5 Ways Your Local Business Needs To Use Social Media in 2023

Let’s talk about social media for local business. In today’s always-online world, it’s more important than ever for local businesses to have an active social media presence.

Social media allows your businesses to reach potential customers, increase brand awareness, and build relationships with existing customers. You can share content, engage with customers, and create a unique customer experience.

With an active social media presence, your local businesses can reach a larger audience and boost their brand’s visibility.

Social Media for Local Businesses

Some small business owners say, “Well, I’m not promoting a global or national brand – so, is Social media still important for recognition within my local area?” YES!

For example, we know over 1 million people in Connecticut use social media every single day.

• If you could convert just 0.01% of that into your audience, that’s still over 1000 people.
• If only 1 of every 10 people in your audience become customers, that’s 100 new customers.
• Imagine what you could do with 100 new customers this month?

It’s no wonder that an active social media presence should an essential part of your business’s local marketing strategy in 2023. Here are some tips to help you build a strong relationship with your followers:

1. Set Up Social Media Accounts for Your Local Business

This may seem obvious, but developing a strong social media presence starts with opening an account! You want to set up accounts on the most popular platforms that make sense for your business, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

It is a great strategy to reserve your social media handle on more than one platform, even if you are not ready to use it yet. Having the same handle across different platforms can help create a consistent identity and make it easier for your followers to find you. Plus, reserving your handle now can help prevent someone else from taking it and creating confusion for your audience. Additionally, having the same handle can help you quickly grow your following on new platforms since existing followers can easily search for you and follow you. So, reserving your handle now can help you lay the groundwork for future success and protect your online identity.

Once you have your accounts set up, the next step to creating a strong presence is to actively engage with your followers.

2. Post Regularly

If you post regularly, you can keep your followers up to date with your latest news and updates, increase awareness of your business and grow an engaged audience.

That doesn’t mean you don’t need to be glued to your phone all day every day, creating social media posts. Scheduling your posts ahead of time can help you ensure you’re hitting the right frequency and times that work best for your target audience.

Some great tools to use for scheduling social media posts are Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later. All of these tools let you set up posts in advance and schedule them to be published on different platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They also provide analytics so you can track the performance of your posts.

If scheduling posts still seems too much to handle, and you have the budget for it, consider hiring a social media expert to help create and schedule engaging posts for your business that will reach your target audience. We know some really awesome ones, just ask us!

3. Respond to Social Media Comments

Take time to respond to comments and questions from your followers. This helps create a strong connection with your followers.

Responding to both positive and negative comments shows customers that you value their opinions and that you are engaged with your audience. This helps build trust and creates a positive connection with your brand, making customers more likely to remember you.

Remember to ask questions and give your followers a chance to get involved too!

We like this article from SproutSocial: Your guide to social media comments: How to post and respond

4. Use Visuals

Photos, videos, and other visuals can help you grab the attention of your followers.

You don’t need to have a professional photographer or videographer to add photos and videos to your social posts. With today’s technology, there are plenty of ways to create great content on your own.

You can use your phone or any camera to capture photos and videos and edit them with free and easy-to-use software or apps. Some of the more popular ones include Pixlr, BeFunky, Fotor, Adobe Photoshop Express, and Canva.

Additionally, there are plenty of stock photo and video libraries online, where you can find free or low-cost content.

For starters, try Pixabay and Unsplash. Both of these sites offer a huge selection of free high-resolution images for you to use. You can search for specific images, or browse through the categories to find the perfect photo for your project.

5. Utilize Hashtags

Hashtags are a powerful tool for categorizing content on social media platforms, and a great way to reach new followers and increase your reach. They are used to draw attention to certain topics, conversations, or events and to help people find relevant content.

Hashtags are typically marked with a “#” symbol and are created by including a keyword or phrase in your post. For example, #socialmedia hashtags are often used to mark posts related to the topic of social media.

Hashtags can help to boost the visibility of your content, reach a wider audience and promote your products or services.

We love this post from SEMRush: How to Use Hashtags to Increase Your Reach on Social Media

Your Local Business Social Media Strategy for 2023 and Beyond

Congratulations on making it to the end of this blog post! As a local business owner, you now have some knowledge and great starting tips to leverage social media to help your business succeed in 2023 and beyond.

However, don’t be discouraged if you’re not a Social Media Master right away; as the social media landscape is ever-changing and evolving, there is always more to learn. Consistency is more important than trending tactics.

At Pathbrand, we are more than happy to provide you with an in-depth social media strategy to help you get ahead of the competition, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about how to make your social media marketing work for you!