Before, we used to see commercial advertisements on television. Some products and businesses even hand out flyers, pay for billboards, and make posters for promotion. But as we become an even more internet-reliant species, marketing is quickly being done on websites, emails, smartphone applications, and particularly social media.
Just as any other digital marketing strategy, social media marketing proves to be one of the most effective marketing platforms because it’s free and more direct to consumers. And as a small business owner, you should use social media efficiently to grow your business.
1. Building a credible reputation
Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram also have chat systems and automated features that make your customers easily contact you. This is a huge advantage over businesses without social media because of three reasons:
Emails take time to exchange messages. SMS and phone calls are kind of outdated. Customers prefer quick and automated responses. Although you can set up a website for your business with automated responses, social media is free of use and that’s one reason you should set up your business’s social media page.
2. Attracting potential clients
Social media allows you to advertise your business and appear regularly on your potential clients’ newsfeeds. This makes them think about your brand first when they start to look for services within your business’s niche.
3. Connecting with like-minded business professionals
Compared to traditional marketing techniques where businesses usually badmouth another to gain an advantage, social media marketing does it the opposite way. A lot of small businesses use social media to collaborate with peers in improving service delivery.
Sometimes, these collaborations are made public through status posts to bring customer pools together and improve the businesses’ public images.
4. Knowing your audience
Most customers nowadays prefer to talk about service and product reviews with other customers on social media. You can use this opportunity to know what needs improvement in your business by joining groups reading the exchange of comments.
You can also use the search bar of your chosen social media platform to search for keywords of posts on who’s looking for the kind of products you sell. As a more advanced strategy, the results of your searches can help you define your target market.
For example, if you sell detergent powders, you can use Facebook’s search bar for the “detergent powder” keyword and narrow it down to the app’s marketplace, public status posts, and location. You might be surprised to find out that a lot of laundry services and stay-at-home mothers are looking for a detergent powder supplier in your locality.
5. Starting conversations
To do this, post a survey question on your business’s social media page such as, “What do you like about our product?” and “What can we do more to improve it?” This is an even better strategy than just reading comments and posts because you can get more ideas for product and service improvement when everyone is actively involved.
6. Engaging with your customers
Showing your customers that you care about their buying experience through active engagement is essential in running your small business. This can help you build a credible reputation, inspire customer loyalty as mentioned in #1 and #2, and attract more potential customers through shares and referrals.
However, engaging with your customers is different from starting a conversation. Engaging is more about you commenting, reacting, and showing thanks for their support. So if you already have a social media page for your business, don’t forget to reply to comments, react, and thank your customers for their loyalty.
Have you set up a social media page for your small business? If not, then you’re missing out on a lot of business-growing opportunities. Start now and outperform your competitors!
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