Social media platforms to market your small business in 2023 – Solopreneur edition

As a solopreneur (one-person company) you have limited time at hand. In that limited time, you have to manage marketing, sales, operations, production, customer service, and administrative work.

While marketing your products is what brings you new sales, most solopreneurs are usually busy with operations and administrative work.

Most people hang out on social media platforms these days and to understand which social media suits your small business the best, here is some help.

How to choose which social media platform to be on?

To understand this, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

  1. What kind of product or service do you sell? Are you a creative entrepreneur selling clothes, jewellery, art, or home décor? Are you a business consultant, sales coach, media professional, etc..
  2. Who is your target audience? Men or women? What age group? What economic background etc..

Once you have these two questions answered correctly, you are ready to move forward. Note: You can have your audience in different segments. You may have a budget product catering to teens and students and a luxury product catering to people with high incomes. It’s important to list out all customer profiles.

Now let’s look at the popular social media platforms of today

  1. Facebook

Facebook is by far the largest social media network in the world with almost 3 billion monthly active users. In India we know that our uncles and aunts are active on Facebook. The age group that is very active on Facebook is 25 to 34 and above. If your target audience falls in this category, Facebook is a good fit for you.

  1. Instagram

Ever since TikTok has been banned in India, the short format video option of reels has caught the attention of all young Indians. The age group that is most active on the platform is 18 to 24. That doesn’t mean others are not in there. Currently, Instagram is the hottest property to market your small business on. If your products or services are pure aesthetics, this is a great option.

Also for small businesses that are into service, coaches, educators, etc., can post samplers of their service to attract more customers.

  1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great place to be if you are in the services business. If your target audience is professionals, HR, techies, etc. Having a good presence on LinkedIn can help you generate leads. If you are a small business selling wedding return gifts, LinkedIn may not be the right place for you to spend more time. You get the drift!

  1. Twitter [new name ‘X’]

It’s going to take us some time to call Twitter by the new name ‘X’, but here is a start. The microblogging site X has its largest percentage of audience in the age group of 25 -34 and second largest 35 – 49. If you can convey your brand’s message in a 280-character sentence, you can give it a try. If you are a writer, public person, or media professional, it’s a great place to establish your authority. Again, it may not be a great fit for products and services that are visual aesthetics.

  1. Pinterest

Pinterest is probably the underdog in the social media world. It’s one of those platforms whose users go to the platform with a specific agenda in mind. Pinterest is able to predict what people are looking to buy with their search phrases and it’s the perfect place to market your small business if your product and service is deemed “Pinterest worthy”.

Also, Pinterest being a discovery and idea collection platform, does not restrict external links. You can practically add a link to every single photo or video you upload on Pinterest. Figure out a strategy and you can really roll here.

  1. YouTube

YouTube is not really a social media platform, it’s a search engine. If you can tell stories in the form of long-format videos, you can kill it with YouTube.  And if it’s something people are looking for, then you have yourself an additional revenue stream. If you are an artist, you can create videos of yourself painting your art from start to finish and host them on YouTube for people to see. Interior designers can share their projects and learnings, if you make homemade condiments you can make videos creating recipes with your product.

Now that you know your target audience and the most popular social media platforms of today, it’s time to choose where to build a presence.

Should you be on all social media platforms?

No. And don’t even try. It is the fastest route to overwhelm and burn out.

Choose two social media platforms that best suit your business and where your target audience hangs out. Build a strategy and a content Calander for the two platforms and stick to a comfortable posting schedule. Your strategy should have a goal. If you are hard-pressed for time, have a monthly goal, if you have the luxury of time do a weekly goal. The goal can be anything from getting traffic to your website or increasing your audience base or sales. It’s important to have a goal and analyze it at the end of the timeframe and tweak your strategy for the next timeframe if necessary.

What about the other 4 social media networks?

Have a presence there. Have a consistent DP, a good bio, and links to where you can be found (your blog or website). This will be helpful in case someone is searching for you on that platform. You can choose to upload some key content that gives the audience a glimpse of what you do there.

Social media is an essential part of marketing a small business today, but don’t be platform-dependent. You have to make a mark on your audience during the process of nurturing them. In case any social media platform shuts down or is banned in the country, your true fans can find you elsewhere on the web without any issues. And you can get on the next big social media platform without heartache and start to nurture your community there.

In conclusion

Most social media platforms are the best way for small businesses to promote their brands for free but that requires consistent efforts in content creation and posting. And the best part is that you can create content on multiple media & multiple options.

By creating content as preferred by the platform and giving them what they want, you can be sure of getting what you want, from these platforms. Anyone who cracks that code is bound to literally become unstoppable in their business.

Hope that helps.

In case you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to write to: kdkini@gmail.com

Until next time,

Happy Smarketing!!