It is crucial for small business owners to know which social media platform works best for them, according to marketing specialist Molefi Moloantoa. “As small businesses, the very reason we enter the social media space is to find new opportunities and turn our presence into sales that will grow the business,” he said. “The hardest part of all of this is trying to understand how to turn followers into sales, (and a) key part of getting this right is by generating attention that can turn into sales.”
Moloantoa was speaking at an information session webinar on how small businesses can take full advantage of marketing opportunities provided by social media platforms, which all have millions of users. It was hosted by the Small Enterprise Development Agency. Moloantoa encouraged small business owners to weigh the options between social media platforms.
“What you do to market your business can vary,” he said. “The type of content you produce can be effective on one platform and not perform at all on others.” Moloantoa also revealed that according to the South Africa Social Media Report published in 2021, out of 38 million internet users in the country, 70.2% used Instagram, 86.7% Facebook, 92.4% YouTube, 49% LinkedIn, 37.5% TikTok, and 59.2% Twitter.
“There isn’t a lot of organic engagement on Facebook for a small business,” he pointed out. “The best engagement traction on Facebook is through paid content, and this involves having a budget for your marketing campaign if you want to spend a certain amount of money trying to reach new customers and drive traffic sales to your website. “A small business must have an extensive social media strategy, content as well as a community management strategy in order to see organic growth. But for a small business this is challenging because of the amount of time you would be spending on social media,” the marketing expert said.
He also pointed out some of the pros and cons of a small business using Instagram. “The best thing businesses use Instagram for is to showcase products and a variety of content,” he said. “Its weakness lies in how it is very hard to tell whether or not your content is driving sales for your business. “The best platform to create sales comes from a combination of a very smart advertisement on Facebook and Instagram, and understanding Google Ads,” Moloantoa added.
