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Locally Grown Episode 2: Getting Started with Social Media for Your Business

Social Media
Andrew Adams

Listen to Locally Grown on Apple and Spotify. 

Social media is a medium with the power to completely evolve your business’ presence and reach, but you have to get started somewhere.

In this episode, we talk about how you can start using social media for your business right now, even if you don’t know where to begin.

Hear our conversation about:

  • The value and power of social media
  • How to choose which social media platforms to use based on where your customers are
  • Setting up your social media accounts
  • How to build community with your customers

The value and power of social media

Most people have some experience with social media at this point in time — Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or some other platform, we collectively recognize the use case. But do those 4.5 billion active users recognize just how powerful it can be?

Andrew and Joe share some statistics around social media:

  1. According to Google, more than half of consumers research companies online, including their social media
  2. 72% of Americans use social media
  3. 66% of Facebook users log in every day

It’s not a stretch, then, to say the likelihood of your potential customer being active on social media is pretty high.

Choosing the right social media platforms to use based on where your customers are

It’s important to remember: Not all channels will result in the same kind of results. Throwing a budget at a variety of social platforms with the hopes of capturing leads won’t be as successful as you think it is.

You need to know where your customers are; otherwise, you could end up spending all of your time and energy on a platform and get no real return. Compare it to spending your time in a nursing home trying to sell BMX bikes.

“Plenty of companies get millions of views on their TikTok videos and get zero leads and zero revenue because that's not where their customers are.” — Joe Martin

First steps for research

So, how do you find the correct channels? Andrew and Joe share some top ways:

  1. Ask your ideal customer what social media they’re on
  2. Look at key demographics
  3. Look at your competitors

Once you have a firm grasp on your ideal customer and what channels they spend their time on, only then should you start posting.

“Post content that matters to your ideal customer, or they're not going to pay attention to you.” — Andrew Adams

Setting up your social media accounts

Setting up an account on any social platform is relatively easy — They will typically walk you through exactly what's needed to get started. However, before you do that, there’s one important point to focus on: Your personal preference.

Everything mentioned above about researching your customer is important and should be taken into account when choosing a channel. But, if you forget to include your personal preference in the equation, you might never post all the incredible content that may have flourished on another platform.

For example, imagine your customers are on Facebook and Twitter. They’re on Facebook slightly more than Twitter, but you enjoy posting on Twitter significantly more compared to Facebook — Choose to focus on Twitter. Even though it’s not the first pick for your ideal customer, posting consistently is more important.

Don’t worry — If the platform you choose ends up not working like you thought it would, it’s possible to switch later on. If your voice or style ends up changing, a bigger platform might start to be a more attractive option.

How to build community with your customers

Creating a community with your social presence is a great way to grow your business — Offering tips and consistent updates. But how do you know what to post about if you’re just starting out?

Try looking at those competing businesses or social posts that stand out to you. You might start out copying those posts, but it’s a good way to learn your own voice and what kind of posting matters to you.

“Analyze what makes you stop and look on social media. See if that's something that you can apply to your own business’ social media account.” — Joe Martin

As long as the material your posting matters to your customers, you’re on the right track.

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