When thinking about marketing and advertising, you might think of the big price tag that comes along with it. Paid ads can get expensive very quickly. For the small business owner, a big marketing and advertising budget could be years away. What are the available options for marketing and advertising without breaking the bank?
Social media offers plenty of opportunities without spending too much money. Don’t try to sell to people you meet on social media. Social media is a place to get to know your potential customers, engage with them, and answer questions easily about your products and services. When there is an interest in what you are offering, social media friends will then question how to buy your product or service.
The essential social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest with avenues opening up for TikTok and LinkedIn. Each one of these platforms can be used to advertise your small business for free. How can anyone find enough time to post on all these platforms? Obviously, you can’t but you can find the ones that work for you and your business.
Facebook is the number one platform where small businesses take advantage of their pages, groups, business pages, and even paid advertising to get their product or service in the face of their potential customers. Local small businesses have the opportunity to target their audience locally and get noticed. When local people know your business and love your brand, then you know your social media ad campaigns are successful. Facebook also has a business backend with their paid accounts that allow for scheduling. This can free up some of your time to work other social media platforms until you find the right combination. Instagram can also be included in Facebook’s business backend, and you’ll have the ability to work both simultaneously. Even with the paid accounts, it will still be cheaper than other forms of advertising.
Twitter now has paid advertising to promote your business or service. It is more difficult to create posts about your business without twitter flagging them and redirecting you to their paid offers. If you are looking for totally free advertising, then avoid Twitter for the most part.
YouTube and TikTok have come a long way. Companies make videos demonstrating their products or showing potential customers their services. Marketing using free advertising on video social media platforms has become so popular among young people that more seasoned business owners are paying close attention. Videos put a face to the product or service. Niche marketers are taking advantage of their own uniqueness to sell their products and services.
With social media, the days of link exchange effectiveness are far in the past. That is not saying that businesses don’t use link exchange, it is saying that it is just not as effective as social media when it comes to low cost or free marketing opportunities for your products, services, and your company brand. Make the most of your posts and videos and get your bootstrap marketing on.
