If there's one thing that suffers under automation, it's how cold and impersonal technology can be. Sure, we can use AI and data mining to provide a tailored shopping or search experience.

Unlike B2B marketing, which focuses on addressing problems and directing solutions based on the needs of a business, digital marketing to consumers requires folding your audience into your story in a way that allows them to create an emotional attachment to your brand.

Small business owners and savvy marketers know that in order for your promotions and sales efforts to be most effective, you should know as much as possible about your potential customer; what their habits are both online and off, their income, commute habits, communication preferences, etc. 

This all helps paint a picture of their needs, and helps you determine at what point your products or services could be of use to them. This type of personalized data on your customer is incredibly valuable, and one of the reasons why big data is such a rapidly growing market. ​

Yet for most small businesses, finding the right customer at the right time using snippets of demographic and other consumer behavior data can be time consuming and hit-or-miss. Even the best, most thoroughly researched marketing campaigns only convert a small percentage of their target audience. 

Here are five important social media marketing tips and tricks every small business should know to maximize their time and effort online:

As a small business owner, deciding where to spend our marketing budget can be a challenge. On the one hand you may want to be everywhere and not miss an opportunity to woo potential customers. On the other hand, you need to be strategic about your digital marketing spend to ensure you squeeze the most marketing juice out of your campaigns. 

​So how do you discover where your potential customers are hanging out online and how do you engage them there? Luckily we've found some great data to share...

We have a lot of empathy for our small business clients who are struggling to make an impact on social media. It can be a challenge to devote time and resources to managing your social channels. It can be even harder to continue to tread that social water if you're not seeing results in the way of an increase in followers or engagements. 

But if your primary focus on social media is worrying about content ideas and what to post, you may be missing out on opportunities to engage your followers and grow your communities. Here are six things you should be doing on social media besides posting your own content to help you be more a efficient and effective social media marketer:

Brands of all sizes and stripes are finding that they can achieve better brand engagement and greater marketing success with peer-generated, authentic content than they can with more conventional, multimillion dollar campaigns.

There are a couple of reasons for the fun phenomenon. According to a 2016 survey conducted by Olapic, a visual content strategy agency, 76 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations over ads. Also, user-generated content (UGC) is much less expensive to produce and a much more efficient way of reaching customers today where they live and play - online and on social media. UGC marketing strategies rely on visual content that consumers create themselves – a much more affordable option than traditional advertising. Well, if you can inspire them to create it that is.

​So let's get to it. Here are some great examples of brands inspiring fun and engaging user-generated content:

Sometimes you just get stuck. Trying to come up with engaging ideas to wow your blog readers, social media followers, and email recipients can be a challenge - especially for small business marketers! 

But with statistics and pundits pointing to the the growing use of social media, you've got to stay on top of your game. Take this quote from Larry Kim, CEO of MobileMonkey, "According to Sprout Social, about 74% of consumers make a purchasing decision based on their social media accounts." 74 percent! So if you're not taking advantage of these social platforms to engage your customers and drive traffic both to your website and to your place of business, well, you may be losing out on sales. 

So how do you get unstuck and come up with ideas for great new posts and blog articles? Keep this content idea cheat sheet handy and refer to it for inspiration whenever you need it. 

The attention spans of American consumers are waning and the amount of content being consumed is growing. So how can your small  business cut through the clutter and noise and make an impact on social channels and in search engine results? The short answer is: deliver quality visual content. 

This is actually easier than it sounds and can be a lot of fun! And when it comes to creating visual content for your small business, you have the ability to create content on a budget that's just as good, if not better, than the larger companies and brands in your industry. 

 As a small business owner it can be really rewarding to see the success of your local business translate into a positive impact in your community. But it turns out that entrepreneurs who incorporate philanthropy into their business model and marketing don't just benefit from "feeling good," they also tap into additional profitability that can be essential to the success of their enterprise.

For example, you're probably already familiar with TOMS Shoes. The Santa Monica, CA based company donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every one pair of shoes sold. To date, TOMS has given away over 75 million pairs of shoes to children in need around the world as part of its “One for One” program. Turns out that adopting a commitment to a positive social impact is good for business.

So how can you, as a small business owner, incorporate a philanthropic mission with social impact into your business model and marketing plan? We have a few ideas: