Enhance your business with social media

By Yinka Kolawole, with agency report

MARKETERS have all flocked to a very powerful platform we call the social media. Because who wouldn’t want to take advantage of the benefits of a low-cost marketing campaign with a wider audience reach?

However, just because social media presents a very good deal doesn’t mean you can try whatever other marketers do and expect the same shining outcome. Jill Bennett, a marketing specialist with Atlanta-based LitFire Publishing, enumerated some ways to facilitate the growth of your business by the use of social media.

Networking possibilities

No matter where you look, every corner of the web is full of people. They spend most of their time looking into their friends’ posts, sharing contents that they like and add people into their circle.

How can you would fit into all of this? Get connected with them to gain more followers. Share what you have to say about your products, company or other related posts. Keep them updated on the things that will add value to their lives.

But you have to be careful. You need to add significant people if you want higher conversion rates. And you have to balance your marketing posts. Because if not, then you might as well take down your social media profile and go home. If you don’t know how to harness the networking powers of social media, you might end up adding the wrong people in your circle. Hence, all your content will be wasted since you’re not talking to the right audience. And you might even develop the wrong brand image in the process.

Cost-effective marketing campaigns

Thank God for Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Marketing campaigns don’t have to be too expensive anymore. No more airtime slot reservation or newspaper ad placements. In just a click of a button, your target audience will know what you’re selling immediately.

Aside from that, you can also capitalise on your brand image. When you present a good brand image to the world, it can become the guarantee to make people trust you and your business. Trust me, when this happens, profit is already on its way to you.

However, there are two sides of the coin here. And the other not so nice part can also play the game. Because social media marketing is economical yet effective, you have more competitors lurking in the web. If you’re not active enough, your marketing efforts might be buried under those marketing campaigns who ’talk’ more effectively than you. That is why, you need to make sure that your hard work won’t be put behind the shadow of your competition.

Make friends through social media

When people are talking about you in social media, you can gain a better ranking in search results. According to the 6th Annual Social Media Marketing Report conducted by Social Media Examiner, 60 percent of their marketer respondents said that there is a significant improvement in their search engine exposure and ranking after they started using social media to achieve more traffic in their business websites.

Businesswebsites

On the other hand, if people are talking negatively about you, it might also reflect poorly on your brand image. Since those social media posts will rank first on search engines, people might not trust you anymore. Your business might gain a bad reputation online, which can bring your business down the drain in just a blink of an eye.

Take your customer service to another level

No more call waiting music or expensive telephone bills. In just a click of a few buttons, you can already answer questions and resolve issues from your customers. Moreover, you can give out regular tips on how to effectively use your products and services through your SNS accounts. Instead of calling them for feedback, you can just get their opinions via platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.

But you have to be careful again. There are a lot of instances where a company mishandled a customer issue and the whole world knew about it because it was done on Facebook. And since it’s so easy to rant on social media, your customers might be more inclined to share what they think on your customer service, whether positive or negative. So, always stand on guard and be careful.

Use social media analytics

Take note that one of the secrets of a successful business is knowing your audience. Therefore, you have to know who to talk to instead of wasting your time by marketing to the wrong crowd. But how would you make sure you’re getting the right people?

Socialmedia sites

Social media sites help make it easier to determine your target market. With tools like Facebook Insights, you will know the specific details of who is interested in your products. They are usually the people who view your posts and leave some comments. Like, you will know their language, their age group, their gender and even their economic status. Plus, social media has other numerous tools to help your targeted marketing campaign become effective.

However, you need to take note that interpreting the data can be tricky. There is no way that you can check the accuracy of every information that you get in social media unless you check each profile manually. Remember that anyone can falsify the information they post in their SNS accounts.

So, you still need to double check your data before using it to create a foolproof marketing campaign for business growth. You see, social media can do these things and more for your business. But if youfre not mindful of what you do, there is also a possibility that whatever can propel your company to its growth can also drag you down.

- Culled from: http://www.vanguardngr.com