Social Media Marketing: Leveraging the Modern Marketplace
Many of us understand the concept of a market. In Chandler, we have a farmer’s market: a shadow of the former days of the marketplace, but a place where some still make purchases. At the Chandler market, you can purchase everything from kale to honey to bread, and even artisan crafts and coffee. It is still definately a place where small businesses connect with their customers.
Social media is a modern digital marketplace. It is now an essential point of connection between you and your customers. Think about it. I hear it frequently.
Person 1: “Have you heard about the new coffee shop in Bend?”
Person 2: “No, I haven’t, but I looked up their Instagram, and I’m interested. Hey Siri, get me directions.”
The Marketplace Purpose of Social Media
Instagram, Facebook, X, Pinterest, Youtube, TikTok. These are our Grand Bazaars, our Pike Place Markets. They serve very similar function to those markets have in the past.
First, the purpose of social media marketing is to build up brand recognition with your customers. Creating your “storefront” is essential to people understanding who you are and recognizing you. Brand recognition is a important piece to every marketing strategy in 2025. People are no longer searching for shoes. They are searching for “Nike” or “Hoka” shoes. Your social media presence is where people can learn about your brand and learn to recognize your brand as a quality (or fun or *insert desired adjective here*) product.
Second, the purpose of social media marketing is also to generate leads for your business. This is equivalent to people coming into a booth to make a purchase. Some small businesses are able to do this through generating calls, or clicks into a website, and others sell their wares directly through social media. Either way, it is essential to utilize your interest on social media to turn interested parties into leads.
There are a number of strategies that will benefit your marketing strategy. This is by no means comprehensive, but here are three of the best strategies worth considering.
Strategies in the Modern Marketplace
Strategy 1: Make your Store Appealing
This may sound simple, but it is one of the most important pieces of Social Media marketing. Whatever platform you are on, make sure that your business profile is as completed as possible.
Our business profiles are our “storefronts”, so to speak. It may not be where people initially find you on the platform, but if they like your content enough, they will definitely find themselves at your “storefront” at some point. So, it needs to be appealing for people. Make sure that your profile pic and cover photo are clear and draw people’s attention. Your description should be clear, and showcase your value directly to those who are searching. And your hours/business info should be as complete as possible too.
Sometimes, people do not have all the business information, and that is ok! If you do not have a phone number people can call you with, then you do not need to include one. But the more complete you can make your profile, the more appealing and helpful your storefront is going to be!
Pro Tip: Align your social media branding with your website branding. If they are not similar in style and tone, whenever people click into your website or look you up online, it will be confusing and disorienting for your customers. And, you will probably lose traffic because of it.
Strategy #2: Know Your Customer
Another part of functioning in the modern marketplace is knowing who is coming to your store. This is a foundational part of any type marketing, but that does not make it less important for social media. When you are posting on social media, you want to make sure you know what kind of customer you are reaching.
One factor is the “market” you are going into. There are different demographics in each marketplace, and you want to tailor your information depending on the marketplace. For instance, the users of Instagram, in general, tend to be younger than the users of Facebook. You want to make sure that people who are seeing your posts are actually connecting with them. Additionally, people come to different platforms for different types of engagement. People go to Instagram for short-form video, but for craft information they will go to Pinterest.
The other major factor is who is specifically coming to your store. Even though there are general demographics on different platforms, there are also specific people who are going to be interested in your product. Many times times, the best way to determine your target demographic is to consider those customers who already bought from you. Think about what you know of the people who bought from you previously. What common threads do you see in your previous customers? That will lead you to a better understanding of what their concerns are and what value you can provide to them.
Strategy #3: Make Quality Content
This is the oldest statement in the marketing playbook. But it is the foundational truth for any marketing strategy. In the age of mass-produced AI content, the things that really stand out are the high-quality pieces of content. Providing value to your customers with content helps keep them engaged with your brand, which often leads to them further exploring the value of your product. Additionally, as a contributor to the marketplace of social media, it is important to contribute responsibly, providing valuable things that improve the lives of those you are reaching.
This is not to say that all AI content is wrong, or not good. However, mass-produced AI content generally does not carry the same value as well-thought-through content. If you want to use AI, use it to implement your thoughts well to improve your posts’ value. With social media, quality always stands out.
Just the Beginning of Setting Up Your Social Media Strategy
These social media marketing strategies are a good foundation to begin setting up your storefront. There are other things that are important to consider. What time should you post? How often should you post? Should you boost a post on Facebook? What is the difference between an ad and an organic post? There is a lot of time and consideration that goes into setting up your presence well.
If you need help implementing the strategies in this post, deepening existing foundations, or exploring other questions reach out to me today to discuss a plan. I have experience setting up storefronts in the modern marketplace, and can set up one that meets the needs of your small business too! Adjusting to the modern marketplace is challenging, but with the correct strategies, it is well worth the effort.
