The world of technology is advancing quicker than ever before, which means in order to market your business effectively, you need to keep up! Especially if you want to reach younger generations like millennials, you need to stay on top of your game when it comes to media platforms. For example, over 80% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 are on Facebook, while only 31% of them watch satellite or cable television. Which platform do you think would be more effective to advertise on?
We’re seeing this huge cultural shift continue to happen right in front of our faces, but there are still businesses out there who insist on dumping copious amounts of money into TV ads. Instead, businesses need to be exploring these new social media platforms and investing into the future of their business, rather than being romantic with the past and how things used to be. When things change like this we have two options; we can adapt to the change, or we can be stubborn and let our businesses become obsolete and die. I would argue that the former is a much better option!
Hopefully now you understand how important social media is, and that the Facebook business page you set up two years ago and haven’t touched since isn’t going to cut it. Because understanding the importance of social media isn’t enough; you need to take deliberate action! So here are some tips with you on how to effectively leverage these platforms to market your business.
Optimise Your Profiles
The very first thing you need to do is make sure your social media profiles are set up correctly and contain as much relevant information as possible. That means things like your website, phone number, address, hours, email address, and a good quality profile photo. Your page or profile photo in particular is important because it’s often the first thing that someone will see about you, which means it’s your one chance to make a good first impression! With Facebook pages in particular, you also can add information such as products and services you offer, your businesses story or bio, mission, and more. Also make sure you verify your profiles where applicable.
Create Content
Got your profile optimized? Great! Now it’s time to start creating some content. This is a great opportunity for you to showcase your knowledge and establish yourself as an expert in your field, and to show off your unique branding! Tell everyone all about your business and what you do, but most importantly: how it benefits your customer. When you’re talking about your business, it’s easy to get into the weeds and forget that you’re sharing this information with someone who isn’t as knowledgeable as you. So if you drown them with jargon they don’t understand, your message isn’t going to be very well-received.
Social media is also great for generating PR. Be sure to post about any notable projects or work, any volunteering you do in the local community, or any time you work with another business or brand. In your post, be sure to tag the organization you volunteered for or the work you did with another business. They’ll get notified that you shared content about them, and in return they’ll often share a post about you, which makes for a great way to get in front of a new audience.
One last note on content: don’t be afraid to include a little personality on your social media. A recent study showed that the top two qualities consumers want to see from brands on social media are honesty and friendliness. That’s because people don’t want to do business with your business, they want to do business with you, the people behind the business. The very same study showed that the top three actions on social that prompt consumers to purchase are being responsive, offering promotions, and providing educational content. So keep those things in mind when you’re figuring out what you should start posting!
Ads and Promos
The organic reach, meaning how many people see your post naturally, of social media is on a steady decline. Fortunately, many social platforms have advertising programs where you can pay to have your posts reach more people. So if you’re running a promotion for a discount on your product or service, you can spend a little bit of money to get your offer in front of more people. What’s great about many of these ad products is that you can control who’s going to see your ad. Since these social platforms have so much data on their users (what pages they like, videos they’ve watched, etc.) they can leverage this information to advertisers to help them create highly targeted ad campaigns.
For example, if you own a fishing gear store, you can choose to only show your ad to people who like pages related to fishing that live in proximity to your store. That way your ad campaign is extremely relevant to the people seeing it, which can potentially make your advertising much more effective than a billboard on the side of the road that’s seen by everyone.
Be Social
This might seem redundant, but it’s called social media for a reason; it’s meant for social engagement! So post questions and encourage your audience to answer them in a comment. And when they do reply with a comment, comment right back! Engage in conversation with people on your social media to build relationships with your audience. Many social media platforms have some kind of group feature where you can interact with people who are all in your industry or in your local area, both of which are great places to drive engagement.
But don’t restrict your social tendencies to just the internet, get out there and be social in person too. There are likely tons of in-person networking groups, events, and fundraisers happening every day in your area, so go check them out! When you go to these kinds of events on behalf of your business, be sure to share some pictures and videos of your experience on social media! People love to do business with businesses that are active members of their community.
Can’t find any events going on in your area that you’re excited about? You can also create your own event online and promote it with social media. If you’re hosting a fundraiser at a local golf course, try running an ad on social media at people in your area who like golf! Especially with the Facebook events feature, it’s easy to invite people to your event, track who’s going, provide information about the event, and even sell tickets. There's a ton of useful resources out there to help you learn more about promoting and marketing events, so dive in and spend some time learning how to really make your event a success. By using social media in tandem with your in person social efforts, you can reach even more people and give your business maximum exposure.
