These days, there are so many ways to create an effective marketing plan for your business that it is almost overwhelming. There are so many options it can be hard to know where to begin. But I think it is helpful to start with a few key things, to start as a baseline. It is also helpful to recognize that not every platform will work for every business.
What’s trending?
Something I’ve seen more of over the recent years is the use of hopping on the bandwagon of “viral trends”. This is a major opportunity for businesses and individuals alike to stay relevant and popular among their target audience. While the goal for small businesses is not to go viral, it is a goal to engage with their audience. I’ve seen many companies I follow on social media trying out small trends like TikTok video trends, instagram reels/stories and more.
Creating an Instagram profile
One thing is clear, and it is that businesses have to have an online presence and engage with their audience. In my personal opinion, Instagram is one of the most important ones because of the sheer amount of users on the platform. How does one business know how to approach this? It’s so daunting right? I think it is helpful to establish a clear plan for beginners:
- Create a logo
- Visualize your theme and stick to it
- plan to post at least once a day
- Upload your logo and name
- Have content ideas
Reaching out
Another great way to promote your business using social media is to reach out to other businesses and partner with them. I’ve seen a lot of local and small businesses doing this where they will stock their products in another establishment, or make bakery items to sell with that establishment and both make a profit, and it increases visibility for both businesses. Even better when this can be promoted online too, and customers are influenced and more likely to make a purchase at both places. Using social media can be a highly effective way to market your business as we can see. Even Forbes thought so too! Let me know what you think of these ideas, and if you have more I haven’t thought of.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
I think all the ideas are brilliant to marketing your business. Especially when it comes to small business piggy backing on a larger scaled business and in local store helps you grow as well as hep the business your products are in grow with you. Its sharing which is caring essentially! business should always look after each other.
I agree with tmclean15 that it is brilliant to piggy back on other businesses and work together. This is a great idea for small businesses and not-for-profit organizations because you can expand your reach so easily. I have suggested this to the service club that I am part of because we desperately need to expand our reach and bring up our awareness. I have suggested the the organizations that we fund raise for can assist us with posts to their social media platforms and we can post about them. Bing connected as like minded organizations can be helpful as well because people that are attracted to that organization will then know about yours and hopefully be attracted to yours.
Great blog post! I agree with your opinion that Instagram is one of the most important platforms now-a-days because of its popularity but there are times where other platforms are more appropriate. It all depends on your target market. For businesses that target older populations, Facebook might be a better option.
Speaking about viral trends, it always amazes me how quickly trends change. I find that sometimes organizations aren’t quick enough to jump on the trend bandwagon and because of this, they come off as behind on the times. For organizations to effectively use trends to their advantage, they must be constantly following how trends are evolving and be quick to join in as they are started. They also must be able to differentiate between trends that they should contribute to and others that they should avoid.
Like you mentioned, there are several ways to effectively market your business on. In addition to those that you mentioned, I would add that social media is excellent for idea generation and understanding consumer spending habits.
Thank you for sharing these ideas for promoting your business. I have recently been looking for ways to promote my own small business, and have been wondering if I should look into Instagram. It is a platform I have heard so much about, but have limited experience with so far. I like your idea to make one post per day. It is a small goal that will have a big impact, since your potential customers will be reminded of your business daily. Personally, I sometimes forget to post on social media for a while, and then I feel I have neglected my followers. I think I will take your advice to improve my marketing strategy in the future!