The Power of Social Media Marketing for Your Business
As I write this scouring the Internet for statistics, I came across this astounding fact: there are currently 4.2 billion active users on social media around the world.
You read that right: 4.2 billion!
If your business or brand isn’t on social media – whether that’s paid advertisements or posting organically every day – you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to earn a slice of their attention.
When most people think of social media they think of odd dance crazes, memes, and political trash talk. What most people (and businesses) don’t realize is that social media is a super fast-paced, inexpensive gold mine of real-time insights into your current or future customers. You can learn about things like demographics, interests, and gain valuable feedback all while keeping your brand top-of-mind.
Sounds awesome, right?
This is a topic I could talk about for days (or at least hours – I’ve done a few presentations on this!), but here’s a few quick points on the power of social media marketing for your business.
1. Humanize Your Brand
Human connection is an important part of building any relationship: this includes your business! Showing off the people behind-the-scenes packing orders or running your store, real people using (or talking about) your product or service, or just living the core values of your brand are all great ways to showcase the human-side of your business.
If you’re a small business owner I’ve always strongly encouraged you – the business owner – to step in front of the camera or get behind the keyboard of your social media account to connect with your customers. Most small business owners are known through their communities, so it’s important to embrace YOU!
People connect with people … not a logo!
2. Content Promotion & Thought Leadership
No matter what industry you’re in, you should always be aiming to be the expert customers look to on a topic relating to your industry. Running a dog grooming business? Produce content on tips to bathe your dog or a list of treats (with affiliate links!) that promote a healthy coat. Publish that content on social media and answer questions customers may have on those posts.
That’s how you become a “thought leader” in your industry: producing relevant content over and over for your customers to continue to consume and expect.
Promoting that content can be done both organically for free to your existing audience or through paid social media ads to reach new customers at a fairly inexpensive cost if done correctly. Having a content marketing plan, target audience, and a killer ad hook can lead to some serious results!
3. Social Listening
Social media is an evolving and real-time conversation going on around the globe. Whether you’re a small mom-and-pop business or a national brand, you can both listen and engage in conversations happening within your industry.
For example: as a dog grooming business you may hear or read about customers talking about a recent pet food recall. This may be an opportunity to write a blog post explaining the recall, sending an email to your newsletter list, or just making your front office aware in case customers ask questions.
Listening to these conversations happening across social media in real-time can help you get ahead of the curve and continue to promote yourself as that thought leader in your space.
Social media isn’t going away anytime soon. New platforms and new ways to engage such as the explosive growth of TikTok are evolving and expanding the way businesses can reach their customers.
Is your business getting social?
—
Managing social media accounts can be a full time job; for many companies it is! If you’re looking for help starting out or evolving your social media accounts, let us help! Feel free to reach out to me at jonathan@strupek-b514f8.ingress-earth.ewp.live and let’s chat.