Social media is a critical tool for a small business’s marketing efforts. With the number of social media users expected to grow to 4.4 billion by 2025, there are countless opportunities to showcase your small business to your potential customers. However, it is important to know how to differentiate yourself from the competition.
To help, 13 members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) each gave their best advice on the following topic:
“What is one way small businesses can differentiate their social media from that of their competitors? How will this help them stand out?”
Here are some of their best tips.
1. Be more personal
“Be more personal and interactive with your audience. What I mean by that is that whoever is the manager, owner, or staff who handles the social media for small businesses should post personally about themselves along with the company. People like to see who runs the business behind the scenes. Once they know, like and trust you, they will most likely support your small business.” ~ Fritz Colcol, Simply Thalia
2. Promote your company culture
“One way small businesses can differentiate their social media from their competitors is by promoting company culture rather than just products. This will help them grow faster because more people will be interested in working for the company and it will create a community that grabs the attention of potential clients and investors.” ~ Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME
3. Highlight your specialty
“Small companies can better highlight their specialty. Big brands need to appeal to as many people as possible. Small businesses can take a niche and then target buyers for that audience. They can be more specialized than a big brand. People who like that particular area will be more attracted to the small business because of the specialization over the big brands.” ~ Mary Harcourt, CosmoGlo
4. Show what makes you unique
“Most small service businesses have a lot of different content potential than their competitors, so they should be using it. If you’re a restaurant, show off your unique menu items. If you’re a gym, show some of your trainers or clients. If you’re an agency, show off some of the work you do for clients. The list goes on.” ~ Andy Karuza, Base64.ai
5. Use humor
Humor! Compare radio or early television marketing marketing to current ones and you’ll see that people don’t really care about product, service specs and benefits or even costs. They care about brands they connect with. Humor creates connection. We don’t laugh at our enemies. We hire brands that make us laugh!” ~ Jonathan Sparks, Sparks Law
6. Take a ‘people-first’ attitude
“Create your social media marketing strategy with a people-first attitude. Don’t just use it as a promotional tool. Be available to your clients 24/7, even if it may mean hiring in different time zones. Respond quickly to your users to clear up their doubts, confusions, or even thank you for their comments. This increases your visibility, builds trust, attracts engagement and helps you stand out.” ~ Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
7. Stay consistent
“Remaining consistent in the design of your social media, speech and branding can help your small business stand out from the competition. Consistency helps make your brand recognizable to potential customers.” ~ Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
8. Be proactive
“Be proactive with your audience and social media followers. Go beyond involving them by making them feel valued. How? Give them the opportunity to share their thoughts and thoughts on a particular topic. This creates a dialogue between your followers and gives you the chance to get meaningful feedback about your services and work on them along the way.” ~ Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day
9. Be authentic
“The average consumer is smart, especially digital natives. Be authentic. Trying to be someone else or copying someone else won’t build trust with your audience. Also, don’t be afraid to let your audience get to know you. Be personal and approachable. People want to do business with people they know, like and trust. Use social media to get to know your audience.” ~ Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.
10. Talk about benefits
“Small businesses can stand out on social media by not talking about the features of a product or service, but instead talking about the benefits. What pain point does your company solve for the end user or customer? How can your social media focus on sharing stories that demonstrate your ability to deliver high-impact solutions?” ~ Matthew Manos, very kind
11. Create a strong brand identity
“The key to any campaign is a strong brand identity. Create a clear logo. Show the office dog. Choose an image filter or unique hashtag. With an easily identifiable brand, your posts will stand out and be memorable in feeds, even if the viewer isn’t giving the post their full attention.” ~ Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design
12. Make your brand human
“One way to make your social media strategy stand out is to give your marketing efforts a human touch. Instead of just using it as a promotional medium, use it to humanize your brand. You can do that by having live sessions to interact with your audience, introduce your team to your audience, etc. Things like this grab attention and also help you get more involved.” ~ Thomas Griffin, Optin Monster
13. Use polls, votes and giveaways creatively
“Creative thinking. Use polls, votes and giveaways. These are tried and true strategies, but are not widely used in general. Also in the name of creativity, be more personal in your posting strategy. Add anecdotes where necessary and write like a person and not a bot.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
Image: Depositphotos
This post Want to make your social media content stand out? Try These 13 Strategies was original published at “https://smallbiztrends.com/2022/03/social-media-content-strategies.html”
