If you're considering starting an online company or expanding existing businesses into the digital world, setting up your social presence is one of the most critical steps. This includes having an active online presence – whether through a website, blog or other avenues like Facebook and Instagram. But there are many more benefits of having a solid presence on social media that you may not have considered.
Social media has revolutionised business by making advertising easier. In fact, according to Experian research, nearly 64 per cent of consumers use social platforms to find out about products or services before making a purchase. The only downside is that these searches have often resulted in inundating ads, which may alienate customers' user experience.
However, social media brings vast advantages and drawbacks to running a local business when done correctly. Below, we'll explain how some factors make social media a vital part of any successful business.
Not only does having an active online presence improve brand visibility to potential customers, but it also encourages people to share your content with their friends and family. A well-designed social media presence will ensure that your content reaches a broader audience interested in your product. Optimising your captions, bio, content pillars, and content can increase your brand awareness and conversion rate. Moreover, your business must have a robust website connected to your socials that allows potential customers to learn more and view access your contact details. An active profile on social networking sites gives people another reason to interact with your brand, ultimately contributing to your ability to build a loyal following.
Having established yourself online through a website, blog or Facebook group, you may already have a few followers who have seen your posts and comments and have a better understanding of what you offer. This gives you credibility amongst those people, potentially earning interest and bringing people back to the same web page. As such, many visits or purchases can translate into increased sales.
When using social media to promote your products, your target audience needs to see how you interact with them through sharing content or engaging with others on your account. These interactions need to be meaningful and valuable, so take this seriously. By establishing these online relationships, you can demonstrate professionalism without contacting them. Not only will this create goodwill within your customer base, but it can increase conversions and loyalty with the promise of returning visits from others as a result of sharing content with their network. Furthermore, if you establish a clear relationship with your clients, you'll be able to reach out to them regularly for follow-up enquiries and provide support where possible.
With every new social media platform released, paid advertisements are becoming more popular. Each time someone opens an ad, they are prompted to click on a link within the ad. This ad is targeted to the business's key demographic and is made to have a high conversion and click-through rate. In addition, social media advertising requires a lower budget than traditional advertising, resulting in the same - sometimes better- outcomes.
Whether it's getting the right balance between building and promoting your social accounts, figuring out any strategies to use paid ads in conjunction with organic promotion, or simply learning more about social media tools and tips, we hope this guide was helpful.
So, where do you get started? And how can you best use social media to help grow your business?
Contact Amber Wilson for a consult, toolkit or help with social media management and advertising! Call us at 0481068004 or email at amberjkwilson@gmail.com.
