See the 4 Ways You Can Use Social Media to Grow your Business. To the entrepreneur, social media is a powerful servant and a dangerous master if not properly harnessed. Social media is a form of electronic communication that enables users to create and share contents for social networking.
It is of utmost value to especially, small business owners who cannot afford the cost of traditional media. It can be referred to as a digital extension of brands; a place where you can share things that pertain to and represent your brand to consumers for authentic and immediate feedback.
An entrepreneur whose vision is to grow his brand effectively must explore the power of social media marketing in order to achieve his goal. A carefully and properly managed marketing campaign on all social media platforms can open vast doors of business opportunities and connect to a wider market.
Because the pros of social media marketing by far outweigh the cons, It is advisable to create a strong social media presence if you really want to add value to your business. Here are a few reasons why business managers and entrepreneurs must take advantage of social media:
Social media touches almost every consumer that has and would come in contact with your business because it is very popular and this gives you important exposure and opportunity to grow relationship with target audience.
A look at Facebook for instance, reveals about a billion active users and let’s recalls that dormant facebook accounts are few.
This means that the probability of your target audience seeing your contents regularly on their feeds is high.
Cost of advertising on social media is very low when compared to the cost of advertising on radio and television [traditional media].
In a situation where your contents are swallowed on feeds of active users by the filter feature on social media and applications, one can quickly resort to advertisements on social media with the assurance that your brand will equally reach millions of people even at a lower cost.
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Also, the ability of social media to defy age and demographic barriers is a plus because there is really no limit to who and where social media can reach. Young and old people from Lagos to Abuja, Nigeria to Ghana and the wider world are already on facebook, instagram, linkedin, twitter, google sites and even more, waiting to explore opportunities that abound.
Social media encourages a two way instant communication which is an effective tool for brand development and growth. when you learn about the interest of your audience, you communicate with them and collect relevant data by questionnaires, voting polls mostly on facebook and twitter, short videos and from the comment sections on your domain or site, you interpret the data then provide feedback as the need arises, thereby ensuring instant customer satisfaction.
There is ample space on social media for entrepreneurs to share more details and upgrade existing information about their products, sevices and related events. Potential consumers will have this information readily available to them as soon as they make use of search engines and can connect to their favourite brands from anywhere in the world.
Now, what exactly do you need to grow your business on social media????
1. CONSISTENCY
Consistency is the key not only to a successful social media marketing awareness and campaign but to every human endeavour. You must begin by planning your contents and how often you want to post them on social media platforms then stick to your plan.
Consistency here also means discipline and focus. You are likely to encounter hurdles but hey, that shouldn’t deter you. You can only succeed if you keep diligently at it.
2. USE ALL PLATFORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is wide, we have face book, twitter, instagram, you tube, Google sites and LinkedIn to mention a few. It is more professional to utilize all these platforms, you may actually have a preferable platform and that is okay but if you must build strong social media presence, utilize every platform.
3. FORMAT YOUR CONTENTS
Your contents must be modified to suit each platform perfectly. For instance, photos are suitable for instagram and facebook, hash tags work better for twitter and instagram, and videos are perfect for YouTube, while long posts are tailored for LinkedIn and facebook and so on.
There is a need to be creative in pushing out contents to attract the attention of potential consumers and maintain existing ones and be reminded that your content must align with your message.
Some contents will definitely attract moré attention in form of likes , shares, comments, retweets, views than others but this should not discourage you from pushing out every important narrative.
Build your website in a nice, accessible, smart and professional way, show case your business in a way that communicates effectively with consumers in your area of interest.
One of the advantages of building your website is the ability to control conversations which is the backbone of social media marketing, the contents on your site will help build your conversations and will ensure that your communication does not stray from the subject matter, this has proven to be brilliantly effective and anything outside this is a waste of productive time.
Read Also: 7 Benefits of Social Media to Businesses
4. FIND BALANCE
Quickly identify the social media platform that works better and faster for you and make the best out of it, this will likely lead to you being popular on that platform but you have to be careful how you deal with your newly acquired popularity.
Be focused and engage people appropriately in order not to neglect the informative narrative that boosts your business or brand.
Use the opportunity to cultivate good relationship with people who maybe of good influence to your business. Controversies are sometimes useful but make it matter and express yourself nicely and cautiously.
5. MANAGE YOUR TIME
Practice effective time management by deciding how much time you will spend on social media especially if yours is not strictly an internet business.
If you neglect real time productivity, your business will suffer a decline.
Now, we know that social media is not a time wasting ego game but an underutilized platform that every entrepreneur needs to start using immediately!