Written by Aida Rejzovic, Sassy Organics
The key to social media success is to avoid getting lost in the labyrinth of the many different media platforms. Keep it simple, and focus on how you can use one or two platforms most effectively to increase the visibility of your personal business or brand. Before you set up your social media platforms, do some market research first. You need to understand who your target audience is and which social media platform will access them most effectively. It is far better to choose one or two platforms and execute these well than try and cover all social media and do them poorly.
In order to gain followers, likes and comments, keep your content useful and relevant to your brand and target audience. It should add value to people lives, answer people’s questions, educate people on your brand/company or entertain them. Ultimately, you want to develop and grow relationships with customers and influencers and engage in real-time two-way interaction with potential and existing customers as well as generating new leads in order to increase sales to drive repeat business.
Benefits Of Social Media For Businesses
It’s Free
Building a presence on social media is always beneficial. Whether you are just starting out as a new small business, or if you have been around for decades, social media is perfect for business as it offers free advertising and brand awareness. When starting up a small business, your budget for marketing may be minimal if any at all, and using social media is a fantastic tool to engage your audience and generate awareness without breaking the bank.
What Effects A Google Search Presence?
Social media presence can also positively affect your search rankings in Google. Search engines use social media shares to determine how appropriate and helpful content is to an audience, so the more shares generated through a social media post equals a greater presence on Google. In fact, Google actually offers free online training to help you navigate your way through social media for business, setting goals, gaining attention and measuring your success. Making use of all the free training and advertising you can get is essential for any small business with a minimal budget for marketing and advertising.
Connecting With Customers
Another positive feature of social media is that allows easy communication between customers and business owners on a more personal level. While writing an email to a company through their ”ask me” page can be quite detached, messaging or commenting on social media allows for a fast reply that is able to connect more personally with customers. It can also be a lot more time-effective. Rather than sifting through emails and responding to each one, multiple people can be answered through one comment or post. Seeing happy customers comment and like your social media posts can also give you a lift and some motivation to keep going in your business venture. Happy customers reviewing your products or services through social media provides another method of free advertising. New customers are much more willing to try your product, brand or service if they can see others have had a good experience.
Driving Business Growth Through Competitions
Cross-promotion is a fantastic tool utilised by social media. Working with various brands, followers and influencers can help to extend your reach for marketing. While some of this may be paid, there are plenty of social media users that will share your page simply because they have had such a great experience.
Conducting social media competitions and giveaways is a fantastic way to get customers and potential customers involved, generating a lot of interest and engagement in content. It is a good way to gain new followers and potential customers by asking competition entrants to share your page and tag friends in a comment. Allowing competition winners to try your product or brand may result in a new customer if they are happy and satisfied with what they have received, plus all the extra attention the campaign draws to your business makes competitions and giveaways an important tool to utilise when you can.
The Do’s & Don’ts Of Social Media
While social media can offer wonderful potential, it can also become a rabbit hole that can be difficult to get out of. Comparing yourself to unrealistic representations is the first place in which social media can do more harm than good.
It is important to recognise that what is portrayed on social media is not always the whole picture. Only the highlights of someone’s life or business are posted, making it easy for others to assume that everything is perfect. In reality, we all struggle with down days and have our own personal demons that we may be facing, despite the projection of ourselves we present to the world. For young people using social media, this is probably one of the most important things to remember.
Cyberbullies and predators are also an unfortunate downside to social media, and being safe on the internet is always important, especially for young people. If your account is public, be careful in posting locations with your posts, as this just makes it all the easier for undesirable people to know where you are and predict where you might be in the near future.
Don’t:
- Post on social media during work hours (or on a sick day).
- Mindlessly scroll through social media at any time when you are not actively doing something. It is ok to just be with your own thoughts. In fact, it’s necessary for your mental wellbeing.
- Post after you have had a few drinks. Wait until morning and decide then if it is still a good idea.
- Compare yourself to others. There will always be someone prettier, richer and more successful than you. If you do this you will never be happy, and on social media, even these people likely have their own doubts and worries just you.
- Post your location with every post, especially if your account is public. Especially don’t post where you live, work or places that you frequent.
Do's:
- Set yourself time limits on social media and put your phone away when you are finished with what you are doing.
- If using social media for business, plan and schedule your posts ahead of time.
- Leave your phone in your bag or put it away when engaging with other people. For example when out to dinner, at the family dinner table etc.
- Use social media to gain inspiration, ideas, motivation, networking and business development and growth.
- Remember that what you see on social media is a glorified version of the truth. Sometimes, in fact, it might be a flat out lie.
- Read a book at times instead of constantly scrolling through social media.
Navigating the labyrinth Navigating the labyrinth Navigating the labyrinth
Navigating the labyrinth Navigating the labyrinth Navigating the labyrinth Navigating the labyrinth Navigating the labyrinth
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