Having a social media presence to proliferate brand awareness is vital for small and large businesses alike. Why? The best way to get in front of your key demographic is to be where they are — and studies show that 79% of the U.S. population is on some sort of social media.
While it can be easy to just use social media to push out content as a one-way distribution channel, it’s even more important to use it as another communication medium between you and your target audience. Social media gives you a chance to interact with potential clients directly, show your brand personality, and inform your followers about any new offerings or upcoming happenings within your company.
If you are willing to put in the time, social media can be an easy and inexpensive way to reach your target audience while also helping you increase brand loyalty.
In today’s blog post, I’ll highlight some simple and straightforward ways you can leverage social media to drive desired results…
Be Authentic
Social media is your chance to show your target audience the personality behind your business. After all, people buy from other people, not from corporations. Show your personal side and don’t be afraid to use a more relaxed tone if it fits your brand. Even emojis (used sparingly) can help bring some levity to your posts.
You can also create posts to spotlight yourself and those within your company as a way to show ‘who’ is behind the company. You can also use social media to share your business’s story, detailing how and why you got started. View this as your chance to humanize your business and really point out what makes you different.
More importantly, talk about the problems that you solve and how you go about doing it. Don’t focus on the content on just your products/services, but how you help others solve a specific issue.
Respond Quickly
When people (both customers and non-customers) reach out to a brand’s social media accounts, they expect a quick response — in fact, 32% expect a response within 30 minutes. This can be tough to pull off if you don’t make a dedicated effort. Make sure that you’re putting in the due diligence to be interactive as this is in line with being authentic and helpful.
In order to stay on top of your social media networks, use a platform that makes it simple. I recommend Hubspot to my clients because it is fully scalable and features not only email marketing, but also social media scheduling and customer service functions. Hubspot helps you to be able to perform multiple functions from one location so that your team can work collaboratively to give your clients the best possible experience. Check out all of their features today — including several that are free.
SEMRush also offers a Social Media Toolkit that allows you to not only schedule posts, but also edit images and track posts with a UTM code. They are also currently offering a free online social media toolkit course, so check them out here.
Encourage Interaction
A great way to engage with your target audience on social media is to conduct polls. Whether in your stories or in a post, you can make a poll for just about anything. Choose to go the more serious route and create a poll to determine what offerings your followers would prefer, or even just do something fun like seeing if your followers prefer cats or dogs. Polls are a great way to get engagement from your audience and provide a more personal experience.
If graphic design is not your thing, don’t fret. While many posts can be created simply in the native app, Canva can help you give your posts a professional feel without needing professional experience. With templates for all kinds of social media platforms, Canva makes it easy for you to manage your posts. Check out their options for Canva Pro here.
If learning how to use Canva still seems too overwhelming, head over to Fiverr to find a freelance graphic designer that can help you out. Fiverr features all kinds of freelancers at varying price points, and you should be able to receive a decent amount of designed social media posts for an affordable price. In addition, Fiverr guarantees all of their work, so you don’t pay until you are satisfied. Check out all of their qualified freelancers here.
Reward Your Followers
Give your fans/followers an exclusive opportunity to receive a discount via your social media channels. Simply instruct your followers to mention the social media post when buying in order to receive a promotional offer. Or, you could offer some sort of discount if they share your page with their friends and family. Contests or giveaways on social media are also very popular and can increase your followers by up to 70%. Creating discounts and contests gives your fans a reward for following you on social media and helps them feel more connected to you as a business.
Share User-Generated Content
From time to time, your clients will share their experiences with your company on social media, likely tagging your business in the process. Resharing these posts on your official social media pages — whether as a post or in your stories — can be a great way to engage with your followers. This user-generated content is not only a great way to show your business in action, but studies show that user-generated photos are 5 times more likely to convert sales. So reshare those posts and watch your engagement increase, as your followers will likely end up tagging you more often.
Moving Forward
These ideas are just the beginning of how you can use social media to win sales. The more you consider social media as a way to connect with potential clients — rather than simply an advertising platform — the more you can provide your fans/followers with content that they are happy to consume. It is about providing value; give them a reason to enjoy following you online, and they will stay. And the more people that follow you online, the high of a chance you have to then convert them into sales and loyal customers.
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. I only recommend products and services that I use and stand behind, and if you decide to try them, I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Doing so helps me run this blog and provide free content for you, my readers.
