Every business makes it a point of duty to engage in strategies that would help in making more sales and generate more revenue as this is the only pathway to real growth. When looking to achieve this, the first thing to do is look for the right marketing model that would be a catalyst to enhancing the sales of the products and services.
However, marketing as we know it today has evolved and the marketing tactics that worked a decade ago might not be as effective right now. As the world is changing, there is the need to continually look for the reigning trends and use them to the advantage of your business.
Businesses currently use social media for marketing by connecting with current customers and prospects on various social media apps. When it comes to marketing, one of the surest avenues to do it in the current world is through social media. The various social media apps have truly helped a lot of businesses to make a lot of sales when the opportunities they present are properly harnessed. We currently have about 2.6 billion people who are making use of the various social media platforms and there is a great prospect of the
number increasing at a geometric rate in the next few years. What this means is, you can easily reach close to half the population of the world through the effective use of social media to market
your business and that is truly huge.
What are the Benefits of Social Media Marketing?
Statistically, over 70% of businesses use social media for marketing their products, and a whopping 95% of marketers or more make use of social media marketing. What this means is social media marketing is huge and you should consider getting on the bandwagon too. Do you think all of the businesses that are making use of social media marketing would be using it were it not to be great? If you are not convinced yet, here are some benefits that businesses derive through using social media as a marketing tool.
Helps in Creating Awareness and Conversations about Your Business
Social media marketing would greatly help in creating awareness about your business much more than any other form of marketing platform could do. Social media is like a the community where people talk and share every piece of information.With the effective use of social media, you can be sure that the people would be fully aware of your business. Contents regarding your business would be shared among the various members of the community and they would get to talk about your business and the options it provides between themselves and this would create awareness about your business.
It is Cheap to Use
Unlike other forms of marketing, social media marketing is quite cheap and you wouldn’t need to break the bank to achieve a great result. All you need do is to create an account on any of the platforms like Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram and make the space very engaging. The only real expense you can put into social media marketing is probably to hire a social media manager and a brand influencer. Considering the reach and the amazing success stories behind social media marketing, it comes cheap and you should consider using it for your business too.
Allows You to Connect to Customers
One of the best benefits a business can get from social media marketing is the fact that it allows the business owners and handlers to connect with the customers. A lot of businesses probably don’t know how important this is or could be. This emotional attachment of knowing you and being able to reach out to you could lead to a great relationship between you and your clients and go as far as creating brand loyalty.The benefits are limitless and this is why you must also consider using social media to market your business henceforth.
How to Use Social Media for Marketing Your Business
Now that you know social media marketing has a lot in store for you and your business, it is important to also know that social media marketing involves a lot of effort and expertise. You possibly can’t just put in a poor shift and expect some miracles to happen just because social media marketing is great. To reap the bounty rewards of social media marketing, you must pay great attention to details and follow the footprints of businesses who have done what you are about to do now in the past and did well at it. You are supposed to do better than your predecessors as that is what would guarantee instant success. So, if you are looking to start using social media marketing for your business, we have put together a list of some of the steps you must take to truly have a chance at being successful at it.
Do a Thorough Research
Research is probably one of the most important things every serious business must continually invest in to have a real shot at success. This is notion is also important when looking to use social media marketing. The worst mistake you can make is to just jump on the train and hire a social media manager to start posting and tweeting without thorough research. This would amount to nothing as you would probably only be doing the right thing the wrong way. To be truly successful at this, you must do thorough research of key things in the market you are operating in, your competitors as well as the demands and taste of your target customer before starting your social media marketing voyage. You should try and understand what your competitors are doing and why they have been accepted. If you could, you should try and learn from both their successes and failures.
Create an Engaging Page
A social media page is supposed to be social and fun. This is the real essence of creating it and it is what would ultimately drive serious traffic to it. Truth be told, no one wants to be on a page that is boring, bland, and unexciting. What would make people fall in love with your page are the contents you create. As much as you could, try to always look for a way to create amazing contents that would make your target audience look forward to your future posts. They should miss you and look forward to more of your posts. This is what would keep them on your page and once you have been successful in keeping them, they would surely see your business posts and make buying decisions. To truly excel in this, you could hire the services of a social media manager as such an individual
would have much more time and the expertise to provide the needed contents that would keep people glued to your page. Instead of spending a lot of productive time doing what you are probably not too good at it, delegate it to a professional and you would be better for it.
Follow up With Your Audience
It is of utmost importance to follow up with your audience as this is the surest way to be successful at social media marketing. Earlier, we revealed the amazing stat detailing how individuals tend to buy on emotions. This is very true and you should learn how to make use of this to your advantage. You should learn how to follow up and engage with your clients. Follow them, discuss salient issues as it relates to the business with them, and get them involved with the goings with your business. People like it when they are being carried along. It would look like a seal of approval to them. They would feel loved and wanted as probably even see themselves as a stakeholder in your business. You must not make the mistake of failing to use the emotion game to your advantage as it works wonders.
Do Targeted Postings for Effectiveness
For your social media marketing to be effective, you must do targeted postings from time to time to ensure great reach. This is the importance of the research we talked about earlier. The same thing does not work for everyone and to carry everyone along, you need to do targeted postings. To be much more effective, you should have more than one social media platform for your business. The truth is each social media platform has a greater reach with a distinct set of people. For instance, LinkedIn is known to be much more popular with professionals. When you need to reach the professionals, for example, you might do a targeted posting to them on LinkedIn as they are there in abundance. With this, you would be sure of a greater reach and your posting would have greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Use a Lot of Videos
There is a magic that comes with videos and that is why nearly all the social media apps have given room for them in their platforms. A video has a way of telling a story in a much better way than a picture or written words would do and that is why you must ensure you use this wonder to your advantage. Do you know that as much as 68% of people have come out to say they are more likely to patronize a brand that uses video? advertisements than they would another that do not make use of it? This shows people love videos and how it portrays its messages. The messages are clearer, more exciting,emotional and much more convincing.
Do Promos and Giveaways
Promotions and giveaways are a real source of getting the attention of new clients and thanking the old ones. What better place to do them than on social media then? When you do promotions and giveaways on social media as a means of marketing, the effects could be massive. The first thing you are doing is creating a lot of awareness about your business because people would talk about it as much as they could. Every one of us likes some freebies and people would even go as far as informing their friends on social media about a bumper discount or promo going on somewhere. This would heighten conversations about your brand and your business would trend across social media.
Use Influencers
When it comes to social media marketing, one of the best ways to go by it in recent times is to use social media influencers. A social media influencer is someone who has a large following on social media and is respected by followers because of their perceived knowledge in a field. This set of people usually have a huge influence on their followers and the followers are likely going to follow their recommendations on things (especially in the areas of their expertise). Many businesses have reaped in bounties by engaging influencers in marketing their products and you can do the same. However, when looking to hire a social media influencer, make sure such an individual is an authority in the field you operate in as this would add to the credibility and enhance the
effectiveness of the strategy.
Tell Your Story
One of the best ways to use social media marketing to your advantage is to use it in telling your story. Sometimes, it is easier to win people over by telling them your story
(as in the story of your business). Let them know how it started, what prompted you into starting the business, the challenges you have had to face, the failures you have encountered and the success you have been able to attain. This alone could be what is needed to make some people your lifelong follower and client. Do you actually realize people tend to associate themselves with stories that are similar to theirs or what inspires them? There is a lot that would be inspired by your story and others would have gone through the same process and hearing your story would create an emotional connection with you.

Social media marketing offers a lot of opportunities to both established and budding businesses to leverage in making great sales number and significantly increasing their revenues. The testimonies are amazing and the statistics behind the success are mind-blowing. Take the first step to using them today and your business would be the better for it.

Related Questions

How can I make the best out of social media marketing?
Making the best out of social media marketing requires a lot of dedication and expertise.
You need to be up for it at all times and do a lot of research to have a real chance of doing well.
Which are the best social media apps for marketing?
The answer to this is not straightforward. You have to understand the industry you are serving and find out which is the best social media app for such an industry. However, most social media apps would be effective if used in the right way.