Social media marketing has become a necessity, not a luxury.
Here are seven tips to cost-effectively increase your business promotional efforts through social media.
1. Use Social Media to Sell, Not Just to Advertise.
Social media gives your sales team the ability to connect with customers alongside the customer acquisition and brand positioning phase of your sales funnel. Real-time monitoring of analytics lets you make instant changes as a customer reveals his or her buying criteria.
2. Use Large Networks for CRM.
Customers are 72 percent more likely to make a purchase from a small business after interacting with that business on Twitter. There are smaller, niche oriented social media networks for specific industries that may raise your future sales percentage even more.
3. Social Media Marketing Improves Reach Exponentially.
No matter the geographic advantages or disadvantages of your company, you now have the ability to reach a worldwide audience through Facebook, Twitter and even Google+. Your digital billboards now cost less and reach across continents rather than being limited to a single location.
4. Use LinkedIn to Expand Your B2B Network.
LinkedIn holds the large market share in the world of B2B connection. LinkedIn gives your company instant credibility and authenticity. You also gain the ability to easily interact through groups, chat, blogs and digital networking with potential clients, partners and business customers.
5. Expand Your Customer Support on Facebook.
Instead of hiring phone agents, provide customer service through your Facebook page. Not only do many demographics prefer the convenience of expressing dissatisfaction through Facebook, it gives you the ability to recognize trends in complaints.
6. Manage Your Brand Reputation Through Your Social Media Presence.
Gaining sales means gaining trust. When you increase the transparency of your company through social media, people have a much easier time trusting you. Creating a web of profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and niche oriented industry websites gains you new customers and relationships.
7. Spy on Your Competition.
Use social media to spy on your competition. There is no better way to steal your demographic from a market leader than to peruse the comment threads of your competitor’s Facebook page!
by Bruce Worrall, Oct-20-2015