3 Ways to Benefit From Social Media Marketing

 

Have you started using social media marketing yet? Most businesses have jumped on the band wagon, but many are failing to see the advantages. One of the reasons for this is due to the ‘people at the top’ not really understanding social media and how it can be used for the good of the business. Marketers are often left tearing their hair out, trying to explain the role social media now plays in brand awareness, customer satisfaction and lead generation.

If you’re failing to impress the top bosses, or simply want to start making better use of social media, find out how to start getting positive results that will benefit the business and make everyone happy.

You Can’t Be Seen If You’re Not Out There

It’s important to create profiles on, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook, four of the biggest social networks out there. Create fully branded profiles on each network, with consistent bios and logos, taking the time to ensure the logos are all resized accurately. Once you have the profiles, decided where you want to concentrate your efforts. The decision you make will depend on your customers and the market you operate in. Use your customer research and spend the most time where you’re customers are.

Create a content schedule that will help you to share your brand with your audience. Create original content and images that are working together with your marketing efforts for maximum impact. Share consistently and spend time connecting with others, following those who are popular and respected in your field, such as authors, bloggers and firms in companies that relate to your industry.

Advertising on social media is a great way of getting the ball rolling and driving later campaigns to wider audiences.  Your adverts can be targeted towards the users that are most likely to want to click through and get to know more about you.

Social Customers Make the Sales for You

Social media is useful for customers as it provides then with a simple way to:

  • Check up on a brand to see if they’re genuine
  • Learn about the experiences of others through wall posts and reviews
  • Check out the level of customer service to expect, using responses on the page as an indicator
  • Ask questions and find answers in a way they’re comfortable with
  • Look for special offers and latest promotions
  • Become and advocate for the brand

Customers are not the only ones benefiting from your social presence. Customers can be used to market for you; leaving reviews and comments, sharing links and social content with friends and family all of which has a positive impact on your marketing ROI. Invite everyone in your mailing list to come and follow you on your social networks, make it clear that you’re found easily on social networks at your brick and mortar premises and encourage people with rewards for following you and leaving reviews.

Increase Leads

After working on creating suitable content for the social channel and increasing your audience your focus will turn more towards generating leads. Your social content needs to be targeted towards your audience, it has speak to them, entertain and inform them and be of use to them. Let your customers realise that they can turn to you for help and advice and find content that will be of use to them by remaining consistent and on message. It’s important to be human, don’t use copy and paste responses; it’s not going to go down well with your audience.  When prospects turn to you and leave satisfied, they’ll want to come back for more, giving you the perfect opportunity to qualify them as leads.

The content you create and share should invite conversation and feedback. It can be video, audio, images, articles. You can share things on your page but also spend time hanging out in communities. Don’t spam your content in community groups, get involved, share your knowledge and insight and you’ll find prospects will click through to your profile and your marketing window.

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