Information in this blog post was obtained from sproutsocial.com/insights, blog.hubspot.com, and moz.com.

It can be super frustrating, as a small business owner running everything on your own, when it feels like nobody is seeing your social media posts! Gone are the days when hashtags aid in gaining a new audience. Of course, they still are important and should definitely still be used, but it may not always be the best way to obtain new viewers.

I'm going to lay out a few different tips here that can help but keep in mind not every tip may work for you, it just depends on the type of business you have or the products you offer.

Guests or Collaborative Posts

This is one that really depends on the industry. Instagram and Facebook allow guests on Live and Twitter offers what they call a Twitter Spaces, an audio meeting room that appears at the top of users' feeds. Instagram also has introduced collaborative posts which allows you to post the same post with someone else and your information is displayed to all of the other person's audience.

All of these options do a good job sharing your information to all of the followers of the person you are collaborating with whether you are a guest or they are yours. Most of the time, the other person's followers are alerted of their collaboration with you. Industry experts, those who offer complementary services to your business (think makeup artist, hairdresser, and photographer), or just other small business owners are all good examples of quality collaborators.

Find Your Social Media Community

Social media can be very hard to work for a small business and it may be difficult to even find potential customers. Fortunately, communities and groups are very popular on many social media sites. There is always some yard sale and community Facebook groups for the area you live in. There are also Facebook groups for different interests and small business owners themselves.

Twitter communities are often formed for smaller niche communities. If your business involves online sales, this might be a place for you. Twitter communities are visible to the public but only community members are able to contribute. However, they are unsearchable as they are new so you would have to keep an eye out for them on your timeline. Sprout Social discusses how exactly to use these new Twitter communities. The best way to do this is to curate your timeline to be users that might be members of your niche. These types of communities have existed before this new feature, just follow users with similar interests and a need or want for your business.

Stay Active!

I'm sure this is something you've already heard multiple times, but what does it really mean? Aside from being consistent in your posts, engaging with your audience is very important. After posting, go back after a few hours and like your commenters' comments and reply. View their stories and like and comment on their content. If you need other kinds of content to interact with, go find posts under the hashtags you use. Hubspot suggests engaging in conversations going on within your industry.

Stay On Top Of What's Trending

Find ways to use trends to your advantage. Trends are what everyone is doing or talking about, so it's what people are looking at most. TikTok is a good example of this; content created with trending hashtags and sounds is pushed onto the FYP. There are many websites fully dedicated to tracking social media trends and The Moz explains how Google Trends works by searching terms and topics related to your industry.

It can be difficult to launch your social media, or get your social media off the ground to gain followers and engagement. Most suggestions online may seem out of reach for your small business, but paying attention to your followers or those within your industry is a sure fire way to gain that engagement you're looking for. Tayler's post gives some more insight on your social media content reach.

Resources

Lanier, S. (2022, March 1). How to use Twitter communities to grow your brand. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/twitter-communities/

M. (2021, October 2). Content Ideation. Moz. https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-content-marketing/content-ideation

Riserbato, R. (2019, October 29). 16 Effective Ways to Build Your Online Presence. Hubspot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/online-presence