The first step in many consumers’ process, when deciding which products or services to go with, is awareness — knowing what their goals are and whether or not to pursue those goals. Your job as a business is to figure how they go about educating themselves on these goals, and using that opportunity to get in front of the consumer. Many businesses are turning to social media to raise awareness of their offerings. Especially when you consider that consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals, according to HubSpot.
Why use social media for your business?
Social media can make a big difference for small businesses at a relatively low cost. According to Social Media Examiner, 83% of marketers say social media is important for increasing awareness of their business.
The fact is, social media has deeply penetrated our society, and it continues to do so at an increasingly rapid pace. Nearly 1 billion users get on Facebook every day, according to Sprout Social, which means a lot of eyeballs potentially on your posts and ads. It would be a waste not to take advantage of that.
Using social media to attract customers
When using social media to find and attract business, you have to know where your customers spend most of their time. Does your target demographic hang out on Facebook? Or maybe you’re more focused on business-to-business connections, in which case LinkedIn would be your answer. Whatever the answer, it’s always best to reach out to customers in an environment they’re already comfortable using. Once you know where your audience hangs out, you can start developing your marketing strategy and interacting with them.
If you still doubt its importance, here are some quick social media marketing statistics, as reported by HubSpot:
• 84% of B2B marketers use social media in some form.
• The number of businesses that say Facebook is critical or important to their business has increased by 75%.
• Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.
• 80% of U.S. social network users prefer to connect to brands through Facebook.
• 43% of all marketers have found a customer via LinkedIn.
These numbers leave no room to deny social media’s power in today’s market.
Social media advertising best practices for small businesses
For anyone new to the world of social media, it can be a little daunting. After all, it’s completely different from anything we’ve seen up to now. Really, though, there are just a few basic rules of thumb you should follow to market a business on social media.
• Share relevant content. This shouldn’t stop at just self-promotional posts. Your followers have interests apart from your business, and they’re more likely to share a variety of content. For example, if you own a clothing boutique, you could share stories about new fashion trends or celebrity styles. If you own a health food store, share articles on workout tips and healthy recipes. Any of these will appeal to your customers and keep them coming back to your page. On a LinkedIn business page, share job openings. What better way to find your next employee than by appealing to people who already like your business?
• Interact with customers. Nobody likes to feel ignored. If a customer asks a question on Facebook or messages you on LinkedIn, respond to them. Like customers’ posts and comments, ask questions about their experience, and if they send you photos or interesting material, share those. Showing you care about your customers on an individual level can only help your reputation.
• Monitor analytics. One of the best things about digital marketing is it's measurable. Google Analytics shows you almost anything you want to know about how (or if) your campaign is working — page views, click-through rate, highest traffic times, page likes, post reach, engagement. Some analytics tools will even let you monitor your competition. This way you can see what you’re doing wrong, what you’re doing right, and what you can improve on to reach even more potential customers.
The purpose of social media marketing is to reach out to customers and let them know what they can expect from you. Consistent branding of a business can only help increase awareness of that business, which in turn keeps people coming back for information. And when customers are aware of your brand, the more likely they are to do business with you.
Interested in finding out more on how to use social media to increase awareness about your company? Or have questions or comments? If so, please leave us a note below.