A platform for making easy connections and contacts with people from across the world is what social media is. About 3 billion people use social media actively. Isn’t it a great place to market products and services? Many businesses think it is. They use social media to sell their ideas, products, and services. It is also an effective platform to understand the consumer mindset. Engaging with them is easy and inexpensive. The fact that social media can “show” content relevant to a consumer based on specific interests, is very advantageous to businesses. For example, it is possible through social media to advertise clothing brands to an individual who is looking for them. This may not be possible through other means of advertising. Hence, in most cases, businesses end up spending on marketing their products/services to people who are least likely to be their customers.
The following benefits could be reaped out of using social media effectively:
- Building brands
- Increasing website traffic
- Procuring feedback
- Increasing sales
Why should businesses choose to market on social media?
Social media marketing also makes possible targeting and re-targeting of audiences from across the globe. This is almost impossible for a business to use conventional methods of advertising like hoardings or pamphlets.
With the use of social media, it is also possible to earn customer loyalty at not very high costs for businesses. It has become easy for individuals to use this means to find buyers for their products/services. This has had a good impact on small businesses in developing countries like India, with many of them operating from the comfort of their homes. Indigenous products have found markets like never before.
The stories of businesses and startups are often not known to most of us. For a long time, we would rely on magazines to interview founders and publish their stories. But, it is now possible through social media to easily share the story behind a brand, logo, business, and its motives. More often than not, it is these stories that sell. This is true today not just for businesses, but also for individuals ranging from actors to political figures.
The types of audience that can be targeted through social media campaigns are diverse. It could be a barely literate person who prefers images over text, or someone who loves satire. It is possible to cater to the needs of all of these people satisfactorily over social media.
Which platform to use?
The most common social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. All of these platforms are designed for both individuals and businesses. It is important to choose the platform wisely. Bear in mind the type of audience you are targeting and the region they belong to. For example, if your product/service is meant for politicians, it may best to run an ad campaign on Twitter.
What are the hacks to use social media productively?
Although the marketing campaigns will depend on the type of business, there are certain basic but important aspects to bear in mind while running social media ads.
Good content
It is well-known that social media platforms have now been flooded with businesses and individuals trying to push their services/products. What makes a certain post stand out from the rest is the quality of the content it carries. Using catchy lines instead of lengthy paragraphs of information could do your business a lot of good.
Images that would go on social media posts have to be carefully designed. This is where graphic designers play an important role. It is often seen that many brands use similar images to advertise their products. This does more harm than good. It is important for businesses to have their own custom graphic designs that would help them build their brand. Businesses that are starting out should carefully choose their logo designs as well. An organization should plan to use Social Media Marketing for a long period of time. In order to make a mark in the minds of the audience, it would be useful for it to opt for an unlimited graphic design services package. This will enable the business to be easily able to make designs as the need arises.
Flexible strategy
In order to be able to grab enough attention, it is vital for businesses to choose the right posts for the right time. For example, many businesses arouse interest in people by announcing that they have a new product coming up. They do this without even disclosing the name or image of the product. In fact, several posts on social media are dedicated to the pre-launch of products/services solely to keep the audience engaged. Similarly, if a certain pattern of posting and engaging on social media doesn’t work, the strategy for Social Media Marketing of the company has to be changed to try other alternatives.
Useful links
It is not always possible to put out all the information regarding a product/service on social media posts. So, it becomes prudent to have website addresses linked to these posts. Having a good website is important to have a good social media presence and this holds true for most if not all businesses. A consumer is least likely to message a social media page of a business requesting details. This is simply because of the waiting time involved. If there is a website that can be looked into, navigated, and understood easily, while also being attractive and clean, the business is definitely going to be at an advantage. There are several unlimited web design services that can be registered for by companies to reap long-term benefits.
Analytics
Google Analytics is a great tool that can help businesses track their performance on social media with credible data. This would provide them insights on the strategies they have put in place, the type of content that sells, and the posts that didn’t do well. Attaching tracking tags to the posts is advantageous. Even the different social media platforms have analysis options within them. These can also be explored.
Social media is certainly a double-edged sword. Brands should be sure of the stands and approaches they take on social media platforms. If they manage to scale the difficulties in the initial stages, they would certainly reap a good yield from it.
