Our lives are lived online. People are persuaded to buy products or become customers because of what they see on social media. Businesses market their brand, services and products online to convince buyers to become customers and engage with their audience. Here are a few ways you can use social media to build your brand and grow your revenue.
Establish an online presence
If you own a business and you have not yet created a Facebook account, Instagram page and Twitter account, you are missing out on a huge number of potential leads and customers. Create your own pages, or hire a social media manager to create them for you.
Create a content calendar
Once you have created your online presence, you have to post regularly with interesting content to engage your audience. Don’t try to push out your content on a whim. Create a monthly or weekly calendar that can be shared across multiple members of your team. Great software programs such as CoSchedule help making planning, scheduling and performance reporting easy.
Create a blog
Every business that has a blog is creating an opportunity for their company and brand to be a thought leader in their industry. Posting engaging content on a weekly basis for your readers to consume is a great way to increase your visibility and gain new customers. Create a quarterly blog topic calendar to keep your blog on track and make sure you post consistently. Share your blog content on social media to increase your reach.
Discover influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is the modern-day equivalent of “word of mouth” marketing. Influencers are people who have a massive online presence and many followers on social media. If you can work with an influencer to help promote your brand and products, you will see rewards in conversions and new customers. Research who the influencers are in your industry, and reach out to come to an agreement on compensation. There are great guides available online to help you plan your strategy.
Invest in sponsored posts
Having great content on social media is a must, but do not underestimate the power of promoting your best posts with paid boosts. For example, on Facebook, you can boost a post for as little as $10 and increase your audience reach by thousands of people. Boost posts that include information about a promotion you may be holding, a success story or events you are having. You can even define the target audience you would like to reach by age, location, gender and more.
Hire an expert
Whether you outsource your social media manager through a third party or have a full-time person in-house, it is important to hire the best content strategist you can afford to maximize the potential of your online presence. There is more to social media management than creating Facebook posts, and experts are specifically trained to make sure your content is creative, your brand is consistent and you are reaching the right audience.
Put these six tips to use, and in no time you will be reaping the benefits of new customers, increased brand presence, inbound leads and of course – increased revenue!