• Presentations
• Business plans
• Proposals

As you can see the options are limitless with this app (this is all free) As a business owner figuring out how to market yourself and create a cohesive brand strategy is difficult but Canva can be your one-stop shop for anything you need!

Take time to watch tutorials on YouTube to be sure you’re getting everything this app has to offer for business branding and content creation. 

4. Storage is free and wide

If you’re anything like me, storage space can be an issue. Similar to Google Suite, Canva has its own online storage (YES!) which means you don’t have to worry about saving everything on your laptop computer.

In fact, Canva will autosave your designs and new creations. You have the option to create folders to organize your small business content creation files. 

Of course, this keeps everything neat so you know where to look when you’re ready to use all the content you created. 

5. Bonus features: print outs, and downloadable creations

Downloading your ebooks, social media posts and printable marketing materials will be helpful when getting your content creation done. Canva is also perfect for making digital products and workbooks. 

You can even create a brand/media kit for your brand if you’re a blogger, influencer etc… 

There is no extra cost associated with these items except shipping fees. As always, you can download PDF versions of your content and save it to your computer or upload it to a Google Doc/drive. 

SEO (Search engine optimization for YouTube, Google, and Social Media)

SEO Marketing Basics

Keywords. That’s it. You need to know which keywords to use in an article, bio, or your web page to rank for this specific keyword (s) in the Google search engine.

For instance, if you’re a beauty business or company you may want to come up on the first page of Google when someone types in, “skincare for winter.” This is a pretty common term.

Thousands if not millions of people could be searching for this phrase. If your website pops up within the first few listing it makes your website and company look legit. They’ll click on your website or blog article and may even consider being a loyal customer and referring you to others.

That’s the beauty of keyword research and choosing the right keywords.

This all may sound somewhat simple and easy but there’s a lot to consider when finding the right keywords and implementing SEO best practices. You may consider finding a marketing specialist, freelance SEO writer or content marketing guru to assist you.

How Do I Find Keywords?

You know what SEO is but how do you find the right keywords. Surely using the same ones over and over won’t get you the desired results.

Tools like SEM Rush, Google Keyword Planner and KW Finderare all great tools to use to find the right keywords relevant to your industry. These are some of the basics tools you can use to start implementing SEO into your web content.

(You should use these tools for YouTube as well)

Keep in mind, you don’t want just any keywords. These SEO phrases have to be popular enough to get you more leads and website clicks while being unique enough so your content won’t be flooded out by bigger industry names who use the most popular terms.

SEO marketing can be tricky since you’ll have to shift through trending keywords, post analytics, and do an industry research on your potential consumers. Knowing how to perform marketing research will get you a long way. It’s okay if you’re not sure about this, a freelance writer, social media manager, or marketing expert can assist you and write SEO content for you.

You know the why but what about the where? How are you going to use SEO to drive traffic to your small business?

This can be achieved in a variety of different ways. Here’s a few to start with:

• blogs
• YouTube
• email marketing
• press releases
• web page copy (landing page)
• URLs
• social media
• external listings

Knowing how to use SEO for marketing is just half of the process. Knowing exactly where, how and when to post content will make a huge difference in your SEO marketing efforts.

Does It Work For Everyone?

Absolutely! SEO (content marketing) is key for any business, industry or company. SEO is the new way of advertising. Certain words and phrases link to a certain brand. It’s kind of like an internet slogan that can be used to track down your business.

People search for things they’re already in need of. That means they’re already looking for a specific product or service. What will they do next? They’re going to think of a phrase or keyword to find what they’re looking for.

You want your company or business to pop up when they make this search. Accessibility is crucial. They’re more likely to trust and buy from you if you’re easily accessible.

The Difference Between Long and Short Phrases

You may already be aware of this but long-tail keyword phrases tend to do better than short keyword phrases.

This means a phrase like “what to do at the gym” is better than “gym activities.” Think of SEO like this. Google crawlers (virtual bots) scan your article for questions that actual people are typing into Google.

The bots pick up answers to questions and questions themselves. You can differentiate between phrases using similar words. Here’s an example:

SEO Keyword: “How to get fit in 60 days”

Variations: “Get fit quickly,” “getting in shape in 60 days,” working out consistently,” working out daily.”

Add these phrases throughout your blog post and remember to keep the exact keyword phrase at the top of the article. Repeat this with one heading as well.

Writing for bots or humans?

To answer this question you need to know the goal of your content. Are you trying to rank within the search engines (1st page)? If so, then you’ll need to write for the bots. Conversational content works well on big blogs that already have tons of subscribers.

But to bring massive traffic to your website and blog you’ll need to write for the bots while answering your reader's questions in a clear manner.

Break up texts with small paragraphs and add photos and charts to make your content easy to read.

SEO for social media

Small businesses need to use SEO for their social media sites to bring awareness to their brand. Pinterest is one of those websites that works perfectly using the right keywords.

Consider someone who is trying to find your brand (or even your competitors) they’re going to look for specific words like “massage therapist in Columbus, Ohio.”

You want to be the company that pops up in the area whether they’re looking for your brand on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Since we’re only covering the basics of SEO for a small business right now we’ll leave it there and save the detailed info for another article.

*When you're on YouTube pay attention to your tags, and categories. This area helps with SEO as well and is mentioned via a screen share recording in another module.