What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. I am sure you have heard this saying a thousand times before. Your parents and teachers have drilled this into your mind from an early age, so you grow up with the confidence to be an upstander. However, I am assuming you are unsure of where I am going with this. Imagine you are 5 all over again. You are just starting Kindergarten and are so excited to make new friends and try new things. That very first day of school, a number of your peers are rude to another student about sharing their pencil (pretend we are pre-COVID times). How should you proceed; 1) offer them your pencil to borrow, or 2) pretend you do not hear the exchange so as not to choose sides. I am hoping you picked the first option, and did what was right over what seemed to be popular.
When it comes to marketing your business, do what suits you, even if it is not popular with big time brands. Realize that the marketing strategies that fit a larger organization may not be ideal for a local company. There are a plethora of social media platforms that small businesses sometimes neglect that are important to share their time, resources, and products with. Think out of the box: what can set you apart from the competition? Here are some social media platforms your small business should consider sharing their content with.
Pinterest is all about the pics. If your business sells physical products, share images of them! Let’s say you own a cupcake shop, and you just came up with a new flavor: banana fudge brownie. This is a great example of something to post on Pinterest. You can even include images of customers enjoying your delicious cupcakes! If you add a price with the dollar sign to the description of your product, you can pin it as an item you are selling. Additionally, a unique aspect of Pinterest is the fact that you can create a board featuring your clients and customers, or general images that appeal to your target market. This is an effective way to drive traffic to your account. Lastly, explore what Pinterest has to offer! You can use it to market your product, find inspiration for your company, or collaborate and brainstorm with your fellow employees. Definitely try it out; you won’t be disappointed.
TikTok
TikTok has the potential to introduce a huge audience to your business. According to InfluencerMarketingHub, TikTok has 500 million users worldwide. The biggest tip when it comes to using TikTok is to be creative, but not too creative. It is an inexpensive and easy way to promote your business, so take advantage of it! However, stay true to your brand. Do not post a TikTok that doesn’t represent your company message and values. Furthermore, another way to market your business on TikTok is through hashtag challenges. This is a way for you to encourage users to create or recreate a video and include the hashtag on it, in order to drive user traffic and foster engagement.
Snapchat
Snapchat is another social media platform that can be utilized as a marketing tool for small businesses. By creating a geofenced filter during a company event, the area around the event location will hear all about it and be interested. Let’s go back to your cupcake business. If you want more people within the nearby neighborhood to hear about the release of the banana fudge brownie cupcake, this would be a great platform to use.
Here is a little information about Reddit. Subreddits are niche communities that you can subscribe to. As a small business looking to grow, it is essential that you subscribe to r/entrepreneur and r/smallbusiness. Advertising on Reddit is safe and easy. The subreddits are your target audience, so you do not have to spend time trying to create one. Paids ads on Reddit are one way to utilize the platform. Additionally, there are r/deals. These can be used to promote your product or service to people who would be interested in becoming your customer.
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is basically a discovery engine for a bunch of different topics. Navigating StumbleUpon feels like surfing the internet, where the ads that pop up are tailored to your recent searches. By telling StumbleUpon a few things you like and don’t like, it will cater the content to your preferences. StumbleUpon offers paid ads for businesses to utilize. Interestingly, StumbleUpon accounts for more publishing traffic than popular sites like YouTube, Google, LinkedIn and Reddit combined.
I hope you have learned about the importance of thinking outside of the box. Remember: What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. As always, feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns, or to receive a free marketing analysis with our executive team:
Address:
100 Terminal Drive
Suite 2
Plainview, NY 11803
Phone: 516-430-6699
E-mail: info@davidw167.sg-host.com
