WRITTEN BY Caitlin Jardine
For a small business, having a social media presence may not seem essential, however now more than ever, it is important for all businesses to use the power of social media to connect with their customers. This will help to build the foundations of a strong brand, especially to contend with the vast competition out there. However the platforms are constantly changing and evolving so here is you can craft a winning strategy as a small business, to turn causal followers in to loyal customers all with the power of social media.
Personalised Content
It is important as a small businesses to focus on your current audience and the value of that current brand-consumer relationship, if you’re wanting to successfully grow it further. Recently we have seen a huge shift towards hyper personalisation, consumers now expect brands to speak directly to them in order to make them feel valued. Whether thats incorporating user generated content into campaigns, offering personalised recommendations or utilising interactive elements such as polls and stories, with allow your followers to feel seen by the business which in turn will build deeper customer connections and drive engagement. This has now become expected by audiences on social media and not only strengthens the business’ credibility but forms a sense of community.
Short Form Video Content
Short form video content remains an effective way to reach these audiences and connect with them in way that humanises your brand, making you appear more relatable and trusted. TikTok videos and Instagram reels are dominating the social media space as they are short, engaging and capture attention quickly, which results in a boost in organic reach.
What should this content look like? Small businesses should focus on behind the scenes content, showcasing the people behind the brand, offering an insight to the product or service in action, customer testimonials, and storytelling – all which help to create an emotional connection with audiences on social media. Understanding the platform algorithms and your audiences’ behaviour on them, will help you to form a strategy that has a more direct impact in growing your business and customer base.
Don’t Just Rely On Trends
Whilst the fight for audience attention has become growingly competitive, it’s important small businesses aren’t blindsided by trends, as much as these can help to grow your reach initially and get your content in front of a larger audience, the focus should be on generating genuine content through authentic storytelling. It’s about maintaining relevance without sacrificing authenticity, and creating content with the audience perspective in mind. Make them feel part of your story (which they are!) and creating content that provides audiences with value, will allow you to connect with them more deeply and is more likely to drive results in the long term.
Should You Incorporate Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing can prove to be effective for small businesses, with micro influencers (those with a smaller but highly engaged following) offering the best return on invest. Although their audience may be smaller in size and more niche than some of the other influencer profiles on these platforms, micro influencers usually don’t cost as much (more in line with the budget set by smaller businesses) and tend to have a more authentic connection with their audience, making their recommendations more impactful and credible.
Take Advantage Of Analytic Tools On Offer!
Almost all of the platforms in the social space offer valuable tools that allow you to track engagement rates, click-through rates and audience demographics. All of which can help set up a strategy based on what content is working and what is perhaps not. In 2025, predictive analytics will become more accessible, allowing small businesses to anticipate trends so that they can then tailor future content accordingly.
So What Does This Mean?
All in all, small businesses can largely leverage social media to remain relevant with their pre-established audience as well as grow and foster a loyal customer base. A strong social strategy lies in authentic storytelling and strategic content creation, and by focussing on building genuine relationships with their audience, will allow small businesses to thrive on social media in 2025.
Learn more about social media in our recent blog here.
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