Social media marketing for business works. However, marketing on social networks can be incredibly frustrating. Achieving consistency and, more importantly, profitability is a huge challenge. In fact, according to a recent survey, only about 10% of digital businesses can confidently say that they’re profiting from their social media marketing campaigns.
You can turn around your social media marketing fortunes and start growing leads and customers right away. However, you may need to change a few things to get results. Here’s where to start social media marketing for business;
Don’t be Afraid to Pay for Social Media Ads
Did you know that the average organic reach on Facebook is only on average 10-20% per post on a Page? The story isn’t much different on Instagram where the average organic reach currently stands at around 10% as well. You cannot depend on these numbers to drive a meaningful campaign. If you’re serious about succeeding on social media, paid marketing is really a must. Paid ads and boosted posts have a much higher reach, and you can target your audience.
Leverage Influencer Marketing to Reach even more People
In addition to paid ads and boosted posts, social media influencer marketing is another form of paid marketing that can help you find new customers. If done well, influencer marketing guarantees improved brand awareness, more subscriptions, improved brand sentiment, and ultimately, increased leads. This leverages the word-of-mouth of the influencer to their audience about your product. It’s newer but is showing results.
Reach New Markets with #hashtags
Found on nearly all the major social media networks, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, hashtags are an important tool to use. They allow you to contribute to trending topics where you’re literally guaranteed to find new followers. Explore and experiment with popular hashtags by doing searches or using online tools that gauge reach. Do not just use random popular hashtags, they must be tied to your product/service.
Use Interactive Content to Boost Engagement
Social media is saturated. Currently, more than 52% of U.S. SMBs post on various social networks daily, with 94% posting at least once a month. All these businesses want attention. To keep your followers and gain new followers amidst such competition, you need interactive content. Polls, Q&As, quizzes, and surveys are excellent at grabbing attention and keeping consumers engaged. Instagram Stories just rolled out a new quiz feature and it’s these type of ready-made tools that can help you get ahead.
Encourage and Respond to Consumer Feedback
Many marketers still don’t respond to user comments and most of those who do only respond selectively. Don’t make this mistake. Responding to comments is an excellent way to build and strengthen customer relationships. It also enhances customer trust. Businesses that don’t respond to comments lose followers pretty fast!
Use Stories to Drive Engagement Further
Social Media Today reports that more than 500 million Instagram users now use Stories, up from 250 million in 2017. The trend is similar on Facebook where more than 300 million users now use Stories daily. This gives you a valuable platform to drive engagement. But what do you share? How about you start with your team introductions and some behind the scenes videos?
Compare yourself to the Competition – Publicly
Back in the day, consumers had to move from store to store to compare prices and products. Now, they can do it online without leaving the sofa, and that’s huge for them because making purchase decisions becomes easier. Comparing yourself to competitors on social platforms will help them make a decision even faster. Many times businesses are scared to do this but the reality is that the buyer can do the research so why not show them your value over the others right on your site and don’t let them leave!
Rethink your Image and Video Sharing Habits
Plain text is boring. So, images are a must. But, you also need a clear video and image strategy to be successful on social media. Don’t just post any photo and share every video. Instead, find images and videos that resonate with your marketing goals. Quality, original videos that both educate and engage are the best.
It Doesn’t End There
Success on social media takes consistent effort. So, don’t stop at the above 8 points. Instead, always seek new strategies to build strong, lasting relationships. For example, many successful businesses now use social media to provide customer support. You can copy that. Social media can also be the platform where your customers meet your staff! All these tactics will help you acquire new customers while retaining the old ones.
The post Social Media Marketing for Business: How to Get More Customers in 8 Steps appeared first on Mike Gingerich.
Read more: mikegingerich.com
