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Learn social media strategies to gain more customers and interact more effectively with your existing customers.
Social media is an incredibly effective way to interact with new, existing and potential customers.
Not every social media platform is created equal. To develop an effective social strategy, focus on the social channels that best fit your brand.
Social media platforms that work well for businesses include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
This article is for small business owners who want to learn about the use of social media for business and utilize an effective social media strategy.
If your small business does not have a presence on social media, you may be missing out on significant benefits to your brand. Through social media, you can gain new customers and social media account management engage more insightfully with repeat customers. Social media can be a highly cost-effective and personalized way to reach your customers while providing valuable insights into your brand.
“Social media offers the ability to target, as well as reach and scale, at a lower cost than almost all other marketing channels,” said Abdulmohammed, Digital Director and Partner at RBB Communications. “People are on social media all day, every day. Brands should go where people are.”
We’ll explore the most effective business uses of social media, best practices for an effective social media marketing strategy, how to measure social media ROI, and how to choose the best social platform for your brand.
How to use social media for business
Here are some aspects of a business that can benefit from a social media presence:
marketing
Customer service
sales
Recruitment and Employment
Crisis Management
- Use social media for marketing.
When you integrate an effective social media presence into your small business marketing plan, you can reach clients and potential clients wherever they are. Here are some tips and best practices for creating a successful social media presence for your brand marketing:
Formulate a social media marketing strategy. The best way to ensure success on social media is to go into a plan. This means creating a social media marketing strategy that includes every platform you plan to use.
Post constantly. Your followers value a consistent presence, so follow a consistent posting schedule. While maintaining consistency, avoid posting too much, as this can annoy your followers.
Develop a clear sound. Create a consistent voice and tone in your social media presence – a voice that resonates with your audience and influences how they view your brand. Listen to your audience and find ways to connect with them without looking like you’re trying too hard. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to show a little personality. This helps present your business as adaptable, friendly and relevant.
Have fun with social media. Offer fun ways to generate more leads and interact with your customers, such as running contests on social media, linking to your website or specials in your profile bio, and hosting live videos with exciting updates or news.
Know your audience. Use your analytics tools to learn demographic information, customer behavior, and social media trends to inform your content. Knowing what your audience wants to see from you and respond accordingly can go a long way toward boosting your engagement rates.
With so many customers already communicating through social media, using social media for customer service is a no-brainer. By communicating through social media, you can address customer issues quickly and efficiently, which helps you build a loyal customer base.
Respond to customer issues quickly. Many businesses treat social media as another channel for self-promotion and don’t always respond when customers comment or tweet their posts. According to research from Convince & Convert, 42% of consumers expect a response to a complaint on social media within 60 minutes, and nearly a third expect a response within half an hour. Monitoring social media channels and responding to concerns promptly can help you build strong customer relationships.
Use hashtags strategically. The way hashtags work within the social media platform’s algorithm is likely to change frequently, so stay updated with the hashtag recommendations and best practices for social platforms. Hashtags help keep topics organized and easy to navigate, especially on platforms like Twitter. You can also add more information and organize content to your hashtags.
Make public conversations private. Many angry or frustrated customers leave public comments on the brand’s Instagram and Facebook accounts or tweet at a business. While you should not ignore these messages, it is not always wise to treat the entire encounter in public. Show other customers that you value their input and time by sending an initial response asking to continue the conversation privately.
- Use social media for sales.
One of the most direct and profitable ways to experience the power of social media is through increased sales. You can increase sales on social media in several ways:
Advertise on social media. Major social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, have advertising platforms that help you reach your target audience and monitor your advertising campaigns.
Sell on social media. Facebook and Instagram provide shoppable sales and post platforms that make it easy for businesses to start selling online.
Working with brand ambassadors. Finding social media influencers or enthusiastic customers to act as brand ambassadors is an effective way to increase word-of-mouth buzz about your business and increase sales.
Improve your business by social listening. Social listening is a process in which organizations take a holistic view of what customers are saying online about a brand and use the information to improve business. Social listening provides a broader view of industry trends and customer sentiment that may directly or indirectly affect a brand and its sales.
- Use of social media for recruitment and employment.
In the modern recruitment process, social media platforms provide an excellent way to recruit potential talent. Social media recruitment through sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter allows employers to access a wide range of candidates and efficiently screen through viable recruits.
Business social media channels are also an essential recruitment tool. Potential employees are likely to be more excited to join your team if your social media platforms reflect your brand and share your company’s values.
