Social media platforms were initially created so we can keep in touch with our friends. However, soon enough we realized that social media could also be the place where we go for our daily dose of cute cat photos and the place where we can brag to strangers about how fun our last holiday was. However, what businesses realized is that social media is also a great place for reaching out to potential customers and increase their profit. Go on whichever social media platform and search for a famous brand. They will be there. So why isn’t your business still there? Social media can be a real game-changer even for small businesses, and it is time for you to use that to your own advantage.
Building Strong Relationships with Customers
It is a rock-solid fact that everybody is on social media these days. How many times have you seen an ad on Facebook, clicked on it, and ended up buying something impulsively? We’ve all been there. Ads are the simple way of using social media as a business owner, but there are much better ways to promote yourself.
People on social media tend to share interesting content. If you have a killer campaign that captures the attention of the users, the rest will start to fall into place. You don’t even need to pay for advertising because it comes for free organically if users like what they see.
Social media is also a great place for building strong relationships with customers, increase awareness about your brand and build trust. Given the option, users will always choose to contact a business through social media instead of through email, simply because it is more convenient for them. It is a golden opportunity to answer questions from existing and potential customers and tell them why they should choose you.
Increasing Website Traffic
Social media should be a tool that directs potential customers to your website. Sure, now it is possible to even sell things directly through social media, but keep in mind that your website is your main focus.
Regardless if you sell products or offer services, posting frequent updates that link to your website will bring you more leads and directly influence your SEO score in a good way.
Your Personal Brand Ambassadors
Let’s assume you make custom women’s shoes. A happy customer will not hesitate to give you a good review if you do the job right. In fact, you can encourage your existing customers to share photos of them with your product. This can spread like wildfire, and you might even find yourself struggling to keep up with all of the new orders that are coming in!
Even if you own a small business within the service area, your past work and the satisfied customers can still become your brand ambassadors. Are you a painter who just did an amazing decorating job? Snap a photo and share it on social media. If someone who is in need of such a service sees it and thinks you’ve done a great job, they will become interested in your brand and go into the sales funnel.
Which Social Media Platform Should You Go For?
The answer to this question depends on your target audience. But in any case, the more, the merrier, provided that you can properly take care of each of them. Don’t just create pages for your brand everywhere you can, and then forget about them. If a customer tries to contact you and you don’t respond within a reasonable time frame, you will do yourself a bad favor.
The obvious first choice is Facebook. According to Statista, 1.47 billion users visit Facebook daily! And your potential customers are among them. To kick things off, using ads on Facebook is a good idea at least in the beginning. It is cheap, and it will bring you a lot of exposure. You need to determine your target group and specify different characteristics such as age, gender, location, and interest when you are setting up the ads. If you do that properly, the word will get to the right people.
Other social media platforms should not be underestimated either. It all depends on the type of your business. If you have a lot of photos to show to your potential customers, Instagram and Pinterest are the most likely candidates. Videos? YouTube, of course. Direct communication and targeting people by interest? Twitter. You can’t go wrong if you determine where your potential customers are most likely to be.
Social media is a powerful tool that businesses learned to use to their advantage. In fact, people will find it odd if a business is not on social media. Furthermore, there are businesses that even don’t have their own website, but do everything through social media! Don’t miss the potential opportunities that lie in the social media platforms. Work smart and sail with the current instead of against it.