Social media is a terrific way to help boost your business revenue. Instagram, for example, is a suitable place to display your products. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Instagram is mostly an image-based social media platform. A picture can sometimes speak louder than words.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Facebook, and Twitter as examples, aren’t helpful. Actually, this is quite the opposite. Each social media platform comes with its strengths and weaknesses, and it is important to use their strengths to your advantage. There are several ways social media can help your online business grow. Here are 5 ways!
Attracting New Customers
In the digital age, social media has the potential to attract hundreds and thousands of new customers each day, if used correctly. Gone are the days of putting up expensive billboard advertisements. We spend more time scrolling through feeds online than looking at traditional advertisements like billboards, and physical magazines.
Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are some of the most popular platforms where you can display your products and gain more followers on your business profile. Gaining more followers could potentially translate to generating more customers in the near future.
Depending on if you’re going for an organic or paid-marketing approach, your marketing budget will differ. The beauty of social media marketing is that it can be extremely customer-focused, by choosing the customers you want to target and the area/location you want to focus on. You should make sure your social media page that promotes your business looks enticing to all visitors, especially for the new potential customers.
Retaining Current Customers
A key concept in marketing is to retain your existing customers as a primary objective. Gaining new customers is important, but not at the expense of losing your old and loyal ones. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in a loop of gaining and losing buyers. Without consistent customers, the entire marketing plan will lose its scope.
Social media is a fantastic way to communicate with your current customers, and not make them feel they are forgotten about. Ensure that you respond to your customers’ queries in a short period of time, as nobody likes the long wait. Social media also allows businesses to continue maintaining their relationships with their customers. In time you can create a meaningful bond with them.
Secondly, social media platforms allow instant communication and support to potential customers, and especially your loyal ones. Furthermore, by involving your customers in your day-to-day plans, new products, and more, you are making sure that they are informed, and continue to feel welcomed by the business.
Brand Awareness & Development
Brand awareness is when people know about your business. Therefore, your brand needs to be publicly acknowledged. The more people know about your brand, the more it will develop and grow in popularity.
Thus, your business is not likely to gain new customers, and retain old ones without trying to increase its brand awareness. If people are not aware of what you sell, there is a lower chance they will buy from you.
However, the more they know about you, the more likely they are to trust your brand. This is where social media becomes most useful. One social media platform is enough to reach thousands of potential buyers.
For example, you can create an Instagram account, and share all sorts of content corresponding to your brand. Brand awareness can be resulted from advertising. As discussed above, social media can help in this department.
Increase Website Traffic
Social media can be a key driver behind your website’s traffic. Make sure you are utilizing as many social media accounts as you can manage consistently and at a high standard.
The next tip is to include your website’s URL on every social media page; you can include this in your ‘bio’ section. Another good tactic is to release a story or post and include the link to your page occasionally. Someone curious might click on the link, which will redirect him or her to your page.
It is therefore especially important to ensure that your site is well-developed and optimized to ensure that visitors find it attractive and remain on the website for a long period of time. This is because some might convert to new customers, and old customers are kept up to date.
Some well-developed and optimized sites that you can look at for ideas are – Amazon, one of the best e-commerce websites in the world, Platin, an online casino with a very user-friendly interface, and Logitech’s website which is an online store that offers some of the world’s best computer peripherals. If more people visit your website, the better.
Feedback & Customer Service
The feedback offered by customers on social media is priceless. This is because comments on your posts are coming directly from the customers. These comments can sometimes come with positive or negative comments about your business. The negative feedback can make you aware of what you lack as a business.
On the other hand, some comments can let you know the positives you can take out of your business and its products. What’s good about reviews is that you can improve upon your product through the negative reviews you receive and can continue to strengthen upon those products that are receiving positive comments.
Customer service on social media is another important thing to keep in mind for your business. It is real-time and provides an instant service for customers. Reliable customer service is crucial to ensure that the customer is kept satisfied.
Both these can help your business to grow by always keeping their feedback in mind. Additionally, proper customer service ensures that your current and potential customers are well taken care of and kept satisfied.
Conclusion
These points show how important it is for your business to have a social media presence. It is easier and cheaper than traditional advertising. Additionally, it’s a more personal way of marketing your business. Your customers can rely on you, knowing you’re one message away.
Your business could also flourish with genuine customer feedback. Moreover, a business can also reach out to its social media followers and ask them what they would like their business to improve upon. Keeping the needs and wants of customers in mind will always be a good principle to follow.