How can social media help raise awareness of your business?

There’s no denying that social media has a big impact on many people’s lives. It’s commonplace for people, old and young, to scroll through social media feeds daily, often getting completely immersed in this digital world providing an insight into other people’s lives, along with education, news and entertainment. The main players are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and X (formally Twitter), which have billions of users worldwide.

Indeed, people are often heavily influenced (rightly or wrongly) by what they see on these platforms, with intelligent algorithms that feed back content that each user is most likely to be interested in. Some social media influencers are often given celebrity status and can make big money by marketing products and services for businesses. If you want to be seen or heard, social media is the place to be, and it shows no sign of abating anytime soon.

How can a business use social media to get seen?

Social media isn’t just used for those looking to kill a few hours in the evening or whilst bored at work, it’s now increasingly used by businesses to get themselves seen by a completely new audience far beyond traditional advertising. 

Paid social media ads

When scrolling through your social media feed, you’ll most likely have seen adverts for products or services being promoted by businesses. This is indeed one way in which businesses can get seen and it’s referred to as paid ads. This is effectively sponsored advertising where businesses pay per click or by the number of views. The great thing about paid advertising is that the ads can be geared to reach specific audiences, and the performance of the advertising can be heavily monitored. The ads are placed in a prominent position on people’s feeds and can include video/music and animations to make them more appealing. All the main social media platforms allow sponsored advertising and so this is a great way of getting seen across all platforms.

Creating content on social media platforms

Creating engaging, unique and educational content is fundamental to building a successful following through social media. It’s also about being consistent by posting regularly over a long period – the more you post, the more likely it is that people will see these posts and engage with them. Responding quickly to comments and messages can also help your posts get seen more easily as social media platforms often reward engagement – this also helps build trust. Essentially, people will be more enticed to follow you if they provide regular content that is interesting, engaging and promotes discussion. The more people that like and comment on a post, the more likely it is that others will see this. 

Different platforms allow for different styles of content to be created. TikTok, for example, is great for short-form educational clips, Instagram works well for visuals & behind-the-scenes and YouTube is good for tutorials or deep-dive content. By regularly posting across multiple platforms, you have the best chance of getting exposure to the right people.

Sharing content on social media

Advertising on social media platforms doesn’t always need to cost money. Facebook, for example, allows you to share posts across the many Facebook groups that allow business posts. This can work best when shared across groups that may contain followers who will be interested in your products or services e.g., if you are an architectural business, sharing your posts across groups for Self-Builders, Home Renovations and Property Investors could be particularly fruitful. 

This has worked well for an architectural company in Stamford who regularly gain work by responding to requests for architectural services within the many groups they follow. As you share posts, you can also build up a following of people who are interested in your products or services. 

Promoting your social media platforms

Providing social media links and feed snippets on your website and other marketing materials is a great way of getting people to view your platforms and hopefully follow you. Referencing your social media platforms within blog posts and general discussions can also promote followers.

Providing competitions and unique insights can also help encourage people to follow you on social media. Furthermore, following other accounts can sometimes promote awareness and prompt a return follower, particularly if it's an account that might find your products or services beneficial or interesting.

For example, if you offer web design in Spalding, you might find it beneficial to follow businesses local to Spalding who don’t have a website or whose website is in need of an upgrade as this might prompt them to get in contact with you.