6 Marketing Trends for Small Businesses

Livestreaming Videos

Video has always been an important and popular marketing tool. Customers were wooed for years by expensive, professionally produced television ads. Today, video marketing is much more accessible to small businesses. Short videos on social media have risen in popularity, especially live videos.

“There’s a certain excitement generated from live videos that you can take advantage of for marketing,” writes Kalin Kassabov in her Forbes article “Five Small Business Marketing Trends to Jump On This Year.” “It helps you generate buzz around new products and promotions.”

Several social media platforms use livestreaming video, including Facebook Live, Twitter Live, YouTube Live and Instagram Live. These platforms are transforming how customers engage with videos. “You can interact with your audience in real time and answer questions,” Kassabov wrote. “Livestreaming is a powerful branding tool that helps you engage with your audience.”

Consider livestreaming a league night or when you stock new products.

Social Media Engagement

Facebook is overwhelmingly the most popular social-media platform for small businesses. In fact, 75 percent of small businesses plan to use Facebook in their marketing plans this year, according to Infusionsoft. But to succeed, businesses must focus on engagement. Facebook announced earlier this year that it changed its algorithm to focus on posts from friends and family, not businesses.

That change doesn’t mean small businesses should give up on Facebook. Instead, they should adjust their plans and effort. The Facebook change encourages small businesses to create meaningful content that engages customers. In the Forbes article “13 Ways to Boost Facebook Content Engagement Post-Algorithm Shift,” Forbes’ Communication Council suggests using Facebook stories to target specific audiences by posting videos, and tailored messages and visuals.

Engagement also means holding meaningful conversations with customers. When customers ask questions on your web page, answer them promptly. Social media require interaction. Ask customers to post their hunting photos, and then share them on your Facebook page.

Voice Share

Company websites are another vital marketing tool for small businesses, but simply having a website isn’t good enough anymore. It must be functional and search-engine optimized, and it must be compatible with voice-search technology.

Cell phones and smart-speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo have increased the number of customers using voice search. When customers ask their smart devices questions like, “Where’s the nearest bow shop?” you want your website to pop up. To show up with voice search, your website must use the right key words.