There are millions of people on a gambit of social media platforms looking for services and products every single day. Connecting customers to businesses online is no longer a new reality and online commerce will be here for a very long time established by sales records broken many years ago on Cyber Mondays.
While social media maybe perceived as the softer side of sales; it is a very powerful way to build your sales pipeline by building relationships with your customers rather than constantly having to sell. Building relationships create brand loyal of followers and fans who in turn will naturally support businesses that they are loyal to.
But understanding the value of social media platforms in one thing; knowing how to leverage it to build and foster relationships is another. To give you a jump start to this wonderful world, here are 5 ways you can kick off your social media marketing.
1. Choose your social media platforms
Isn’t that cool? You get to choose the social media platforms you prefer, and strengthen your presence there. As you know, each platform is different, so you’ll want to craft your message to span across two to three platforms if possible.
While it’s useful to have a presence on countless platforms, it is critical to spend the most time and energy on the ones that best reach your target audience. And if your time or resources are limited, focus only on one or two that will make the biggest impact to your bottom line.
2. Follow a strategy and a plan
Don’t just throw stuff out there and say you have a social media presence. Your strategy will strengthen your brand, create loyalty, and get your message out. And the plan that you put together to execute that strategy is what will change based on your business strategy. Take some thoughtful time to create a meaningful social media plan for your business, including which platforms you’ll use and how often you’ll post.
Be sure to establish measurable goals for the year so you will be able to see where your strategy would need adjustment based on what you would like to accomplish.
3. Quality over quantity
Know that your followers and fans would rather read high quality content than have their social media feed overflowing with meaningless posts. The more value added posts you offer, the more your readers will value you as a trusted business. This does not mean fun and cute should be missing but a long as you focus on quality over quantity – go for it!
Give your customers informative, engaging content that serves their needs. If your content is intriguing, your followers will want to visit your website to learn more about your products and your company.
4. Create visual excitement
Aside from social media being a highly creative visual platform, thoughtfully crafted visuals can be exciting and the fastest way to grab attention. You can use eye-catching photos, graphics and short video clips to encourage consumers to stop and explore your site. You could attach a how-to video about something relevant to your business, take fun pictures of your office, share information that would enhance your business and so much more fun stuff to post!
Whatever it is, the more flair you can add, the better the connection you will make through these visual exciting posts.
5. Respond to comments
Imagine a customer walking in through the doors or a client calling you on the phone. That is exactly how excited you should feel customers or followers ask questions or make comments on any of your social media platforms. You need to reply quickly with a meaningful response – a fun banter is also cool.
Think of social media as a conversation you will be having with your followers and fans. Each conversation is a connection waiting to be made. Keeping the back-and-forth exchange alive makes your company seem alive and connected. This also means you need to dedicate regularly to monitoring your social media connections.
Use your strategy to engage customers
Utilizing social media to make connections, spread awareness of your company, share about your products and your vision for the community is a powerful and inexpensive marketing platform. But a strategic plan will help you use your business’s resources efficiently while engaging your consumers online. We’ll talk about that in our next blog.
In the meantime, drop me a note and share if you have done all 5 of these!
Fried Rice Social 