Like finding a tenner down the back of the sofa, I have found several unpublished blog posts of Digidol’s Weekly Tips from previous social media posts. So, without further delay, here are 3 bonus small business marketing tips to help improve your digital presence to start 2023!
UTILISE TEMPLATES – Weekly Tip #008
One of the most common misconceptions when it comes to marketing is that everything needs to be unique and created by you. If this was the case, then everyone would spend infinite hours creating social media posts in order to compete. Please don’t be afraid to utilise templates. At the end of the day, most templates are made by professional graphic designers – so why should you waste hours attempting to outdo a professional?
Canva is an online graphic design platform that does pretty much all of the work for you. When creating a graphic on Canva, you can even choose which social media platform the graphic is intended for and they will give you the correct sizings for you – and that is just the start. Canva has a huge bank of templates that you can use for free in order to make amazing graphics quickly. All you need to do is change the colours to match your branding, replace the content with your own and then add your logo.
If you want to be adventurous and have a go at making graphics yourself you can use their elements section to add cool aspects to your designs. Some of these are off-limits as they are included in Canva’s premium option which costs £10.99 a month (they’ve got to make money somehow).
However, if you are only wanting to create a small number of graphics for your small businesses’ social media platforms then the free version is more than enough. All of the graphics at Digidol are made using Canva. We don’t use public templates, but after making several of our own templates that contain Digidol’s branding, we can now make new graphics (such as these weekly digital marketing tips) quickly and easily.
Actionable Tips
A Blank Canva – Make a free account and give Canva or another free graphic design program a go! You will surprise yourself with how easy it is to make beautiful graphics that include your branding in minutes.
TALK BUSINESS – Weekly Tip #009
This week’s tip is a simple one, yet so many small businesses and sole traders tend to break this golden rule. Keep your private and business social media profiles separate.
People follow your business account as they are interested in your product or service, not what you think of that refereeing decision last night or the latest government announcement. So make sure that any personal views or interests that you want to post online are done so on your personal account.
Anything that you post online via your business account is a reflection of your brand. So unless your business ethos or values are heavily associated or tied in with that particular opinion (and your audience is built from like-minded individuals) then keep it professional.
Amye at The Abermule Inn does this amazingly. The posts she creates for the Abermule are friendly and full of personality without projecting her own views.
Actionable Tip
Talk Business – Make sure that your business profiles are purely business and that there is no cross-over with your personal accounts. Separate accounts are easy to set up and can be easily switched between all major social media platforms.
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KEEP IT sIMPLE – Weekly Tip #010
One thing that social media is invaluable for is providing you with a place to make important announcements to your customers. These posts may contain a varying amount of information from new opening times, a new appointment booking process, or a new product/service is available.
The natural instinct is to produce a graphic that displays all this information so that your loyal customers know what’s going on. But, a graphic is only a great tool if used correctly.
When creating a graphic. try and present your message as clearly as possible by minimising the number of words/content and only including the key message. All key points that you make can be explained further in the accompanying post – which your loyal customers will definitely read.
An overcrowded graphic not only looks unprofessional and cheap, but it can also deter followers from taking note of all the information as it’s too daunting to read – or even worse, the content is too small/blurry that it’s unreadable.
Graphics should be used in order to draw people’s attention to the post, where they can find out more information. Not as a one-stop-shop infographic bombarded with information.
Actionable Tip
Less Is More – Keep your graphic simple. It can literally read ‘*Insert Business Name* Announcement – Read Post’. Alternatively, only provide key information ‘Opening Date/Times’, and ‘Bookings Available’ with an instruction to see the full post for full details.
Monthly Summary
- Utilise Templates – Take the majority of design work out of creating incredible graphics by utilising templates.
- Talk Business – Have two separate social media accounts for your business and personal profiles.
- Less Is More – Keep posts simple, don’t over complicate posts and make sure all important information is clearly displayed.
If you are interested in finding out more about the digital presence of your small business and how it can be improved, get in touch with us at Digidol for a FREE 1-Hour Consultation!
