In this competitive digital age, every business is competing with each other for the audience’s attention. Bigger brands enjoy certain perks in the market due to their authority and large customer base in the market. Local businesses often feel this pressure and try to compete with their competitors with whatever resources they have. While SEO and PPC are on everyone’s mind one thing that they miss is Social Media Marketing and Social Media Campaigns.

Social media marketing is one of the most important and influential mediums of marketing in today’s digital era. It has a wide range of users across the world. As of April 2024, there were 5.44 billion internet users worldwide which amounts to 67.1% of the global population and an average person uses 6.7 different social networks per month. Promoting on social media is not enough, you need a special and strong social media marketing strategy to combat your competitors. A well-designed social media will help your business grow and establish your brand authority in the market. 

There are plenty of social media platforms available, but you should select the platforms that suit your objective, and goals and where your audience engages more. Social media marketing can make local businesses grow fast as compared to traditional marketing channels. Many social media channels and search engines give opportunities to local businesses to showcase their products and services to a wider audience. Your chances of succeeding on social media depend on your social media marketing strategy and creativity. In this blog, we’ll learn why social media campaigns or marketing are important for local businesses and tips for creating a successful social media campaign! 

What are social media marketing and campaigns? 

Social media marketing refers to the practice of promoting your brand and its products and services on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. Brands create and share high-quality content on their social media accounts highlighting their Unique selling proposition (USP) and customer experience. It also includes engaging with your customers by responding to their comments and messages, trying to build a community, and run a marketing campaign. It also provides valuable data to study and understand customer behavior and preferences. 

Where a social media campaign is a well-defined and organized set of actions across social media platforms. The 

purpose of these actions are the same and are designed to fulfill the brand’s objectives and goals. Usually, brands use an omnichannel strategy. The components of social media campaigns include organic posts, contests, paid promotions, user-generated content, branded hashtags, influencer collaborations, and analytics. Social media campaigns differ from everyday social media efforts because they get more attention and focus. Also, they are more targeted, budgeted, and measurable. 

Why use social media for local businesses 

Marketing a small or local business on social media is a budget-friendly way to generate awareness and increase sales. According to an AdWeek report, 91% of retail brands use at least 2 social media platforms for engaging with customers. Also according to a study, 74% of customers make their purchasing decisions on social media. 

Here are some of the reasons why social media should be used by local businesses for fulfilling their goals

• Easy way to reach users: It is an easy way to reach your customers and inform them about your products and services
• Budget-friendly: You can optimize your ad and set a budget for that. You can change the budget whenever you want. It is a budget-friendly way of gaining more leads as compared to other methods. 
• Helps in studying user behavior: There is a massive audience on social media. It provides an opportunity for you to understand the customer behavior as well as the search intent. Based on this information you can make smart decisions. 
• Increase visibility and reach: Due to the larger audience on social media, it proves to be a great platform for increasing your visibility and reach. Local businesses can inform more users about their products and services. 
• Increase engagement: If your posts on social media are entertaining, engaging, and informative then chances are that your content will be loved by a larger audience. The chances of becoming viral are higher on social media. If you put a CTA or link to your website in the bio,  it can increase the engagement of your website as well. It also indirectly improves your local SEO. 
• Remarking: Social media lets you create a campaign for your previous audience. You can retarget them. It proves to be a good strategy for remarketing. 
• Promotion/ build hype: Social media can build hype for an event, post or launch. Social media is ideal for creating hype and promoting goods and services. 
• New leads and increased traffic: Social media lets you market your products in its feed, stories, etc by clicking these posts users are redirected to the website or product page of the brand. There are chances that few users can convert into leads. Also, it increases the traffic of the website. 
• Reviews: Social media has become a new platform for users to share their experiences. They post reviews on social media. These can be used as User Generated Content as well. These reviews help you in better understanding your brand and its products. 
• Reputation: Social media gives a boost to your reputation. A positive response on social media can enhance your reputation in the market. 
• Brand building: Social media connects your customers with you. They act like a community or can be used as social proof. You can convey your brand’s core values through social media and build connections with users who endorse those values. It helps in building a brand and reputation.

Tips to create a successful social media campaign for a local business 

• Research Competitor: Conduct research on your competitors. It will help you understand the nature of your audience and the market for which you are fighting for. Consider both direct and indirect competitors. Learn from their shortcomings, failures, and content. 
• Goal/Platform: Draft a complete blueprint for your strategy. Define your goals and metrics measuring it. Select the platforms that you will be targeting for. Understand the time to post your content. Define the type of content to use etc. Have SMART ( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) Goals. 
• Give incentives: Offer free samples, discounts, podcasts, etc to your target audience. It can help in better engagement and building community. You can use lead magnets in exchange for information about the user. However, always remember to ask only relevant information from them. 

• Regularly post: Post every day on social media. It helps in increasing your visibility and engagement. 
• Reviews: Ask for reviews on social media. These reviews act as social proof. You can use these on your official website as well. Also, these reviews provide important information to you regarding your service and quality. 
• Engage: Engage with your followers. Respond to their messages and comments. Show them that you value their opinion. Build an emotional connection with them. Also when you respond to reviews, other users feel motivated to leave reviews. It increases your engagement and reputation. 

• Language: Use appropriate and decent language with your audience. Exhibit professional behavior and apologize to them whenever you are at fault. 
• Target audience: Know your target audience. Study what type of content they consume more, when they are active, what they search, understand the demographics of your target audience, etc. Once you know your target audience well, you can easily target them. 
• Contest: Launch exciting contests on social media. It is one of the best ways to generate engagement, especially for local businesses. You can do so to promote an event or launch of new products or collections. People like to participate in such contests and expect some exciting prizes as well. You can also spread awareness with such contests. Some brands even ask the contestants to share their page or website with 10 other users to reach the next stage of the contest. 

• Content: Content is king. Your social media can make or break your business based on its social media posts. You can use various types of content such as images, videos, live, infographics, case studies, stories, interactive content, etc. Use relevant hashtags and study the latest trends. 
• Social media advertising campaign: Local businesses who want instant success can use paid ad campaigns to generate leads, increase awareness, etc. Ads on social media are run by various objectives. Use the objective that aligns with your marketing goals. It helps in better targeting as you can target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, behavior, etc. Local businesses can target local customers in a budget-friendly manner. 
• Shoppable post: Use shoppable posts for promoting and highlighting your products and USPs. With Instagram shopping, you can create attractive and engaging posts to promote your product. Use relevant hashtags and captions along with it. It is a great way to enhance your social media campaign. It enables users to browse and purchase your product without leaving the page. It helps in increasing sales. 

• Personalized: Try to create personalized messages for your audience. For example, you can wish them on their birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Address them by their names etc. Users feel special after receiving such personalized messages. 
• Results: Monitor the performance of your social media platforms by using different KPIs. It helps you in knowing what is working and what is not working.  

Social media campaigns examples for motivation 

1. Adidas “Originals” Campaign: The 2023 “Originals” Campaign celebrates sports celebrities and everyday people who share the same values of the brand. Adidas created several short films based on three of their best shoes: Gazelle, Superstar, and Samba, and shared them on various social media channels. Each film was named after the shoe name. They shared the film on YouTube and shared the preview on Instagram reels. They added hashtags to their content such as “#WeGaveTheWorldAnOriginal” and “#AdidasOriginals”. This storytelling idea of what lies behind the brand or what it stands for is becoming very popular in today’s era. Adidas honored its users, history, and products in this campaign. 
2. Apple’s “# ShotOniPhone”: This viral campaign of Apple has 29.6 million posts using this hashtag on Instagram alone. This content and hashtag have been repurposed into multiple ads, billboards, etc making social offline. Similarly, National Geography used the hashtag “#YourShotPhotographer” which united Nat Geo’s photo community. These campaigns are ongoing and reflect a perfect example of how you can apply user-generated content to your marketing strategy. This helps in building a community and bringing your brand a new outlook

#ShotOniPhone

#YourShotPhotographer

Lumia 360 strategy for La Clinique Lux: We created engaging social media posts highlighting their Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and core brand values. We posted engaging videos on their social media account to attract new potential customers. These social media posts helped in building a community or connection with their followers. Also, 44% of people stated that they prefer short video content for learning about new products or services. 

Conclusion

Social media will continue to dominate the digital era. However, its nature will change with emerging technologies, changing algorithms, and changing human behavior and preferences. To stay relevant in the market you need to be adaptable and at pace with new trends and innovation. Only then you can continue to remain relevant and authoritative on social media. Lumia 360 has expertise in creating social media strategies and campaigns. We create engaging content and social media campaigns to increase engagement and conversions. We understand the workings of the algorithms and create strategies that align with your business goals and objectives. To know more about our services, email us at info@lumia360.com or call us at 514-668-5599. 

Read More: Beyond Ratings: Harnessing the Power of User-Generated Content for Brand Advocacy

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