You may be wondering whether social media could help your business. For a long time, businesses ignored the social media platforms where marketing was concerned, but not any more. Why have they changed their attitude and why suddenly have even the big companies created a page on the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter?
Making Friends
The success of any social media campaign relies on you making friends, getting followers and the various other things that are called. For ease sake and the lack of confusion we will refer to them as connections, as that is what they are. Connections that you would not otherwise have had, people who will hear about your brand that might never have known it existed otherwise.
It is worth it to note that most users are on their social media pages to interact with their friends, not to watch loads of adverts. You need to like their posts; comment if they do something you think is good, but only ever in a positive way.
Mention your brand and let them know what you do, but not in a pushy way. When they want the product you sell they will remember that they have a connection on social media that sells that, and human nature being what it is, generally people would prefer to purchase something from someone they feel they know.
Build Trust
Of course there are pros and cons of social media, but if you build trust with your connections you will find that it can help your business in a way that no other form of marketing can. If someone praises your product thank them, if they complain answer them in a civil manner and help them with the problem they have had. Being good with one complainant can build more trust than anything else.
Less Text
If you want to sometimes put an advert on social media, don’t include a lot of text. Your connections will scroll past it without bothering to read the content. Use pictures, slideshows and videos. They are far more likely to watch a slideshow or video than they are to sit reading. But don’t bombard them with adverts, they will get fed up with seeing them and there stands a good chance they will then sever the connection.
Time It Takes
The biggest problem with having a social media presence is that to be effective it is very time consuming. This is why so many businesses hire a social media agency to do the work for them. You want to get on with running your business, not spend all chatting to people online. The agencies also have more experience in how to handle people, and they realize that you cannot ignore a post if it relates to you, good or bad. A social media agency will update your social media platforms on a regular basis, and they will have the knowledge to let you know which ones are working for you. You may be happy to deal with your social media yourself, but you should at least find out how much easier an agency can make it.
