Can Social Media Grow Your Business?
Social media is redefining the way people communicate. What began as a fun way to connect with friends has evolved into a worldwide platform to spread ideas, share adventures and opinions. Social media is making our world a smaller place.
Social media has also become an effective marketing tool that can benefit all types of businesses, big and small. At Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we can help you establish a robust, interactive social media presence that strengthens your brand, inspires customer loyalty and grows your bottom line.
An Affordable Marketing Platform
One of the best advantages of social media over conventional advertising is cost. Aside from your time (which is valuable, of course) the costs are low and the benefits are high.
Social media takes an inbound approach to marketing that helps businesses get found online. It can attract prospects and strengthen relationships with your existing customers.
Similar to other marketing activities, social media can introduce prospective customers to your brand and lead them to your website to learn more about your product or service.
Getting Started
When you look at all the social-media platforms that now exist, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Where do you start? Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Google Plus, etc. The list seems endless!
The good news is you don’t need to master them all. Identify your target audience and determine where your potential customers are hanging out online. Then choose just one or two platforms for starters. Most are easy to use, and you’ll quickly become comfortable navigating them.
Before you begin posting, spend some time observing. Take note of which posts get the most reader involvement and which people and businesses have a strong, supportive fan base. Follow their lead as you begin coming up with ideas for your own content.
Tell, Don’t Sell
While your reason for participating in social media may be to grow your business, you’ll want to be low-key in pushing your product or service. You can occasionally include discounts and coupons or promote new releases but don’t go overboard. It’s just not “sociable.”
As in real life, people on social media don’t want to be sold to. If you come across as pushy or self-serving, you’ll find your audience dwindling instead of growing.
A better approach is to make it your mission to share useful information relevant to your field. You can eventually earn the right to promote by being helpful first.
What to Say and How to Say It
At the root of social media success is good content. Be interesting. It’s that simple. Provide valuable tips or links to industry-related articles. Post photos, video clips, screenshots, graphic design, and anything else that’s relevant.
Explain how to solve a problem and your contacts will soon look to you as a trusted authority in the field. They may even share your content with their own network of friends.
Provide a blend of fun, serious, entertaining, helpful, and heart-warming posts to further your audience engagement.
Even though social media gives you the ability to interact with hundreds or thousands of people at once, you’ll still want to write your posts as though you’re talking to an individual. Be conversational and add a personal touch whenever possible. Employing these simple tactics will help you forge a connection with your audience.
True Communication Goes Both Ways
Part of the beauty of social media is that you not only get to tell prospects about your business, you also can find out what customers think of it. You’ll get instant feedback with every post. Think how valuable that can be.
You can test new ideas. You can solicit opinions. You can talk about future plans and gauge reactions. You may even hear complaints, providing you an opportunity to respond and fix problems that otherwise might have gone unnoticed and unresolved.
If you look upon social media as two-way, interactive communication, you will build stronger relationships with your existing customers while elevating your image as a business that truly cares about the people it serves.
Seek Long-Term Benefits
The positive effects of social media marketing are cumulative. Think marathon versus race. Don’t expect instantaneous results. Over time, provided you post quality content regularly, you’ll acquire a following that grows steadily in both size and loyalty.
Your competitors are on social media. You know they’re there and gaining visibility with each post. You should be there too.
Charlottesville SEO Web Development can help you establish a vibrant social media presence that complements your marketing efforts and contributes to your business success. Give us a call today at 434-284-2840 to discuss growing your business with social media. After hours (Virginia time)? Use the contact form below. We’ll respond the next business day!