An overview of social media platforms

 

An overview of social media platforms and the tools small businesses need to set up successful profiles, increase reach and boost engagement.

Social media can seem overwhelming to small and micro-businesses.

“It's important for small and micro businesses to use social media to market and sell because it's one of the most inexpensive ways for them to have a broader reach than they normally would have with any other type of old school marketing,” says Sarai Garrett, founder and CEO of The Marketing Millennial.

There are five social media platforms that small businesses should consider when they’re first testing the digital marketing waters, and each has their own tools for businesses, says Garrett.

“So you can…utilize all the different social media platforms in such a way where they can help point your clients to making a sale.”

Picking the right platform depends both on what kind of business you have and who your target demographic is, says Garrett.

Oftentimes, business owners think too broadly in terms of target market out of fear of alienating potential customers, but Garrett states that narrowing your focus is the best way to find qualified leads.

Small businesses should start with just one platform at a time, there are benefits to leveraging multiple social media platforms simultaneously.

“It's great when you use all of the different social media platforms and all of the information that is in each of those platforms, because it's going to give you a bigger picture about who your market is,” says Garrett.

The key to creating a great social media profile on any platform is having a clear understanding of the problem your business solves, your mission and your vision.

Given the visual nature of social media, businesses should be thinking about making their content visually appealing—that’s where free graphic design apps like Canva and Logo Maker come in handy.

They come with premade templates for a variety of platforms and mediums to make it easy for small business owners to leverage social media.

Almost all social media platforms utilize hashtags to help creators get their content discovered by potential customers, which makes it an invaluable tool for businesses.

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