Small businesses in 2020 can start and grow only from their online presence, and often rarely need a physical store. Whether you’re running your businesses from home, or as a “side-thing”, knowing how to navigate the webs and creating a strong and engaging online presence can define your success. (Especially during a pandemic, with everyone staying indoors and all.)

Remember – From this list, you do NOT have to have every single one covered. Its always better to cover one or two platforms properly rather than all platforms but poorly. It’s easy to get carried away and spread yourself thin online. We understand that for small businesses and start-ups, you, the entrepreneur, need to focus on what you’re good at first and perfect your product or service. As you then have a little more time and resources, can start growing and expanding your online platform.

Facebook for Business Page

The easiest way to start with through the social medias. Businesses can run from only a Facebook or Instagram page nowadays. Some examples include restaurants, small “niche” services like mobile car washes, homemade or tailored products and services – all businesses run by passionate, driven and dedicated entrepreneurs.

Facebook can be a simple way to present your business, attract customers and engage with clients by keeping them informed and updated; all without the need for a website! Since you’re technically not limited by word count, or type of media in your posts, with a little skill and creativity, your Facebook page can make a solid first impression online.

By creating a Facebook Business Page, you have access to extensive tools to help you understand your audience, create ads, and present your products. Facebook for Business also comes with its own analytics to understand your people interact and behave on your page and posts. Not to mention the possibility to link your account to an Instagram business account as well to sync up posts.

The key with social media, which can be forgotten, is that you need to continuously engage with your audience and have regular posts. Simply said, but we’ve seen many businesses not being active and miss out on opportunities to gain visibility. Staying active, replying and interacting with your online audience creates that connection and relationship you need with consumers and potential clients. Growing from there becomes then much more possible with the right reach.

Instagram Page

If we can be honest, Instagram caters to a specific online consumer profile: they’re tech savvy, trendy, and visual individuals. Instagram is where you build the visual branding of your business, through pictures, with short captions, maybe some emojis, or a color scheme… Note that Instagram works and attracts an audience differently than Facebook does, and the interactions are unique as well. You can get more personal and informal with your audience as they comment and send Direct Messages (DM’s). There’s also the IGTV feature to post videos which can also benefit your business.

It’s important to understand you your audience and target market is to know which platforms are most important and will benefit your business the most.

Getting your business on Google with Google My Business

Here’s where it gets more serious. Registering your business on Google by creating a “Google My Business” Account so that it appears more easily when someone searches your business on Google. Not only do you have more chances of appearing higher on a google search, but you can register a location for your business, appear on Google Maps, enable google ratings… And if you register with a website, you can have Google Analytics monitor your website traffic and increase your general online visibility.

Creating a Google My Business Account is actually not as simple as creating a page on Facebook or Instagram and require several steps. Thankfully we can take you through the process, and guide you as you get started, helping you get the most out of google along the way.

Why LinkedIn can be important for growth

Another social media platform, LinkedIn is the most professional among others. Businesses and their employees share their company progress, work achievements, which all-in-all help with your business’ professional branding. We mostly recommend businesses to create a LinkedIn when they are past the “start-up” phase, are growing towards being a small-to-medium enterprise or company. It takes a more business-to-business / professional-to-professional approach.

A benefit from LinkedIn is also the possibility of posting job opportunities – this platform’s hiring process can be more practical and trusted than (for example) Facebook since it collects all the professional transcripts and resume of an individual through their account. It’s comparable to Indeed or Glassdoor in terms of hiring people online.

When to invest in a website

Your business can thrive with only its social media platform presence. Small businesses in 2020 can run even only from an Instagram page.

Owning a website may indeed be an investment, but some of the benefits you get include tracking your online traffic, having your own brand present online, a place where you have all your information and can post official and important updates for your audience and customers. The website would be fully customizable to suit your needs and present your business in a way that suits you and them both.

This would although mean investing in a domain, finding the right website name (that IS available), using the right server and host, making sure its secure for you and your clients, among other things. Creating your own website is made easy these days thanks to platforms like Wix, but it takes a good eye, some design experience and a strategy to develop a site that is not only appealing to the eye, but also intuitive and easy to use and navigate. Having an uninspiring and confusing website might not drive business as much as you’d hope…

Thankfully, we not only have experience in the field, but also partners willing to support any website creation initiatives you would need. Whether it’s to build from scratch, or simply get some guidance on giving you website a “glow-up” we’ve cover all kind of grounds!

Last tips on getting online

Small businesses in 2020 succeed because they can easily adapt and find new and innovative ways to reach their consumers and clients. One of the easiest ways to get your name out there is to start building your online presence. These are some of the main platforms and stepping stones to doing so, but there are other platforms that can be useful as well, like YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter and even Tiktok. It all comes down to knowing what your resources and capabilities are and covering these online platforms in a strategic way.

And if you still don’t know where to start, we’re here to lend a hand and guide you through the process! As we mentioned earlier, its always better to tackle what you can instead of spreading too thin, and developing your online strategy is key in succeeding.