It can be costly if not nearly impossible to reach out to people across boundaries. You have to develop a strategy that beats all odds and hire manpower to reach those people. Only large businesses can afford such type of expenses which leaves out small business to only cover those around your business premises. Not when you have social media as a marketing platform. It connects people from all walks of life to a single platform where you can talk about you products and services and encourage them to buy. According to a recent survey by Hubspot, social media marketing is result oriented.
In the aim of marketing their products and services, over 85 % of marketers saw results by just investing at least 6 hours a week marketing on social media. Although most view social media as being new, it has become a success for many businesses for many years. However, it is never too late when it comes to online marketing. Different strategies, social media tools, and people are subscribing on the main social media sites. You can set aside a reasonable investment to market your business on social media for objective results. Can social media help increase your customer base? Here is what you need to do to achieve this:
The goals of your business should come first
It is all about the goals you want to achieve. If you are on social media marketing your products or services, you have to set your objectives right. Not every platform on social media is right for your business. You need first to set those objectives and choose a platform that fits rather than the other way around. If you want to succeed in building a large customer base, you have to be willing to set the objectives of your business in an environment that will yield this.
For example, Facebook commands a lot of users and thus it can be a perfect platform if you want to reach many people. However, if you have a fashion or women related business, then Instagram can be a good fit. On Instagram, you can upload pictures and short videos to the over 400 million subscribers it commands.
Observe the behavior or trend of your target audience
Analyzing the trend of your target audience or followers will be the gateway to knowing your audience. Not everyone who is a Facebook user is your customer or target audience. You have to filter them out. Identifying your target market allows you to do better concerning online marketing. You can focus on who matters and leave the rest who do not matter. If you are targeting young group of people, then you need to know how often they log in to their accounts and at what tie of the day or night. Your aim is to be there at the right time such that when you upload content, they can view it in the first few minutes after the upload. This will help increase your customer base.
Write content that will entertain your audience
Networking is not supposed to be boring. You have to know what makes your audience tick. If you have few followers on any social media site, then you can make it presentable and entraining. Most people ill only read the headline and choose to continue or pass. You have to give a good headline for your content. Alternatively, you can upload interesting images to go with the content. Once your followers have seen the image, they can be enticed to read content and share with their friends if the content is worthwhile.
It takes great content to show concern for your readers and followers on social media. Online marketing will entail being there for your target audience. Interesting and up to date content will also increase traffic to your site. This is achieved through quality SEO, which means that you get the best of everything. In the end, you will have more customers moving your way.
Show your audience that you are available
There are many ways which you can show your target audience that you are available. You can upload content consistently to keep your customers or followers busy and interested. The content has to be up to their standards and of the latest happenings. If you want to build a strong brand authority, then you have to show that you are there to stay. Try to ask a question and trigger your followers to go on a debate. You can participate or leave them to argue it out. Social media marketing gives you the right platform to grow your customer base.
(Steven is an enthusiastic blogger and marketing manager at ContinueContent. He maintains keen interest in progress and development in the marketing and business space. He also provides consultancy to small and medium sized companies to build their brands online, design and execute their online marketing strategy to propel business growth.)
