Over the past few years we are seeing a lot of transformation in the business community out of which social media marketing has gained limitless significance and priority among startups and SMEs. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram have become the most integral parts of the marketing strategy to gain brand awareness, customer acquisition, and lead generation!
Especially for the companies that are working on lower budget can enroll with grassroot campaigns to simplify their efforts of reaching millions of people.
But, the question is, how? Here are a few tips to get started with social media and gain exposure in raising your audience.
The first thing is to understand the right platform and tailor your posts according to the social network you choose. For example., in LinkedIn, you may post articles or content that addresses the pain points of your audience and if it is Facebook, you may post funny pictures that entertain your target audience and increases user engagement.
“91% of retail brands use 2 or more social media channels”
Instead of choosing multiple platforms, it is good to start with few networks to test if it’s working fine for your business. Finding the right platform that fits for your business will help you gain meaningful presence!
Using the social media accounts are free, but that does not mean you do not want to invest money. Social media marketing helps in maximizing your returns of investment when you do it in a right way. You won’t success unless people know your products or services exist, but on the same hand it is not possible to put on high budget on launching viral campaigns. So it is a fine line that you focus to reach large audience on a limited budget. Make use of word-of-mouth marketing to reach consumers with click of a button!
“The number of worldwide social media users is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2018.”
As a startup business, one must understand the value of planning and strategy! You always need a detailed strategy before going with making decisions in order to be on track. The beginning step is to capture what kind of awareness or goals your business wants to be portrayed on social media. You must also examine what type of approach is working and what’s not in order to modify your strategy to gain more traction among your followers.
“There are 1.65 billion active mobile social accounts globally”
Defining your social media goals is very important in order to establish your social presence. Be it brand awareness, lead generation, content distribution, or customer acquisition, without any goal your may not succeed. Set goals, build a community, listen carefully, try new things and keep it as an ongoing process to achieve your goals and grow your business in its area of interest. Don’t forget to reevaluate your strategy based on your goals, others you will be outdated.
“84% of CEOs and VPs say they use social media to help make purchasing decisions.”
If you are unable to spend time on building your brand on social media, make sure to employ staffs to take care of your social media pages that can bring you more potential customers. Post stuff about your office culture, post your recent job listings, post case studies of your clients, and show your potential that catch into the eyes of employees, customers, or investors who can give hands to your return on investment!
“An average Twitter user spends 170 minutes per month on the site or mobile application”
In the current digital era, being active on social media can eventually unlock your business potentials and helps you discover new marketing ways to reach great heights even at a very little financial cost!