Tag Archive for: small business

Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

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Looking to grow your small business? Discover how social media marketing can help your business thrive in 2023 and beyond. 

Social media has transformed from being just a personal communication tool to a powerful marketing tool for businesses. For small businesses, social media marketing is an effective way to promote their products and services. In this article, we will discuss the importance of social media marketing for small businesses and the benefits it can provide. Here’s what you need to know.

Why Is Social Media Marketing Important?

If you’re a small business owner, it’s natural to focus on the little details. Whether its growing your following or working on your customer outreach, it’s important to have a plan. Fortunately, social media marketing offers a low-cost and organic way to achieve your goals. That’s why it’s essential for small business owners to learn how to leverage social media. Let’s take a look at some of the perks of social media marketing.

Cost-effective Advertising

As mentioned above, social media marketing is a cost-effective method for small businesses to reach their target audience. In comparison to the traditional advertising mediums like TV or print media, social media platforms offer a range of advertising options that can accommodate any budget.

By starting with a small investment in social media marketing, small businesses can gradually increase their advertising as they see results. This enables them to be flexible with their advertising budget and make the most out of their marketing efforts.

Increased Brand Awareness

Social media platforms have billions of users, making it an ideal platform to increase brand awareness. By regularly posting content on social media, small businesses can reach a wider audience and establish their brand identity. This can be particularly important for businesses that are just starting out and need to build their brand from scratch.

Improved Customer Engagement

Social media platforms offer a unique opportunity for small businesses to engage with their customers on a personal level. By responding to comments, messages, and reviews, small businesses can build a relationship with their customers and show that they care about their needs. This can help to build customer loyalty and encourage repeat business.

Targeted Advertising

Social media platforms offer advanced targeting options that allow businesses to reach specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This means that small businesses can ensure that their advertising is reaching the people who are most likely to be interested in their products or services. Targeted advertising can be a game-changer for small businesses that are looking to get the most out of their advertising budget.

Valuable Insights

Social media platforms provide businesses with valuable insights into their audience’s behavior and preferences. By analyzing metrics such as engagement rates, reach, and impressions, small businesses can gain a better understanding of what content is resonating with their audience and adjust their strategy accordingly. This can help to improve the effectiveness of their advertising and drive better results.

How Onimod Global Can Help

If want to see increased performance on your social media pages, hiring a digital marketing agency is the way to go. An experienced digital marekting agency will be able to identify what needs to be done to your overall online presence. More importantly, you will see results quickly, as there are likely things that you are not doing right now that could be hindering your progress.

With the help of Onimod Global, we can help you simplify this process and produce desired results.

Final Thoughts

Social media marketing is a powerful tool for small businesses. By taking advantage of the cost-effective advertising options and targeting capabilities offered by social media platforms, small businesses can level the playing field and compete with larger companies in the digital age.

At Onimod Global, our focus is on supporting businesses achieve success through modern marketing strategies. Our team of experts can assist you in identifying and targeting your ideal audience, as well as creating valuable content to engage with potential clients, among other services. We are dedicated to using our experience and expertise to help you achieve your goals.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about how we can assist with your social media strategy.

Small business digital marketing trends for 2022

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Small business gang: 2021 is finally coming to an end! Are you ready to take on 2022 and looking to finish the year strong? Whether you’re preparing your website and orders for the last minute holiday rush or prepping for your celebrations, the close of the year is the best time to being your digital marketing strategy for 2022 and looking at business tips for the new year.

That’s why experts at Onimod Global compiled a list of 2022 small business digital marketing trends to consider during your 2022 strategy planning so that you can stay up-to-date on what is the most crucial to keep in mind when we head into next year.

Incorporate live chat into your website

This is no ground breaking trend, however we see it becoming a crucial addition to your website in 2022 especially for small businesses. One area small business has always had the upper hand is extra care and attentiveness to your customers. This is where live chat steps in to attend to customers questions and concerns real time. Email marketing may get lost or left unread, and phone calls may feel like a heavy time consuming burden, but live chat services make it easier for customers to find the solutions they need while feeling like personalized content.

Some major uses and benefits of live chat include:

  • Direct messaging – This is an opportunity to really build up your brand’s voice by implementing specific personalized content and messaging points directly into your live chat.
  • Instant response – No hold music, and no waiting for a new email—live chat is solely quick answers to a mobile device that answers your customers’ questions in a few minutes.
  • Increase sales –  A recent survey showed that 77% of online shoppers want to talk to a real person before making a purchase. As a marketer, give your existing customers what they want with a direct line to a sales representative. By meeting the needs of consumers, your live chat service has the potential to offer a serious return on investment.

Build up those Google Business customer reviews

Nothing says “yummy restaurant” like a place that comes up on Google Maps with 1,000 reviews at 4.7 stars. It is safe to assume that almost all consumers you have will look to reviews before interacting with a company, trusting the first-hand experience and unbiased views of previous customers. No matter what your small business sells or provides, you can most definitely benefit from using reviews in your digital marketing materials and prioritizing the positive word-of-mouth recommendations.

How to bring in reviews, you may ask?

  • Request reviews – Some customers are happy to share their positive opinions without being prompted, but others might need an extra push and reminder to help you. Create a review prompt to send to customers after their purchases or to have place in a brick and mortar location of your store. Consider developing an open-ended survey for those interested in sharing more details about their experience.
  • Use testimonials – With a plethora of customer reviews, pick and choose the best ones to implement in your marketing materials. You can place testimonials front and center on your website, or use them in a variety of social media posts to let the world know what everyone thinks of your business.
  • Respond to your reviews – Reviews are a two-way street believe it or not. Customers often pose questions, concerns, or critiques about your business, so don’t let their messages go unattended or unanswered. We recommend to respond to your reviews to show your customers that you take their opinions seriously.

Hear us out.. TikTok as a main social media platform

We hear you, it’s a rather intimidating platform that looks like a lot of intense video editing skills needed and constant content creation. However, this really isn’t the case. An easy-to-use and user friendly platform, we see it as a key social media trend for creative skills and collaboration amongst young audiences. Its fast-paced content consuming nature keeps users engaged for relatively long periods, with users spending an average of 52 minutes per day on the app. While it does take time to create quality and engaging content, it is an excellent way for your small business to gain popularity and recognition. This platform alone helped so many small businesses thrive during the thick of the pandemic, and is only growing in popularity.

Final thoughts

In addition to digital marketing trends for small businesses, SEO and other digital marketing tips, we will continue to share case studies and the latest digital marketing news and tips to help you drive your company’s success. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your digital marketing.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about how to develop a digital marketing strategy for 2022 or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

 

New Facebook Report: COVID-19 Impact On Small Businesses

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This pandemic has not only been a world health crisis, it also serves to be an economic crisis. While the world as we know it has been impacted significantly as a whole, among the hardest hit sectors looks to be small businesses. Mom and pop shops are the heart of all of our communities, and they are facing the ultimate challenge. Small to medium businesses generally operate at very tight margins as it is, and they don’t have the same safety nets that larger corporations are able to fall back on. While forecasts for the future are grim, it’s important to capture what’s happening in the moment. How are small businesses dealing with the impact of COVID-19 and how do they feel about their situations moving forward?

The State of Small Business Report, by Facebook and Small Business Roundtable, based on a survey of 86,000 owners, managers and workers in companies across the US with fewer than 500 employees, is a somber image of the struggle they are facing as they fight for their business to survive.  The data also includes 9,000 operators of “personal” businesses (i.e. people who reported that they were “self-employed providing goods or services”). You can read Facebook’s full report here, but below are some of the key points.

Insights of impact

Facebook’s report provides insight as to how many businesses have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 lockdowns, with a look at the percentage of SMBs in each sector that are currently cannot operate.

small business facebook report 1

As per Facebook:

“According to the survey, 31% of small and medium-sized businesses have shut down [entirely] in the last three months. The situation is worse for personal business (52% of which report shutting down), hotels, cafes and restaurants (43%) and services like wellness, grooming, fitness or other professional services (41%).”

These trends have been in expected in some way, with high exposure businesses of course being forced to close their doors. The numbers also wrap some further context around the 36 million unemployment claims in the US over the past six weeks. The big question is, how many of these businesses will be able to recover and bounce back?

Businesses re-opening

In general, the majority of small businesses remain optimistic with a respective amount of caution.

small business facebook report 2

Lots of “maybe’s” here, but most significant is the lack of “no’s”. This definitely provides hope of most people getting back on their feet and resuming employment, with the economy getting back on track at some stage. Of course, the longer that businesses are forced to remain closed then the path to recovery is significantly more difficult.

Current impacts on revenue

In later notes of the report, Facebook provides some context as to current impacts on revenue, even for those businesses that have remained in operation.

small business facebook report 3

2020 will certainly not be a year of growth for the majority of businesses, if any. However, there are some indications of future potential.

Digital opportunities for small business

small business report 4

More and more business are exploring online opportunities and going digital. This was already a trend, and the pandemic has catapulted all business into the world of online sales and e-commerce. This will most likely end up being the biggest long-term shift we see stemming from the COVID-19 shutdowns. While e-commerce accounted for only around 16% of total US retail sales in 2019, this number is expected to significantly increase in the next years. While retail is the most common e-commerce sector, the pandemic crisis may prompt more businesses to consider their options for digital operations, meeting consumers where they’re spending more and more of their time.

You can read Facebook’s full, 36-page “State of Small Business Report”, which includes a heap of more specific insights and data, here.

More from Onimod Global

Contact Onimod Global today, we are here to help you navigate this uncertain time. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here.

The Final Results of Cyber Monday

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Since its beginning in 2005, Cyber Monday has grown to become the most profitable day of the year for many online retailers. This year is particularly special, because it marks the largest online shopping day in US history, according to CNBC.

By The Numbers

All of the following statistics have been reported by Adobe Insights, regarding Cyber Monday of 2017.

  • $6.59 billion in transactions
  • 16.8% increase year-over-year

Cyber Monday officially surpassed Black Friday this year, which only generated $5.03 billion in transactions. It is clear that purchasing decisions are changing.

A New Generation

A lot of this change in behavior has to do with changes in the consumer base. The millennial market is currently the largest living generation, and they are having a major impact on the world of products surrounding them.

Mickey Mericle, vice president of Marketing and Customer Insights at Adobe, noted, “Consumers are also becoming more savvy and efficient online shoppers. People increasingly know where to find the best deals and what they want to purchase, which results in less price matching behavior typically done on desktops. Millennials were likely another reason for the dramatic growth in mobile, with 75 percent expecting to shop via their smartphone.”

The Age Of Mobile

Adobe Insights also reported that 33.1% of revenue on Cyber Monday was brought in via mobile devices. The Onimod Global Content Team is always producing new material on this subject. A few of our favorite articles that discuss the many benefits of mobile shopping and advertising are:

These three blog postings highlight some of the key reasons that explain why mobile is such an important asset to any business. Visit our blog to learn more by clicking HERE!

Small Businesses Conquer

It is also important to point out that small businesses were significantly better at utilizing mobile marketing strategies than large corporations. Adobe reported that these small businesses doubled the amount of conversions generated by big businesses.