Social media has changed how businesses market themselves today. With more than 2 billion users worldwide, one cannot underestimate its potential.
Many business owners use sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram to help their business grow. Today’s tech-savvy consumers also prefer to research companies and products online before purchasing them.
But a few blog posts daily or random status updates will not magically grow your business. Social media marketing, like traditional marketing, requires proper planning and dedication.
Take a look at how to best use social media platforms to build a dedicated clientele for your business.
Create Brand Recognition
Most consumers prefer to buy from the brands they recognize. For this reason, raising awareness about your business has to be your top priority, especially if your business is new.
That’s where social media has a crucial role to play. It can help your brand reach its target audience much easier and faster. However, in order to be effective, you’ll have to invest your time in creating and posting relevant content.
Keep an eye on your profile and cover photo. Place your logo strategically so that it leaves a lasting impression in the viewer’s mind without distracting them. You should also find ways to incorporate images into your brand to make your name or logo more well known.
Establish Your Brand As A Topical Authority
Establishing Topical Authority means making your brand a credible source of information in your niche.
You can achieve this by writing authoritative posts on your company’s blog regularly. The search engines will then start to recognize your authority in that niche. A high authority page will generate high- quality traffic to your website.
New and informative content also keeps your readers active and delighted.
Create Promotional Videos
Promotional videos are a compelling medium to connect with your customers. These short and engaging videos can easily explain a product or service.
For many people, videos are more appealing than dry texts when it comes to learning new things. Hence, creating videos is the best thing you can do when you need to communicate a lot of complex information to your audience!
You can create amazing videos with InVideo’s free promo video maker without watermark.
Link Your Website
Do not forget to add a link to your website in all your social media profiles. It’s not only useful for SEO purposes but also generates more traffic for your website.
The best place to add a link in the “About” or “Bio” section. Your customers and followers can easily find you this way.
Use Hashtags Effectively
When you hashtag things relevant to your post or business, anyone who uses or searches the hashtag can reach you instantly. This can help increase your followers.
Hashtags are most popular on Twitter and Instagram. Try to use hashtags in these platforms as much as possible.
Make Your Content Easily Shareable
When visitors find something they really like on your website, they may want to share it with their friends or social media followers. Make it convenient for them to do that by properly configuring social media buttons on your website or blog.
When they click to share a post, the title, description, and image should be well formatted. Do not expect users to fix things before they click the share button. It can severely limit your reach and hamper your growth.
Add A Strong CTA
Having traffic in your site alone does not guarantee success unless you convert it into paying customers. A strong call-to-action (CTA) is required to motivate your followers to make a purchase.
Strategically placed CTAs can work wonders for your business. Design an appealing CTA and post it on your social media profiles.
The key is to make the whole process from CTA to purchase engaging. Otherwise, it can instantly demotivate your prospects leaving your purchasing cycle incomplete.
Organize Contests, Giveaways, Or Offer Discounts
Everyone loves discounts and giveaways. Regardless of the type of business, this cost-effective and fun method is an impactful way of generating sales. It also acts as product promotion.
Potential customers will start engaging with your brand in the hope of winning something. This is also a perfect way of increasing your brand awareness as news regarding discounts and offers are shared a lot among family and friends.
Engage With Your Customers
Growth of your business is possible only when your customers are happy and satisfied. The key to a good customer relationship is transparency and communication, which all social media platforms foster.
When you engage with your customers online, be careful not to create one-way traffic. Ask questions, encourage feedback, and respond to their queries. Gratify long time customers and active users through discount programs and reward cards.
According to Bain and Company, businesses that engage with customer service requests via social media earn 20-40% more revenue per customer. You don’t want to miss out on that huge a number.
Start Email Marketing
Sending out regular newsletters and promoting offers through email is a great way to keep your customers updated regarding your services. You could also provide useful information and links to pages on your website or landing pages for particular offers.
However, be careful not to bombard your readers with emails. It can lead them to unsubscribe you. Try using catchy email subject lines that will compel readers to open your email.
Be Consistent
With so many providers online, it won’t take long for your customers to forget you if you don’t post consistently on social media.
According to statistics, the recommended number of per day postings on various social media platforms are:
- Pinterest: 5
- Twitter: 3
- Facebook: 2
- Google+: 3
- Instagram: 2
- LinkedIn: 1
Keep An Eye On Competitors
Monitor your competitors to see what type of content they’re posting and how they’re interacting with their followers. You can draw inspiration from those who are performing better than you.
However, don’t try to copy them blatantly. Duplicates don’t sell. Instead, you can tweak their ideas and add your personal touch to it.
Final Thoughts
Your business is unique, and so is its journey. Don’t fret if some of the above strategies do not bring instant success to you.
Learn some social media hacks such as how to convert YouTube to mp3 quickly and safely to stay ahead of the competition and give your content an edge.
Keep working hard, learn from your mistakes, and continue to make improvements. You’ll get there soon!