How Social Media Helps Business Growth

Social media for business

Social media is one of the best ways in terms of business expansion. You can reach your potential buyers and let them explore more about your product or service. Social media has become the quintessential element of branding in the digital world.

Effective use of social media turns out to be cost effective and powerful tool when it comes to business growth.As per the surveys conducted, it has been found that, 92 percent of the marketers believe that social media usage is effective in boosting sales and is a vital part in marketing.

About more than 50 percent of the small business enterprises have seen a major growth and increase in sales by using social media tools. Many brands are employing social media for generating traffic, customer interactions, generating leads, closing deals and even customer service.

Small & medium scale businesses can leverage social media and focus more on generating traffic, creating brand awareness and building a community; rather than trying to beat large companies in terms of money, stamina and time.

Have a walk-through to this article and see how social media helps in business expansion and multiplying opportunities for your company.

1. Decide your Platform

This is a first step towards a successful social media strategy. Decide which social media platform you need to use to reach your potential customers.

For e.g. if your brand targets youngsters in the age group of 18-30, Instagram or Snapchat could be good for you.

LinkedIn is the best for connecting with business and corporate users. Facebook ads can increase your mass reach. Twitter is particularly good for connecting with influencers, creating awareness about your brand.

For sharing videos & creating compelling stories about your business, you can use Youtube.

Know your target audience and see where you can spread more awareness about the product or service you are selling.

Create a platform strategy for social media platform which are most relevant to your business. Post religiously about the company and its products so that people get to know and are well-versed with your offerings.

2. Create Brand Awareness

Create Brand Awareness

Know that you have created a setup for your online marketing, it’s time to create popularity among the prospects. This will help in creating recognition and form an identity. There are certain tracking metrics that you can use to track down your customer.

Reports show that 60 percent of people said that they discover new product through the social media platforms.

a). Mentions: This will help you to know how many times and where your business name has been mentioned or used.

b). Location: This feature enable you to find your customers’ location; hence providing an opportunity to grow.

c). Impressions: Impression means a number of times post have been viewed or popped up in one’s feed. This will help you to know your brand’s progress.

d). Followers growth: Track down the number of followers and the time taken to gain them. If a certain post attracts more people, create more of it.

e). Leads: What is the total number of leads generated from the social media platforms.

f). Conversion rate: Analyse the conversion rates on leads generated from social media platforms for your business

g). Revenue: To calculate the ROI, track the cost per lead and customer acquisition. The overall revenue growth for your business.

This will help in generating tremendous gain and popularity of the brand among the users. Track and generate traffic using analytics tool to procure a large volume of audience.

Social Media can help you attract the right leads and build strong awareness, which can improve revenues for your business.

3. Sharing Visuals

Visual images play an important role in social media marketing. People mostly get attracted by viewing pictures and videos. So, use more pictures whenever required to drive audience towards your marque.

Create content that is hypnotic and visually stunning. It will get you more shares, mentions and ultimately create business opportunities.

4. Quality Matters

Quality Matters

This is an important aspect as quality matters over quantity. Create quality content that will help you in connecting with your audience and expanding your business. Build  honest content that will drive your prospects and build relations.

According to Stackla, 86 percent of consumer like authenticity and not fakeness. Businesses that are creating quality content for their customers and offering them true value derive better ROI from social media platforms.

5. Respond to Conversations

It is crucial part in gaining brand awareness and fame. Responding to the comments or messages on the social media to generate leads. Start a conversation like asking a question or doing poll. This is attract audience and keep them engaged with your brand.

Social media is also helping businesses to gather useful feedback from potential customers, take their inputs for improving products & services, as well as provide support to existing customers instantly.

6. Monitor your Competitors

Monitor your Competitors

It’s important to have a good knowledge about your competitors. See what audience is saying about them on social media. This is one of the best opportunities to grow ahead of them by finding your competitors’ cons. Mention their pain points and tell how your product can provide the solution. This will help you win more trusted prospects.

Monitoring your competitors on social media implies that you are aware about their products, services and fame in the market. Take this as an advantage and try to beat them by constantly engaging with the leads and producing better products.

If you are not taking the advantage of social media platforms, then you surely are missing on the most inexpensive, fast and efficient way of marketing and reaching almost half the population of the world.

So, start using social media platforms wisely to boost sales and grow your business. Good luck!

8 Awesome Ways to Increase Business Visibility

Business visibility

Visibility is one of the biggest challenges that businesses face today. It’s not easy to get noticed in the age of information overload. There is a saying that goes that aptly summarises it, ‘What is seen is sold.’ If your potential clients are unaware of the services or the products you are offering, how they will reach you?

Increasing visibility and creating brand awareness is not an easy task especially for young companies, due to the crowded marketplace. It is hard to differentiate yourself and standout. Your message needs to be spot on; consistent and tailored for your audience, else it will be perceived as marketing noise.

Data from Google shows that 87% of potential customers use mobile and other electronic devices to search for business information, before making any purchase. Hence having a strong digital presence can lead to increased visibility and business opportunities. As per Statista, the global m-commerce sales will surpass $693 billion by 2019.

As per Social Media today, 1 out of every five minutes is spent on social networking accounts. A digital and social media presence is indispensable for business visibility. Here we look at some of the awesome ways you can increase your business visibility:

1. Good Location:

A good location multiplies business opportunities and a bad one ruins them. Always choose the best possible location for your business, where your potential clients are coming frequently. If you are willing to open a fast food restaurant than, any place which is situated nearby schools or college will be the best option for your business setup.

Do not forget to apply a attractive name plate of your business with visible fonts, it will automatically grasp the attention of your audience, attract potential employees and will market your brand.

  2. Great Website

Great Website

A stunning website with great designs is a basic requirement in the digital world. When visitors search your business, they should feel the wow factor.

Having a good website is a essential part for increasing the visibility at local as well as on global market. So make an attractive website which has the clear description of all your services or products with graphics or images. A clear NAP i.e. Name , Address and Phone number will make your website more search engine friendly.

3. Business Directories:

Business Directories

Register your business in Local Business Directories, having a business account on social business pages on digital platform likes – Google my business page, online trade directories, yelp, yellow pages etc. can help to increase your brand awareness. Trade service directories offer a simple way for people to find out more about you and contact your business.

Most of the business directories offer free listings, you could also opt for paid listings for premium services like web leads and full services details on these trade directories.

4. Print Media:

Print Media

Print Media is one of the most traditional ways to gain visibility for your business, but it works. It can increase walk-ins for your business. You can make attractive hoardings, banners, brochures and pamphlets with attractive images and graphics to convey your message to
your targeted audience. The electronic copy of the marketing materials can also
be distributed via digital platforms and social media channels.

You may also print your company’s Logo on some household things like – pens, paper wait, calendars, diaries, etc. and distribute them to create goodwill with your prospective customers.

5. Blog & Digital Content:

An interactive blog with great indepth articles, Infographics and videos etc can serve as a great way for brands to establish themselves. It takes lot of effort to create quality content. But the blog can serve as a great means to advertise about your capabilities, strengths and knowledge in your industry.

Your blog can be built around your customers and address them. The interactive videos etc. can be shared on social media to create a buzz around your offerings. Blog is also one of the most effective ways to improve your SEO and search engine rankings.

6. Sponsorships, Events and Conferences:

Sponsorships, Events and Conferences

Giving sponsorship to events where your targeted audience is expected to come is also a persuasive approach for brand visibility. Do not forget to put your company’s banner having a short description about your services with your clear address and contact details
when you attend events.

Small gifts and giveaways that bear your company’s signature and contact details can help your branding too.

7. Group Associations and Affiliations:

Your business visibility is directly affected by its network and reach. By joining communities, business groups and targeted groups, your business can get good exposure. For e.g. joining London Chamber of commerce can get you in touch with many business persons there. When you join a peer group of industry, you know the latest developments in your field and also connect with others who have similar interests.

Getting in touch with those who are already in your field & doing well can help you learn many business traits from them. You can also share, learn and grow from these cumulative experiences. Most businesses often have complementary products and services. A bigger network can bring you more opportunities.

8. Online to Offline Strategy:

Online to Offline Strategy

According to Google, ‘near me’ mobile searches have grown over 500% in the last two years. It goes to show how important local optimisations can be for connecting with the local customers. Whether you’re a retailer, online store or an established business, you need a
way to connect the online and offline world for success in the digital world.

Conclusion:

The successful businesses are able to execute their strategies for creating visibility for their products and services and staying on top of the mind for their customers. Visibility is proportional to growth and profitability. The more people see you , more they will buy things from you. As a business, you need to remember that people are not interested in who you are, they are interested in what you can do for them.

Your visibility is the result of your efforts and how consistent you are with posting and connecting with the people in your Network.

Denise Wakeman