What Is The Most Under-utilized Business Marketing Tool?
Social media; you’re probably using it for one reason or another in your business. You might be using it as a promotion, for instance. That’s not enough though because social media has massive potential that most business owners simply miss out on. If you’re only using your social media for one of its uses, then you’re not getting the most out of it. Let’s look at some of the ways you can use social media to strengthen your company.
Brand Building
You can use your social media to build up your brand. Make sure that customers learn more about your company and not just what you’re offering but the people behind it. Remember, every time you post on social media or write a new tweet; you’re using a voice. That voice is the voice of your business and how it sounds affects customer perception. That’s why you need to be careful choosing your voice. Little details are important such as whether to use emojis. In the eyes of the general public, these are fun and friendly images. In the business world, they can be seen as unprofessional or even condescending. You need to be careful how you use these, particularly when interacting directly with a customer.
Interacting With Customers
You can use your social networking pages to interact with your customers. Many businesses now use their social pages to keep customers updated with a situation in the company. For instance, if services are down, you may want to notify customers on social media. As well as this, you should try to respond directly to as many open questions directed towards your company as you can. Don’t simply send out a notification and then ignore their response. This could damage the reputation of your business.
Setting Up Campaigns
Don’t forget that marketing through social media can be used to set up campaigns. For instance, a hashtag correctly chosen can send waves through online networks that will last for weeks. It will boost the reach of your business and catch the attention of customers. Restaurant owners use this tactic all the time to get customers through the door. Restaurant social media campaigns such as this can be used to drive up consumer numbers in down seasons. Or boost the popularity of a business against a growing competition. It’s just one of the many ways social media can be used, and it’s not just restaurants. Any business or company can set up a campaign on social media that could be incredibly effective.
Content Promotion
Lastly, you should not forget that social media marketing is a form of SEO. If you use social media, you do have the potential to boost the search ranking of your site. You can do this by sharing and promoting different pieces of content. The more content is shared from your site; the higher your ranking will climb. Eventually, you will start to see a measurable effect of social media promotion. You just need to select the content that you promote carefully. It must appeal directly to the target customer.
Lina Martinez has her B.S. in journalism and is a contributor to our politics, life and money pages. She once admitted over drinks to singing "Careless Whisper" in the shower. We are still trying to get her to sing it at karaoke.