Digital marketing comes in many forms, and for small businesses it's important to know what to look for when seeking out digital marketing services. In this article we will run through what a small business should expect from a marketing agency when working together on a social media marketing campaign.
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is a key part of pretty much every small business' digital marketing strategy. Social media services include both advertising services, influencer marketing and organic social media management, such as content creation in the form of posts, formatting your social media page and engaging with followers.
With so many digital marketing strategies available, it can be difficult to know where to focus your small businesses efforts. Social media marketing is a great way to spread awareness of your brand at scale, as well as creating a community of users who act as new leads and help you gain more traffic.
Organic social media management
Organic social media management can help small businesses to to grow without the need for any spend on paid ads. Whilst this is a cost-effective way to reach your business needs, it will likely take longer and is more difficult to measure.
So how can you go about generating more customers without any ad spend? The right digital marketing agency will help your small business with effective social media content creation, by creating engaging content marketing that is shared consistently. When done correctly, this will build a community of users who engage with your business and create a positive identity through reputation management.
Providing this content marketing is useful and professional, it can be a great method of lead generation through inbound marketing. By creating a two way conversation with users, this can help you to gather new leads who are interested in your business and the services or products you offer.
Social media advertising services
Social media advertising can help you to grow at a faster rate and generate leads simultaneously alongside your organic marketing. The best digital marketing agencies will help you to identify the right target audience for your small business which can be specifically targeted using your marketing budget.
With millions of active social media users in the UK, paid ads provides access to the right people and delivers positive results. Using location based targeting, it can help to put local businesses in front of users with relevant interests who are interested in your service offering. You could also use shopping ads for an a ecommerce business, as there are a range of ad formats to help you stand out.
Once you've identified your audience, it's time to create a set of digital assets to be used in your ads. These can then be shown at scale to increase awareness, or only shown to a more limited target group to increase relevance. You can also take advantage of paid ads' marketing automation, which means the algorithm is tailored toward conversion rate optimization and helping to boost the effectiveness of your digital marketing.
If you have money to spend in this area, then social media advertising should have a role in your marketing plan.
Why should you work with a social media marketing agency?
Working with a digital marketing agency can help you to get the best results from social media marketing, and ultimately help your business to grow.
They fully understand your marketing needs
The best digital marketing agency understands how social media marketing fits into wider marketing strategies and can advise you on where your money is best spent.
For example, they may suggest that for your goals it's best to focus on search engine optimisation due to the fact your target audience is using search engines rather than social media.
A digital marketing agency can save you time
As a small business, it's likely you're busy working hard on many other tasks and may find it tricky to give your digital marketing the effort it deserves.
Using a digital marketing agency for your social media management means they can work on all aspects of your organic and paid strategy whilst you focus on running the business.
They can help you find a digital marketing solution to your goals
The best marketing agencies will have vast experience in social media marketing and therefore will know what areas to work on to help your business grow.
If you decide to work with a full service agency then this means you can run tests across multiple channels, expanding your reach and gaining learnings in new areas.
What other marketing services should you consider when hiring a marketing agency?
As we've hinted at, social media marketing only forms one part of your marketing strategy. To fully meet your digital marketing needs, your small business should also consider how other marketing channels interact with social media.
Your website
Once somebody interacts with your social media marketing, they will reach your website. You should consider if your web design is as effective as it should be. By using a web development agency, you can ensure your web hosting is supporting your business and if you're using responsive web design across the site.
Search engine marketing
This is where people go to take action. When seeking out digital marketing services, you should consider whether you're taking advantage of this opportunity.
If you are a local business you should ensure you've considered local SEO including Google My Business, then thinking about using broader SEO services to grow your organic traffic. If you're a new business this can take some time, so using Google Ads can give you quick access to high-intent prospects.
Email marketing
Whilst social media marketing is a great way to gather leads, email marketing can help you to nurture those leads and drive sales. By building a solid email marketing strategy for your small business, you can create a longer lasting relationship with these users.
What to do next if you would benefit from a marketing agency.
Is your small business ready to develop a solid digital marketing strategy? Get in touch for a free marketing consultation and we can discuss how we could help to grow your business.
Unlike other agencies, we cover all areas of digital marketing, so whether you need help with your SEO strategy, ppc management, web design or anything else, your dedicated account manager will be on hand to advise and implement that right digital marketing tools for you.