As a business owner, using social media is vital in helping your business get noticed and be remembered by your customers. Long gone are the days when print, TV and radio advertising was your only option to market your products or services. Nowadays, most people are active on at least one social media platform and it’s your job to reach them. If you’re a total novice at using social media, relax because we’ve written this guide just for you.
Using Social Media to Promote Your Business
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn have changed the way businesses can market to their customers. It allows us the opportunity to reach large numbers of people with minimum effort and at a low cost. Social media can help:
- Build your brand
- Send traffic to your website
- Increase your online presence
- Connect and engage with your target market
- Make sales
- Establish your expertise amongst your audience
Are you ready to get started? Let’s go!
How to Get Started Using Social Media
Your first step in using social media for your business is to choose the platforms you are going to be active on. This means finding out where your target audience spending their time. Often this depends on their demographic and interests. In New Zealand, the most popular social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snapchat, so check these ones out first.
Next, establish your business presence on your chosen platforms. It’s best if you are active on a regular basis, so factor the number of accounts you’ll have verses the time it will take you to keep them up to date. Information to include on your account profiles are your business name, website, contact details and a blurb about what your business does.
Your third step is to decide what you want to achieve from social media. Are you using it as a way of engaging with customers, sending them to your website, recruit new staff, create a fan base or build an email list?
Once you know your goals, then your fourth step is to create a plan of how you are going to achieve them. This involves detailing:
- When will you post?
- How often will you post?
- What content will you post?
- How much time you do have to post?
- When will you handle comments and messages?
Once you’ve been posting for a while, make sure you take the time to analyse where you had success with and where you need to do some tweaking to meet your goals.
Creating Social Media Content
One of the most common questions business owners ask, is what type of content should they post? Here’s a list of some ideas to get you started:
- Testimonials
- Photos of your office and staff
- Contests
- Surveys
- Memes
- Giveaways
- Videos
- Blogs
- Product reviews
- Motivational quotes
For more great ideas on using social media, join an active online business networking group! Business Network NZ have both a Facebook networking group, plus a free business directory where you can list your business and receive a great SEO friendly backlink.
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