It has never been easier to run social media on a budget. There are several free and easy to use tools that will help you run your social media well. From design to scheduling your posts, here are our top 10 tips to succeed when running social media with limited spend.

1. Be clear about your objectives first, before anything else

Do you want to acquire leads through your social media? Or create awareness around your brand?
Determine your objectives first, then decide how to measure your social media success. Clear objectives will determine the social media strategy that you follow. Refer to your objectives often to keep on track with your goals.

2. Post only when necessary and if it offers value

Only post when you have something relevant and valuable to communicate with your audience. You need to have a deep understanding of what appeals to them.

This will ensure that you focus on quality rather than quantity. Ask yourself if you would find your post interesting; would you click on it?
Would you find it valuable? Quality relevant content that communicates value to your audience is key here. If you post too often, you also run the risk of killing organic reach.

3. Post less and boost more

Post less often and boost your posts to make your budget go further and to ensure your content gets seen. Social media on a budget can help you think strategically – as you will only add budget to a post when you are sure it is necessary and valuable.

4. Free tools to use to help schedule posts

There are fantastic free tools that you can use to schedule your posts. Hootsuite helps you to keep an active presence on social media by scheduling your posts across several social media accounts well in advance.

You can track the results of your social media posts and respond to messages with ease. As a result, you can spend your time running your business without having to worry about manually posting every day.

5. Free tools to use to help create content

Free tools like Canva helps anyone create professional and visually appealing designs, perfect for social media. This will save you time and money.
There are pre-existing templates, tips, and guides that help you create content. Only post content that is valuable and relevant. Your content needs to grab attention. So, with many free tools available to allow anyone to create appealing designs, it has never been easier to run your social media on a budget.

6. Choose the right platforms

Make sure to use the social media platforms that are right for your business. A tip here is to focus on 1 – 2 platforms at first.
How do you choose?

Start by looking at your competitors and which platforms they use. Is their audience engaging with their posts?
It is best to rather focus your energy on a few platforms at first, get those social media platforms looking great, and work on your audience engagement. Then you can look at expanding.

7. Use insights

Gain insight into your audience through Google Analytics, or Hootsuite to help you decide on the best time for posting, the specifics of your audience demographics, and more.

Data on your audiences’ habits will set you up for social media success! Become comfortable using data. This will make things easy when planning your future social media posts.

8. Use a Niche approach

Use a niche and personal approach when creating your content. Be authentic as this allows your brand to engage with your audience on a deeper level. A niche approach will be cost effective – as you can focus on very specific offers towards your audience.

9. Use hashtags to increase reach

Hashtags can help new audiences discover you more easily and can help expand your reach. Hashtags don’t work well on all social media platforms.
Hashtags typically work well on Twitter and Instagram. It is best to do your research. Look at which hashtags your competitors use, and on which platforms hashtags work well on. Only use hashtags that are relevant to your content and your brand.

10. Involve your employees

A quick and free way to share your social media posts with a larger audience is to get your team involved. Your employees can help by creating behind the scenes team content.

Encourage your team to share posts and engage with your content. There are 3 benefits here:
• It is free
• Spreads your message to a larger audience
• Increases the internal marketing of your company to your employees

So, as you can see, it is becoming much easier to run social media on a budget because of all the free tools out there!
All you need to do is stay focused on your objectives, use audience insights to improve your results, and take advantage of some of the great free tools available. So long as your content is authentic and engaging, your presence will be felt, and you will find the right people for your brand.
For a tailored social media marketing strategy that is focused around your objectives, get in touch with us. Our team of social media experts are ready to help.