Your small business can use social media and content marketing to increase brand awareness and grow your customer base. Many small businesses make the mistake of thinking that since they are small, customers or people in the community won’t want to know what they’re up to. The truth is – they do! The key is to make your post interesting so that your Facebook marketing and Google marketing efforts are not lost in the crowd.
With social media, the goal is always to stand out. With friends, family and other businesses making constant updates, your post needs to be intriguing enough to stop the scrolling and get a read. There are several ways to do so and focusing on visual updates is one of the best. While text updates are still important for die-hard fans, they tend to get fewer views.
5 Ways to Make Your Social Media Posts More Visual
• Text overlays. If you have something to say, use a photo and type the text over the top. This is great for short quotes or quick announcements. You don’t have to be a design expert to use this in your Facebook marketing. Simply use a free app like PicCollage where you can do everything from your phone including uploading it to Facebook.
• Show your products. Let’s face it – you are in business to sell products or services so don’t be afraid to talk about them and show off how cool your stuff is. Take pictures of your products by themselves and in action then use a caption to describe them. This is also a good idea for other social media sites like Pinterest and Instagram where great product pictures can draw people to your website.
• Personalize your brand. Regardless of what type of business you are in, there are ways to personalize your brand for your ideal customer. When using Google+ as part of your Google marketing strategy, you can join online groups of people that you think would use your product or service. Post images showing how they can use your business offerings. Infographics can be helpful as can clever images. Instead of focusing on the features of your products and services, focus on how they are the solution to a particular need or problem that your customer may have.
• Use a tagline. Most businesses have a tagline but simply typing it on the page is boring. Make your tagline come to life with images. For example, Nike has done an excellent job of demonstrating their tagline for decades. “Just Do It” may capture some attention in text but by pairing it with images of athletes actively doing something, they brought their tagline to life. You can do the same through your social media.
• Visuals and content marketing. If you are writing a blog, consider how you can capture that same information or general concept in the image. You may want to create an Infographic that goes with your content marketing, basically a visual way to demonstrate the points within your blog post. You can also find creative images that you can insert the title into. Link them together for maximum impact.
No matter how large or how small, your business can benefit from using social media as a way to engage the local community and to create a fan base. Stay creative and incorporate visuals into your Facebook marketing and Google marketing to encourage users to share your content. Later, check your analytical data to see which posts have the most success and adjust accordingly.