While some businesses literally exist because of a social media following, there are those who are yet to embrace social media platforms. That’s because establishing a solid social media presence is no longer an option, but a necessity. According to Pew Research, seventy percent of Americans now use social media — a record fifty percent increase in the past few months.
This surge in the number of social media users is largely due to the remote work culture and social distancing, which have become the new normal. Love it or hate it, but social media is the only way to socialize without risking your life and therefore has enormous potential.
So, whether you sell hand sanitizers or dog food, you’ll find someone interested in it on social media. Plus, these platforms make it extremely convenient to reach out to people by targeting them based on their interests.
On the whole, social media platforms are a great way to accelerate sales and increase revenues without spending a fortune on advertising. In fact, you can also cut back on several other operational costs, which we’ll discuss soon. If you are still wondering how social media can help your business, then continue reading. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about how social media platforms can accelerate your business and why you should invest in it.
Find People where they are most active
The current economic slowdown has crippled successful businesses and forced them to shut down. At present, when people are spending more time indoors, running social media campaigns seems like the only effective way to get your word out and connect with the right audience.
Some may argue that this is a temporary phase that would be over soon, and their investment in social media campaigns may not turn out to be as profitable. That cannot be farther from the truth because social media always was and will be a powerful medium of advertising. Unless you ramp up your social media strategy, you may succumb to the recession. So, if you are one of those skeptics wondering if social media is right for you, then it is time to pull up your socks.
Helps Build a Community
People tend to lean towards a brand they are familiar with, and that clearly explains the need for micro-communities. Regardless of the size of your business, bringing your customers together on a Facebook Group or a Facebook Page is definitely going to pump-up your brand’s visibility and help form a community.
Now it’s not just Facebook, but there’s also Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and several other social media platforms that allow you to create micro-communities through their individual business models. Depending on the type of product or service you sell, one or more of these platforms could be ideal for your business type.
You can then use the appropriate platforms to communicate with your existing customers or potential customers on a regular basis. This could be informational posts, contests, polls, how-tos, product-related information, and much more. Frequent communication compels them to think about your brand, and that’s exactly what your business needs.
Establish your Brand’s Identity
Small local businesses and online stores often find it difficult to establish their brand’s identity and compete with larger businesses. You can never expect a Mom and Pop restaurant in Chicago to be able to compete with McDonald’s ads on National Television. Plus, considering the limited target audience that a Mom-and-Pop restaurant has, competing with McDonald’s nationwide ads is out of the question.
Such local businesses and professionals need to focus on reaching out to highly targeted audiences within their operational limits. Since social media platforms let you reach out to audiences based on their region, interest, age group, etc… it becomes a whole lot easier for small businesses to connect with the right people. You can then start posting interesting stuff about your products and services, such as ongoing offers, events, contests, etc… You can also look at some opportunities of cutting costs, e.g. instead of going with a big provider, installing online food ordering system such as Upmenu on your site.
Highly Targeted Audience
Want to reach out to all the outdoor enthusiasts in South Carolina? No problem! With just a few clicks, you can customize your audience and target them with ads about anything from bike racks to patio furniture. Now that’s the power of social media — something that you cannot expect from other modes of advertising.
Besides social media, the only other effective way to reach out to such a specific set of the audience would be through cable television ads. Again, that may not particularly target bikers unless you sponsor a very specific show that is religiously watched by bikers. This may not always be possible nor financially feasible, and therefore most small businesses swear by social media.
Social media presence helps small businesses run highly targeted ads and unleash the power of retargeting to increase conversions. None of this is possible through television, radio, or print media ads. Moreover, social media platforms allow the flexibility to create different ad sets and test their individual performance. By directing funds towards the top-performing ads, small businesses can manage their resources more efficiently. This helps businesses reduce their cost per acquisition and increase their ROI.
A better understanding of Consumer Behavior
When you advertise on social media for the very first time, it is not a win or lose situation because social media platforms work differently. For instance, Facebook lets you pixel your website or landing pages and retarget your audience based on user behavior. So, depending on the action or inaction of the visitors, you can segment and retarget them.
Studies indicate that only 1.9% of first-time visitors take action when they click on an advertisement. So, if you stopped there, then you would end up with a very high cost per acquisition because the total ad spend is then divided by the number of sales you’ve made. However, all is not lost because the pixel helps retarget segments of visitors, which means if you added a pixel to your ‘Thank You’ Page, then you can categorize those audiences and reach out to them all over again.
Also, you can reach out to consumers based on how much time they spent on your website or landing page and retarget them. Doing this increases your chances of conversion because you are reaching out to people who have done something that indicates their interest in your product or service.
Likewise, you can exclude those who showed little or no interest in your product or service, which reduces your ad spend. This ability to segment users based on their behavior is definitely more powerful than any other form of advertising.
Establish Authority
Businesses that come across as well-informed are more successful than the rest, but doing this through advertisements and guest posts isn’t a financially viable option. Nevertheless, building trust and authority helps businesses grow regardless of the niche. Whether you are involved in the promotion of herbal supplements or hand sanitizers, people like to buy from those who know what they are selling.
So, it becomes unavoidable to disseminate valuable information through regular social media posts, stories, and articles. This not only helps you earn the trust of your current following but also helps you score a few points with the SERPs. Yes, search engines rank websites based on engagement and if your frequent social media posts include a link to your website then that surely works. Search engines then identify you as an authority in that niche and start ranking you above others.
Build Trust with Influencer Marketing
So, it becomes unavoidable to disseminate valuable information through regular social media posts, stories, and articles. This not only helps you earn the trust of your current following but also helps you score a few points with the SERPs. Yes, search engines rank websites based on engagement, and if your frequent social media posts include a link to your website, then that surely works. Search engines then identify you as an authority in that niche and start ranking you above others.
So, when these Influencers promote your products, then the followers are more likely to buy from you. So, you can build credibility almost instantly by connecting with the right influencers who have the kind of target audience you need.
In fact, over one-third North American retail businesses invest in social media influencers, and that explains the potential of Influencer marketing. These Social media influencers can do for small businesses what mainstream celebrity brand ambassadors do for the big brands.
Focus on providing value
Social media platforms are places where you build a community and interact with your customers on a personal level. So, you need to focus on delivering valuable information that’s going to be useful for your target audiences. If you sell health supplements, don’t think twice before posting useful information from WHO or CDC’s official website. It’s not always about selling, but about building trust and solving the problems of your audiences.
Keep track of your Competitors
When things move slowly, and you begin to realize that you are losing customers to your competitors, then you need to take some time out, sit back, and think. You must figure out what you could do differently to turn the tables. In the social media landscape, doing this is much easier with ad spy tools like PowerAdSpy that let you unveil the ad copies, landing pages, audiences, and even the best-selling products of your competitors. So, you can gather sufficient data and plan your ad strategy accordingly.
Paid Promotions
You don’t always have to run ads with complex landers on social media platforms in order to promote your products and services. Instead, you can resort to paid promotions such as promoting your posts or paying influencers to post articles or stories about your products and services.
You could also pay Influencers to create and post video content with a link to your products page. Video content works extremely well when it comes to increasing sales. According to statistics, video content deeply influences buying decisions as 96% of visitors rely on video content to know more about a product or a service. However, it could be slightly more expensive, but if you can afford it, then you should include it in your checklist of paid promotions.
Final Conclusion
Now that you know how powerful social media platforms can be, it is time to act. You can start by choosing one or two social media platforms that are suitable for your business. For instance, you can target women on Pinterest and Millennials on Instagram. If you are not sure of which one to choose, then Facebook is always a safe bet because of the massive number of active users available. By regularly posting meaningful content, you can easily drive high quality leads to your business.
