If the target group is Gen Z, it’s best to turn to TikTok. If the target group is Gen Y (millennials), it’s best to turn to Instagram and YouTube. Also, Gen Z is present on Instagram and YouTube, so it’s important to analyze data of each platform before diving in to market.

Lastly, it is important to analyze available formats and understand what best works for your industry. For example, on one hand, videos lend themselves beautifully for makeup or cooking tutorials.

Small businesses can leverage Instagram Live and Facebook Live to boost customer spending in a few ways. First, small businesses can partner with influencers and invite guests relevant to their industries to provide valuable information (e.g., healthy recipes to boost your immune system during the pandemic) to their customers.

Small businesses can hold their own live sessions where they tell their customers (including ex-customers and potential customers) what is new in their stores and how to buy during the pandemic, e.g., curbside pickup or seeing the items “in person” through FaceTime.

The first step on your social media journey is to do research—do your homework! Research where your target audience is “hanging out,” so to speak, virtually?

Also, if you are going to hire help, do not hire interns or entry-level [employees]; social media has grown a lot more advanced and its use of analytical tools is on the rise. There needs to be a person who will advise you about what strategy to set that makes sense for your target demographic and industry.

The second step would be to understand what content to produce that your audience can binge, so to speak.

Content is still king on social media, and each brand needs to plan it carefully because that content is what gets the customers through the virtual door.

We would advise small businesses to have a budget equivalent to a senior-level marketer’s salary, e.g., $120,000. This is why it is often cost effective to hire an agency—a small business gets a whole team of experienced staff for the price of one employee.

As a last resort, if the small business is really in a budget crunch, hire a senior-level marketer part-time. This person will still be more cost-effective and will provide long-term solutions and anticipate future problems.

There are many ways to measure ROI on social media. Some of the main key performance indicators (KPIs) we use for our clients: follower growth, website traffic from customized links, promo codes for sales, subscribers for newsletters, customers filling out forms to receive sample products (e.g., skincare), or foot traffic to physical stores.

Decide with your agency or marketing person on the ways it makes the most sense for your brand’s goals to measure ROI, and what KPIs you will use to track performance.

It’s important to discuss the common pitfalls, which again [goes] back to working with an agency or a senior-level marketing person, in order not to make those elementary mistakes.

One of the common pitfalls we see with influencer marketing is that small businesses will try influencer marketing for one to three months and make a swift conclusion that it does not work.

It’s important to keep the consumer decision journey in mind—the consumer needs to see your product at least seven times before making a decision to purchase. Hence, allow some time and all your campaigns to sink in before pulling the plug.

Spread out your budget rather than jumping the gun and going in too quickly. Pick influencers as brand advocates who share values with your brand and are there for a long-term partnership.