Is Social Media Marketing cost-effective for small businesses on a budget?
In an article that I read recently on Entrepreneur.com, Victoria Treyger, the Chief Marketing Officer of Kabbage lists 6 Ways to Market Your Small Business for Less Than $100. For many small business owners on a shoe string budget, a $100 marketing budget may be a reality. Treyger lists a number of great tips regarding the market research, email marketing, website optimization and team-building. However the tips that appealed to me were focused on a social media marketing strategy.
After referencing the relatively inexpensive cost to leveraging social media to expand the awareness of your brands, products and services, Treyger mentions "Even a small investment in social marketing can produce hundreds of new followers on social networks as well as increased web traffic, brand awareness and hopefully bottom line profits that can be traced back to initial engagement on social media." We can attest to the incredibly affordable rates of modern day social media advertising rates and the fact that they have been proven to be effective for small businesses. By spending $5-10 dollars per campaign on a sponsored post (on Facebook or LinkedIn for example), your post can be seen by thousands of potential customers based on their interests, location, demographics and more. It is far more cost effective than a radio or tv advertisement and it is more effective than search engine marketing because it is scale-able. As I explained in our Social Media Marketing Dictionary article, I liken search engine marketing to renting a hotel room, social media marketing to a vacation home and your (search engine optimized) website to your permanent home. You ultimately need to spend most of your time maintaining your home. However, you will want to regularly maintain your vacation home whereas your hotel room will only be of temporary use to you. Many small business owners are burning cash on search engine marketing every day when they would be far better off spending their time and efforts on social media where they can drive targeted traffic and build a thriving community that will enhance their brand.
If you are a small business owner on a tight marketing budget, I highly recommend reading the article and feel free to reach out to us for any digital marketing assistance as we specialize in helping small businesses to leverage social media.
Written by: Andrew C. Belton
