Using social media is a beneficial tactic for driving visits to your website and making people more conscious of your brand, yet it is not as effective for instantly making sales or creating new leads.
By nature, marketing on social media is difficult because users primarily employ these platforms for entertainment and as a way to take their mind off of work. The decision makers might not be especially eager to contemplate their company, regardless of their role.
These are some strategies to bring people to your social media platforms and then turn them into profits, sales or connections.
1. Set up your social media profiles
Many businesses overlook a basic measure: ensure your social media presence is straightforward and gives people the chance to find out more about your business, check out customer reviews, and get in touch.
Instagram bios only allow for one clickable link, making them somewhat restrictive if you want to showcase multiple products or connect to other social media outlets. It is possible to find options which enable you to construct attractive, recognizable, and stimulating landing pages for your social media channels without costing a cent.
When it comes to doing business-to-business, Linkedin is one of the most effective social media sites to use. Despite having a presence on Linkedin, many businesses do not take the time to make sure that their profile is aesthetically pleasing.
For company profiles
- Set up your custom URL
- Add a detailed description
- Add your logo and header image
- Create a custom button (i.e. your CTA to direct people to your lead generation form)
For employees’ profiles
Those of your customer-facing employees (like sales people, customer support team, outreach agents) should have:
- A real and professional profile picture
- Job description
- A business email address for people to be able to get in touch
Similar to Instagram, Twitter does not give many choices when it comes to customizing a profile page for either business or private use. You can upload an image for your profile, a banner for the top of the page, a brief explanation of yourself, and a link to a website. The Link In Bio here can be utilized as it is on Instagram, so as to let your prospects opt for the way they would like to interact with your business or its representatives.
2. Foster brand recognition
Having a well-known brand name is advantageous in the long run and will help with any part of your brand such as organic rankings, lead production, and social media. Social media is one of the most successful methods for establishing your brand name.
It is often said that something needs to be viewed 8 times before it can be recalled, which is why it is important to repeat your presence in the feeds of potential customers across multiple social media platforms to make sure your business is remembered.
Your potential customers will likely come across you in many different areas. Viewers of your posts on Twitter and Facebook, as well as your Instagram updates, will have an unclear perception of you if your posts do not match up. Keep things clear, and your brand will benefit.
3. Locate Your Target Audience
Making the most of available resources is critical when engaging in social media marketing. Although you might have advanced resources, it is impossible for you to be present in every situation simultaneously (and even if this were possible, it could result in the perception that your brand is overbearing). In order to reach your desired customers, you must identify them and tailor your approach to meet their needs.
Awario will be of great assistance with this task, however, it will still require an abundance of manual labor. In order to determine if it is worth targeting the group, you must immerse yourself in the conversations, paying close attention to identify the opportunity of benefit. For example, by examining the posts in a particular subreddit, you can figure out how much money people are spending.
If you’re uncertain of where to target your sales, then your activity will likely be haphazard and much of it will not bear any result. You’ll also struggle to cater your messages as required. You should take all the time that is necessary for this step and only move on when you are totally sure of what has to be done.
Analyze firms that are successful on social media and investigate how they contribute to discussions. Find the elements you like, and emulate them. Pinpointing the basic restrictions on your social selling will allow for a more inventive approach to the rest.
4. Identify people behind companies
Business to business selling is focused on companies rather than individual people, however the purchasing decisions and transactions ultimately involve actual people. It is advisable to contact individuals from the corporation when attempting to market your product.
When working on your lead list, make sure to keep record of:
- Company’s official social media profiles
- People who work for that company and their roles
Utilizing both Linkedin and Twitter can aid in connecting to real people who may have significant power or sway over decision makers. These individuals can be reached through either of the two social media platforms.
On Linkedin
Search for your intended company’s page and discover any shared links you have with it. If you or your sales representatives have a well-known Instagram page, it is likely that you have some acquaintances of a lesser degree.
On Twitter
Sign up for Followerwonk and look for your desired company’s username. Choose the “Search Twitter bios only” option. This selection process will only yield outcomes for those accounts that mention the enterprise in the profile section (indicating that the person is likely currently employed at the business or has been at some point).
Reaching out to those people…
Once you become familiar with the employees of the business you are looking to contact, observe them and seek out multiple methods of connection. The majority of those individuals will connect to their personal websites where one can discover forms to contact them, in addition to keeping numerous lively social media accounts.
Establishing an individual relationship will enable you to become more familiar with the goal enterprise and the people who make the choices, ultimately leading to a more positive outcome.
In conclusion, it is paramount that you generate interest in your business on the web; however, frequently the job has already been accomplished for you. Take user-generated content as an example. Much of the user-generated content begins organically and tends not to come from meticulously planned marketing strategies such as working with influencers. Generally, it will come from users who are not already following your brand on social media.
When scouring social media, it is advantageous to look for topics where your brand has been mentioned, as this can give you a great opportunity to join in with the dialogue naturally. Exploring conversations that relate to your brand, both good and bad, can be a great idea to get people talking about your business on Instagram. Whether you’re responding to an issue or saying thank you for a compliment, it can be a great way to initiate organic connections with potential customers.
5. Take advantage of paid ads
Advertising is the source of support for all the social media networks, ranging from Facebook to Pinterest. Due to the recent surge in users, content producers, and companies on these platforms, to be successful on social media outlets one must pay for advertisement. Organic reach on Instagram has declined sharply by almost half in the past two years. If 100,000 people are following your page by 2022, only 5,200 of them will see your posts. If you seek to elevate the visibility of your brand and remain ahead of the competition, having a well-developed plan for social media advertising is a must.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when using paid ads:
- Know the key strategies for structuring your campaign on every platform you plan to advertise on.
- Use A/B testing to optimize your ads by trying different copy, creatives, audiences and CTA’s. Constant testing is necessary to find the winners, scale sustainably and decrease your CPA/CPM
- Design your ads for mobile. As of 2021, mobile commerce makes up 72.9% of total ecommerce sales. If your ads aren’t natively tailored for mobile, they simply won’t work.
- Invest in exceptional video content.
6. Add CTA’s (call to action)
In the end, it’s critical to make use of your online presence to attract new clients, so it’s essential to direct your supporters to a place of purchase.
While being overly-salesy is definitely a no-no, there are some good ways to guide your followers to take action:
- Use time-sensitive offers
- Choose strong action words
- Make them pop with graphics
7. Experiment with live videos
It is forecast that the video streaming sector is going to reach an estimated sum of $184.27 billion by 2027.
It can be challenging to determine the secret formula of achieving success with live video as a business, yet streaming content in a live format can be a useful way to enhance engagement and communicate directly with your followers.
Businesses are capitalizing on live streaming platforms such as Twitch primarily through promotional campaigns and working with influencers. The efficiency of this approach is due to the high level of loyalty of Twitch viewers to the streamers they support. The majority of Twitch users (84%) think it is essential to express their support for content producers, and similarly, 76% of users appreciate when businesses back up the people they follow.
Establishing your own stream is the other way to employ live streaming as a marketing technique. It might feel intimidating to pull off a flourishing live stream for those of us not used to acting, but if we have an appropriate guide, we will rapidly transform into professional streamers.
Before you go live;
- Set up your lightning, spiff yourself up and if you’re doing a stationary live session remove anything distracting from the background
- Draft a simple script. You don’t want to write out anything too fancy or complex but having the general structure of your live stream mapped out on paper can keep you from veering off topic
Live stream ideas;
- Share live events happening at your company
- Host interviews with industry thought leaders
- Go behind the scenes of the creation/development of your product
- Showcase your employees and company culture
8. Provide value. Lots of it.
We already stated that your supporters do not want countless commercials and advertisements shoved at them. According to 43% of people, the major cause for them to stop following companies on social media platforms is the great number of overly aggressive ads. Instead, concentrate on giving your supporters the most possible benefit by amusing them and teaching them.
If you want to be seen as an authority in your field, it’s important to demonstrate that you are knowledgeable and experienced. An SEO agency, for instance, can put their knowledge to good use by providing useful advice on advertising and business administration.
By showing your audience care and investing in their education, you strengthen your company’s credentials as a thought leader, resulting in increased interest in your products and/or services.
Entertain – This is the fun part. Put your creativity to use! Follow the latest news and trends, show the world how your product can benefit them in unusual and fascinating ways, use a bit of comedy, and spend some effort constructing engaging, visible material.
9. Create FOMO (fear of missing out)
The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a feeling of distress and worry caused by the thought that you passed up a great chance (like the awesome gathering you now feel bad for not attending). Nowadays, social media can be leveraged as a tool to expand your business. Companies and marketers can capitalize on FOMO by displaying how their potential patrons’ lives can be augmented by incorporating your item into their regular routine.
Here are some techniques brands use to create powerful FOMO:
- Use social proof
- Display strong branding
- Set time-limited offers
- Use influencer marketing
10. Utilize social media as a customer service medium
The majority of customers believe that quickness is essential for a pleasant customer experience.
It is important to keep up with the conversation with your target audience and to respond properly to any complaints and questions about your company. Using your current online presence for customer service is more productive than hiring a distinct help staff, and customers today would rather turn to social media for assistance rather than using traditional methods such as e-mail or calling.
Conclusion
Using social media can be a beneficial way to acquire leads, resulting in direct sales and aiding other strategies used to create leads. A careful plan must be implemented for success.
Ensure that everyone is on the same page. A huge social media marketing effort requires many individuals to work on it, and everyone should be informed about the regulations. If you allow someone to post content without going over the terms and conditions and agreeing to them, you are more likely to have issues.
It takes some effort to locate the most effective strategies and techniques, but if you are consistent, you will eventually reap the rewards. Good luck!
