In June 2017, Facebook’s monthly user count passed the two billion mark — that’s over 1/4 of the global population. Social media as a whole is growing at a tremendous pace, and more businesses are starting to take notice of its potential in the advertising world. As the number of social media users continues to rise, the reach of social media marketing increases. Seeing as the popularity of social media isn’t going end anytime soon, capitalizing on it will help your business survive in this dog-eat-dog world.
Leveraging social media channels can benefit your business in so many ways. Don’t use social media to market your business because it’s the “new trend.” It goes far beyond that — it’s the future.
Of course, using social media to market your business is easier said than done. It can be quite exhausting. That said, there are some surefire ways to make the whole process easier and maximize your results.
Content
Plan your content
It’s important that you stockpile ideas for future posts and store them on a shared spreadsheet. Having to come up with a good topic in a hurry is no easy task. Make sure to give your employees a chance to share ideas. When you’re planning your posts, be sure to factor in the time it takes to write the content.
Schedule your content
Use a post scheduling tool like Buffer to automatically publish posts at a set time and date. This will save you a lot of time and these scheduling tools are accessible through your phone, meaning you can manage your social media marketing from anywhere.
Outsource the writing
If your team is crunched for time, you should consider outsourcing the writing to a freelancer or agency. The best service providers are those who deliver high-quality work in a timely manner. Outsourcing the writing will allow your team to focus on more important things and ensure that your posts will always be done on time.
Keep it relevant
One of the most important things to remember when marketing on social media is to put out relevant content. Posting about politics when your business sells hiking products may not be the smartest idea.
Analyze and tweak
The needs of your target audience can change quickly, so keeping tabs on the engagement of your content is paramount to making quick adjustments.
Managing multiple accounts
Utilize management software
The last thing you want to do is copy and paste the same post into numerous social media pages. Find a social media management tool that will help you manage both engagement and publishing in one program. Buffer for Business can help you schedule posts, switch from one account to another with ease, and add collaborators. It even provides detailed analytics.
Hire a social media manager
There are numerous benefits to hiring a social media manager.
Save time
If you or your employees have a lot of stuff on your to-do list, hiring a social media manager will give your team some breathing room. Your company is likely spending a lot of time building up its social media presence. While that’s often a good thing, other aspects of your business might be neglected if your team is preoccupied with tasks like publishing posts and replying to comments.
Quick responses to customer inquiries
Responding promptly to customer inquiries 24/7 can be near impossible. Hiring a social media manager will allow you to take some time off while he or she handles replying to messages from customers. It’s important that customers get a quick response so that they don’t feel ignored. If your customers think that you don’t value them, they’ll likely jump ship and go to another company for the product/service that they need.
What most business owners don’t realize is that social media is more than a promotion platform; it’s a tool that you can use to manage your customers. Consumers expect businesses to provide customer service on social media platforms such as Facebook, but only 23% of companies actually meet this expectation. The same goes for Twitter, as around 70% of customer service complaints on the platform are left unanswered.
Ignoring customer feedback on social media — whether it’s negative or positive — can end with you losing a large chunk of your customer base. According to a study conducted by Forbes, 66% of customers stopped doing business with a company after receiving poor customer service on a company’s social media page. Giving appropriate attention to your social media pages is crucial to customer acquisition and retention.
For this reason, it is well worth it to hire a social media manager. Just make sure that you hire a go-getter instead of a couch potato. Having a social media manager that doesn’t interact with customers is like buying a guitar with no strings.
By quickly responding to customer queries on social media, you’ll be able to increase customer satisfaction while receiving invaluable feedback from your consumers.
When a business responds to a customer’s message within a short amount of time, the customer takes notice of your dedication to customer satisfaction. This will show them that you value your customers and that you’re on Facebook for better reasons than just advertising your product or service.
Branding
Publishing content and engaging with your consumers on social media will increase the visibility of your brand. Your Facebook page, Twitter account, or Instagram account can give your company a voice. Additionally, studies show that customers who have liked a brand’s Facebook page are more likely to be loyal to that company.
Organic traffic
Unless you use social media, your inbound traffic is limited to those who are already familiar with your brand and random individuals who are searching for keywords that you rank well for. Every social media account that you manage is another page that leads back to your website, and so every Facebook post or Tweet will deliver new visitors. The more high-quality content you publish on social media, the more traffic you’ll generate, and, as a result, your revenue will also increase.