Social media hacks for small businesses

• Apr 21, 2024
• |
• BestBizFinder

1. Get a schedule

You may have heard the old saying “content is king”. If true, the scheduling software can be considered as the court jester that makes life in the kingdom enjoyable and also a little easier. If you're like me, you'd rather not stick to your phone or manually post content hour after hour, during lunch and in the middle of the night.

The perfect solution: social media management tools. There are a variety of apps that give their users the ability to pre-schedule content and edit your schedule while saving you the hours that manual publishing can take. Depending on your specific needs, there is likely to be an app or tool that will be a perfect fit for your management style, and most offer more tools - like analytics - that will give you the opportunity to monitor your social media from a single dashboard.

2. Don't underestimate the power of hashtags

Hate them or love them, hashtags can be an excellent way to reach new audiences on the social media. It's easy to get caught up in them and take in as much of each engagement as possible, but don't get lost thinking broadly. Using popular hashtags like #love or #summer #bestbizfinder may put you in a mix of other related posts, but there's another type of hashtag to consider when targeting audiences already interested in your niche: niche hashtags.

But hashtags don't have to be limited to just your posts; Add them to your profile bio as well. Instagram recently added the ability to add clickable hashtags to your bio, which makes your page more searchable and leads followers towards branded content on social media.

3. Increase blog traffic by promoting it on social media

Blogs and online articles are an excellent way to build your online business community and keep followers engaged. So, if you haven't considered starting one, do it now! Whether you're just starting one thanks to my advice or you already have one up and running, that's great, but don't stop at just posting your content on your site.

To increase the traffic to your website, post the post on your social media accounts. Try to schedule a few posts around your blog and include a clickable link on them, if possible (Facebook and Twitter have this feature, Instagram requires a little extra ingenuity to give links to users). This will help users find your posts easily, boost your blog views - win!

4. Partnerships with micro-influencers

Influencer marketing is a hot trend. It is a type of social media marketing that involves placing products and advertising from social media users with a large number of followers in a particular industry (influencers).

Once you've identified a few potential candidates, reach out to gauge their interest in working with your brand - some will work for money, others will trade, and some may accept product in exchange for shares. Find one person who is passionate about your product or brand and you will be on your way to reaping the benefits of influencer marketing in no time.

5. Understand the ideal times to post

To publish or not to publish, this is the question we all faced when deciding to click 'post' on our genius social media builder at 12 AM. Unless you are a celebrity and have millions of global followers, it is best to wait to find out the best times to post for your specific audience. Each platform has a general time they suggest when most users will browse - but beware sticking to these guidelines - they are very broad and no audience has the same habits.

To determine the best times to post for your audience, start by making informed guesses about what periods of time can increase traffic, such as your morning and afternoon commute or lunch break. Pay attention to the times when you gain the most traffic, and design your strategy from there. Include it in your plan while setting up the scheduling strategy you learned in Hack #1. However, this is not a one-time fix; Holidays and major events like the COVID-19 crisis can alter the daily schedules of your followers. Pay attention to these changes as they fluctuate and adjust your social media scheduling the strategy accordingly.

6. Check out the new Instagram stickers for small businesses

In response to the hardships that the COVID-19 crisis has brought to many small businesses, Instagram has developed stickers to add to your story. These posters are specifically designed to bring more traffic to your business.

When posting a story on Instagram, small business users now have the option to add stickers that include buttons to buy gift cards, donate to a fundraiser, or order food. Each button allows users to link to a partner site, where they will be able to complete an action such as ordering food or donating money - helping to support your business with the click of the button. At a time when convenience and contactless buying is the new normal, these stickers can help keep your social media community connected to your business (enter a sigh of relief).