It is possible to grow your small business using social media. Some of the specific ways in which you can promote your small business’ growth using social media include by:

1. Increasing your business’ website traffic

This is just a matter of consistently creating social media posts, in which you include conspicuous links to your small business’ website. Inevitably, some of the people who encounter those posts will be tempted to click on the links in them [especially if the links are conspicuous]. And upon clicking on those links, they will be taken straight to your business’ website. Once they get to your business’ website, they will get to know about the products or services you are selling. And if the content in your business’ website is persuasive enough, they may be inclined to consider buying the products or services you are selling. Just think about the potential of this strategy. Even if you only manage to get 50 or 100 people to visit your business’ website in this manner, that could still potentially translate into a great deal of business in the long run. You just need to ensure that the content in your business’ website is persuasive and then also ensure that the social media posts with links to the website are properly done. Then you need to be consistent in making the social media posts and within a few months, you will start seeing results, in terms of sales originating from the social media posts. Just don’t go overboard with this (and other related strategies), lest you be accused of spamming.

2. Getting more people to know about your business

One of the biggest challenges you will face when it comes to marketing your small business is that of [simply] getting a huge enough number of people to know about the enterprise. Social media can come in handy here. It is just a matter of making social media posts mentioning your business’ name and the types of products or services it deals in. Over time, the people who keep on encountering these social media posts will come to view your business as the first port they should call on whenever they want to buy the products or services you are selling. And this is likely to translate into a great deal of business in the long run.

3. Getting more people to consider buying from you

The idea here is to make social media posts with persuasive messaging on why the readers/viewers should buy the product or service you are selling. So you come up with social media posts containing your products’ or services’ strongest selling points. Chances are that many of the people who will come across these social media posts will ignore them — as they won’t be looking to buy the product or service you are selling at that particular point in time. But the few individuals who happen to be seeking to buy the products or services you are selling who come across the social media posts are likely to be drawn to them. And if the arguments in them are persuasive enough, they will end up placing orders for the products or services you are selling. All you need to do is ensure that you prominently display your contact details within the social media posts. This way, the people who are persuaded to buy from you can place their orders with ease.

4. Bonding with your customers

This is where, for instance, you can create a Facebook page for your small business, and invite your customers to consider joining it. It is similarly where you can create a Twitter and/or Instagram page for your business and invite your customers to consider becoming ‘followers’ in it. You can even create a YouTube channel around your small business, and invite your customers to consider subscribing to it. Once they become members/followers/subscribers to your social media accounts, it would mean that they would be regularly exposed to messaging from the business. In other words, you would get a chance to bond with the customers and to create some sort of personal relationship with them. This is important because later on, when they have to make buying decisions, they are more likely to buy from your business [with which they have a personal relationship] as opposed to a competitor who has made no effort to bond with them.

5. Understanding your customers’ feelings

Closely related to the aspect of bonding with your customers is that of getting to understand their feelings. Yous see, the way most social media platforms operate is such that the members/followers/subscribers are allowed to make comments on the stuff that is posted there. You just need to make posts related to your business then watch the comments that are made to those posts, to understand what your customers feel about the various aspects of your business. You can go further and make an effort to check through posts about your products or services made elsewhere in social media (not necessarily in your business’ social media platforms). So you check the posts there as well as the comments below them. Through those, you can get to understand what people truly feel about your business and the products or services you are selling.

6. Improving the value/profile of your brand

This is just a matter of consistently making social media posts in which you prominently mention your business’ brands name(s). The people who keep on encountering the social media posts with the said brand name(s) are likely to start developing attachments to the brand(s). At least this will happen at the subconscious level. And it is inevitable – we always start falling in love with what we are frequently exposed to. It is, for instance, the way we come to love the songs that enjoy a great deal of airplay in the media, even if they happen not to be the best songs. But just because we keep on hearing them in the radio so frequently, we now start believing that they are actually the best (even if there are in fact other better songs out there, only that they are not enjoying as much airplay). You can use a similar strategy, to grow your brand(s): by way of making frequent social media posts featuring your brand name(s). In other words, your business brand’s profile is likely to grow in the eyes of the people who are exposed to the social media posts promoting it. Then when such people happen to be seeking to buy the products or services you are selling, they will be inclined to buy those brands to which they have been exposed, as opposed to buying other brands that are completely alien to them. The most important thing is for you to be consistent in your brand building efforts through social media. Don’t expect instant results. But if you are consistent, you are likely to start seeing your business’ performance improving — on account of the brand building efforts undertaken through social media.

One of the questions we tend to encounter in entrepreneurship forums is on which businesses can be started with little capital. This question is usually posed by folks who find themselves yearning to launch small businesses, but with severe capital limitations. It is not an easy question to answer, as operating conditions vary from place to place. Furthermore, what may look like ‘small capital’ to one individual may turn out to be ‘massive capital’ to another individual. These facts notwithstanding, there are certain suggestions that keep on coming up whenever discussions on businesses that can be started with little capital are held. They include:

1. House cleaning services business

To launch a house cleaning services business, all you need to have is the cleaning equipment and the cleaning materials. The cleaning equipment can be hired. So you don’t have to pay for it upfront. Which therefore means that all you really need to pay for upfront are the cleaning materials – and these are typically not very costly. Once you have the cleaning materials and the cleaning equipment, the next step is to print out brochures informing people in the neighborhood(s) you are targeting that you are offering house cleaning services. So you ensure that you include the phone number you can be reached at in the brochures… The whole venture is surely unlikely to cost you more than a hundred bucks. Yet if you distinguish yourself by providing high quality house cleaning services, you could soon find yourself generating a lot of revenue, in spite of having invested so little money in the business…

2. Lawn mowing services business

All you need to have, to launch a lawn mowing business is the mower! And as it turns out, the lawn mower can be hired. So you don’t have to buy one upfront. Once you have hired the lawn mower, you can simply print glossy brochures informing people that you are offering lawn mowing services. Then you distribute the brochures to people in the neighborhood(s) you are targeting with your lawn mowing services. You just ensure that that you indicate the phone number you can be reached at clearly in the brochures. Then you wait for the phone calls to start streaming in. If you offer decent lawn mowing services, you could soon find yourself enjoying a great deal of business. That in spite of having spent so little money to launch the enterprise.

3. Graphic design business

Okay, this is a slightly more complex business to start than the house cleaning and lawn mowing businesses above. But it can still be started with modest capital. You first of all need to have decent graphic design skills. Those you can acquire through online tutorials, if you are tenacious enough and if you are reasonably talented. Then you can rent any sort of office, bring your computer or laptop there (with the appropriate graphic design software)and get going! If you market your services aggressively, you may soon start making quite a bit of money.

4. E-books selling business

This is the sort of business you can run from the comfort of your bedroom, if you have some sort of computer (laptop or desktop). So you just write e-books in a niche that you are knowledge about and offer them for sale online. You can even opt to market other peoples’ e-books for a commission, if you can’t write your own. It may admittedly take some time for you to start seeing the money. But if you are aggressive enough, there is no reason why you shouldn’t find it lucrative in the long run.

5. Real estate agency business

Here, all you need to do is acquire any sort of office, get a phone number and put a sign outside indicating that you are a real estate agent! You can also advertise in the local press and online [which is initially not as costly as you may imagine]. Soon, people who want to sell or rent out properties are likely to contact you, requesting you to find them buyers or renters. Similarly, people who are looking to buy or rent properties are likely to start contacting you, requesting you to help them find properties on sale or rent… Soon, you would be earning lots of commissions.

6. Events planning business

In this case, you first need to acquire the necessary events planning skills. This you can do through affordable online courses. You should endeavor to acquire some certifications, for credibility purposes. Then you set up on office somewhere (you could even start with a home office) and publicize the fact that you are offering event planning services. Soon, you are likely to start getting inquiries from people who are in search of event planning help. The equipment you need to set up events (tents, chairs, tables, catering equipment and so on) can be hired in the earlier stages of the business life. Meaning that you don’t have to spend a lot at the outset.

7. Snacks vending business

All you need to do here is get some sort of premises/space in a high traffic area. Then you acquire the necessary food handling certifications. After that, you buy (or initially hire) the equipment you need to be making the snacks. Finally, buy the ingredients and prepare the snacks. [Or you could start out selling snacks prepared by other people for a commission]. Then you go into business. Easy peasy.

8. Photography business

All you need to have in this case is a decent camera (and professional photography skills). If you can’t afford a brand new one, you can start with a second hand camera which you can buy with ease online. As for the photography skills, you can acquire them through online courses and practice. Then you acquire a ‘studio’ to be operating from — which can be any sort of office, including a home office. Thereafter, you publicize the fact that you are offering photography services. Soon you start getting business.

9. Computer services business

There are still individuals who need help with typing documents, printing, photocopying, lamination, document binding and so on. This is a line of business you can venture into with relatively little capital. All you need is some sort of office to be operating from, ideally in a high-traffic area. As for the necessary equipment, you can initially rent it. Or you can buy relatively cheap equipment for computer services business from the second hand market.

10. Affiliate marketing business

In this sort of business, you don’t need to have your own inventory. You get to sell other people’s inventory online, for a commission. Neither do you even need to have some sort of office. You just set up a website (even a blog will do), and include affiliate links in it. The challenge is in how to get traffic into the website, but if you are really aggressive about it, you will soon start getting traffic. When people follow your affiliate links and subsequently buy whatever you are selling, you would get to earn commissions. And it can be quite lucrative in the long run.

As an upcoming entrepreneur, you may find yourself in a situation where you have to make a decision on the specific type of small business to start. At that point, you may be confronted with several small business ideas, which you have to evaluate and ultimately make a decision on which one to start. This is always a difficult evaluation to make, as each of the business ideas under consideration is likely to have its pros and cons. One way in which you can make progress in this evaluation is by asking yourself the right questions. And in this article, we will be highlighting some five relevant questions to ask yourself in that regard (while evaluating small business ideas). The said questions — which can come in handy at the small business idea evaluation stage — include:

1. How much money would it take to implement each of the business ideas?

Different business ideas come with different capital requirements. Yet given the amount of capital you actually have at hand, you will find that there are some business ideas you can afford to implement. And others you can’t afford to implement. Thus an important question you can start with, when it comes to small business idea evaluation, is the one as to how much money you actually have/can raise. Followed by the one on what it would actually cost to implement each of the business ideas under consideration. The answers you give to this particular evaluation question shouldn’t be based on guesswork, but on proper research. So you need to undertake whatever research it takes, to understand what it would [truly] cost you to implement the each of the business ideas under consideration. At the end of the day, the business ideas that are too costly to implemented would be eliminated.

2. How much effort would it take to implement each of the business ideas?

Different business ideas require different levels of effort to implement. The truth is of course that there is nothing like an ‘easy’ business in this world. Every business comes with a certain level of complexity. That being said, you find that there are some business which are definitely much harder to start (and run) than others. So what you may need to do here is visualize yourself starting and running the various businesses that are under consideration. Just see how much work you would need to do, in the name of launching and running the business. Then ask yourself whether that is an amount of effort you are willing (and able) to put in. At the end of this particular analysis, you may find that some of businesses you had in mind are simply unviable: on account of the amount of effort necessary to launch and run them.

3. How profitable would each of the business ideas be?

There are certain lines of business that are known to be highly profitable, and others that are known to be only modestly profitable. Thus one of the considerations to be made while trying to find out which business line to venture into is that of profitability. And this is where you try to find out how much revenue you are likely to generate, say, per month if you venture into any of the businesses under consideration. Then you try to find out how much money you are likely to spend, say, per month if you venture into any of the businesses under consideration [to keep the enterprise running]. The objective is to ultimately settle on the line of business where you are likely to get the best returns on your investments. But this consideration has to be made in light of others – like the ‘effort requirements’ consideration we made earlier. So you may find that a given line of business would give you very good returns, but it would require too much effort on your part. Or you may find that a given line of business would give you excellent returns, but the risk of burning your fingers is simply too high [see question 4 below]. So you instead settle on another line of business where the returns are more modest, but where you also don’t have to overwork yourself or put your investment at too great a risk.

4. What risks does each of the business ideas come with?

Every investment comes with a certain level of risk. But there are some lines of business that are known to be riskier than others. Usually, the matrix is such that the riskier businesses also tend to be more profitable. The less riskier business conversely tend to be less profitable. All said and done, one of the considerations you have to make, while trying to analyze business ideas, is the one on risk. You shouldn’t ignore this aspect. And the business you ultimately settle on should be one whose level of risk you are comfortable with. In that regard, you may find a certain line of business that is potentially very highly profitable, but whose level of risk is simply too high for you to cope with. So you opt to forego it, in favor of another somewhat less profitable business, but one whose risk profile you can cope with…

5. How knowledgeable are you about the respective lines of business?

As a general rule of the thumb, you are more likely to succeed if you venture into a line of business that you have proper knowledge of. Or at least one that you have some familiarity with (as opposed to something you just encountered last week). Therefore one of the questions you need to ask yourself, while evaluating various business ideas is on what you really know about each of the businesses under consideration. If you know next to nothing about a particular line of business, it would be inadvisable for you to venture there. Yes, it is possible for you to ‘learn on the job’, but chances are that you are likely to have lost a great deal of money by the time you understand how the business actually works. You are generally likely to be already knowledgeable about business lines that you have attempted in the past. Or lines of business you have worked in in the past. Or business lines that are aligned with what you studied in college… The most important thing, in the final analysis, is to ensure that the line of business you venture into is one that you are quite knowledgeable about. Against that background, businesses that were under consideration, but which you realize that you are not very knowledgeable about, would be eliminated.

Why do small businesses fail? This is a question that tends to come up almost daily in entrepreneurship forums. It is actually one of the most discussed questions in entrepreneurship forums. And it is not hard to see where the interest in this question comes from. Don’t we keep on hearing grim statics on small business failure rates – where we are told that up to 95 percent of new small businesses don’t live to see their fifth birthday? Given those figures, isn’t it only rational for people who are launching or running small businesses to want to know why others before them have failed (in order to avoid the same fate)? That then, is the background against which the discussions on the leading causes of small business failure are held. And in this article, we seek to add our input to that debate: by highlighting what – according to our research and experience – are the leading causes of small business failure. Those include:

1. Lack of adequate capital

For a small business to succeed, it needs to be adequately capitalized. If you are operating an undercapitalized small business, and competing against well-capitalized enterprises, you will be at a huge disadvantage. That is because the well-capitalized enterprises are able to leverage on the capital resources at their disposal to create competitive advantages for themselves. And relying on the competitive advantage created in that way, they are able to [soon or later] push the undercapitalized enterprises out of business. As a small business owner, what you need to do in this regard is to ensure that the line of business you venture into is one for which the amount of capital you have is adequate. Don’t try to bite more than you can chew, by venturing into a line of business than requires more capital than you have.

2. Improper marketing

The only way in which a small business can attain any real form of success is by making sales. If a small business is unable to make sales, it won’t survive. Now for a business to be in a position to make sales, it needs to undertake proper marketing. It is through the proper marketing that people get to know about the small business and the products or services it is selling. It is also through the proper marketing that people are persuaded to actually consider trying out whatever products or services the small business is selling. Challenges tend to arise when some small business owners opt to neglect the marketing aspect, and just assume that ‘business will come by itself’. Others opt to go about the marketing aspect in the wrong way — not targeting specific market segments, not spending enough on marketing, ignoring social media… and so on. The way to avoid this mistake is by thinking about the customer you are targeting in your small business. Then you ask yourself the question as to how you can get that customer to know about your business. And how you can persuade the customer to actually consider buying the product or service you are selling for the first time. And finally on how, having gotten him to try the product or service you are selling, you can get the customer to become a repeat buyer. Do whatever it takes to achieve those objectives and your marketing will be a success.

3. Poor quality control

If a small business is to survive, it needs to be selling its customers products or services that are of a decent quality. Many small businesses fail when the owners allow the quality standards of the products or services they are selling to fall to intolerable levels. What you need to develop are procedures that are to be followed consistently to ensure that the quality of the product or service being sold in your business never falls drastically. Remember, however well you do your marketing, if the product or service being sold is of questionable quality, you won’t succeed. People who try it out and find it to be of poor quality won’t buy it again. Worse still, word will spread about the poor quality of your product or service with terrible results for your business.

4. Poor hiring decisions

This is where we see entrepreneurs hiring people who are either under-qualified or overqualified for various critical jobs in their businesses. When you hire people who are under-qualified, you almost certainly find that they lack the skills and confidence to perform the roles you assign them properly. These potentially leads to a decline in the end product that the customer gets, which in turn leads to a decline in the business. On the other hand, if you hire people who are over-qualified, they tend to approach the jobs with the wrong attitudes, putting off customers and eventually leading to business decline.

5. Poor human resource management

Whereas some small business owners are able to make the right hiring decisions, they are unable to manage the hired staff properly – leading to disastrous results. You may find an enterprise that is able to hire the right people, but is thereafter unable to give them proper training, leading to very poor performance. You may find another enterprise that subjects is employees to harsh supervision, leading to very poor performance. You may find yet another enterprise that is unable to pay its employees decent wages, leading to terrible performance… the list of HR management blunders that cause small businesses to fail is long. The most important thing for you is to understand the principles of proper HR management and follow them to the letter, to keep your enterprise from failing on this account.

6. Improper financial management

We see many small businesses failing when the owners are unable to properly manage their revenues and their expenditures in the right manner. The starting point, when it comes to avoiding this mistake, is to ensure that you have a proper accounting system. Through the said system, you can keep track of the money coming into and the money going out of the business. You then need to put in place policies to maximize your business’ revenues, while minimizing the business’ expenditures. The latter aspect (of minimizing the business’ expenditures) has to be implemented without compromising the business’ operational standards. You need to ensure that the business always has a health cashflow, that the suppliers and employees are paid on time and generally that the business’ finances are managed in a prudent manner.