Importance of Social Media Marketing for Business

Over recent years, we have seen a few different social networks emerge and become extremely popular in a short space of time. Many businesses believe that social media is not a good way to drive traffic and create leads. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Social media is not going anywhere and as technology improves by the day, the role of social media for business only heightens.

So for those of you that have been living under a rock and not utilising the power of what these platforms can bring to your business, you should listen-up and start choosing the right social media platform for your business, otherwise you will be left behind. Don’t get me wrong, it does take a fair bit of effort to stay active on these platforms but the power that it can bring to your business is not to be under-estimated.

When you have finished reading this social media guide for business, we hope to be able to convince you to take action, put in the effort and reap the rewards that social media marketing can bring.

Without further ado, let’s go through the ways you can benefit from utilising the power of marketing your brand, business, product or service on these powerful platforms that are just waiting for your content.

In this section, we’re going to look over and briefly explain just a few of the opportunities which social media provides to help you market your brand, business, or anything else on these platforms.

A Facebook Page is Essential for Your Brand or Service

This platform has grown in popularity and is a great place to provide an insight into your business. People can visit your page, follow it and receive updates in their newsfeed about what you are up to. It’s the best way to keep people informed about new products or services that you are offering and promotions that you may be having.

Find Groups that Focus Around Your Product or Service

Facebook groups are a great networking opportunity which can be utilised in many ways. A little research can uncover groups that are focused on many different topics. Groups can be private or public. Similar to the Facebook page, if people become part of your group, whatever you decide to share will start to appear in their newsfeed – what better way to get your message out there. When you post updates on your blog, why not add them to your group or Facebook page to help drive traffic back to your website.

Retarget Your Customers Using Facebook Ads

With the help of the custom audience feature on Facebook, you can present your ads to prospects that have already been to website. This is most commonly referred to as retargeting and allows you the opportunity to represent your product to users who visited your website but did not purchase the first time around.

This can be extremely powerful as it is a well-known fact that people do not purchase when they are first exposed to your brand or service. This is even more apparent for higher priced products and services.

Create a Summary of Any Articles You Create

If you’re creating content, why not create a summary of the post and share across your social media platforms to help promote the content. Cross reference anything that you produce but rather than share the same article, create a snippet that entices the reader to click through and read the full article on your website. You can include the URL of the article towards the end of your summary.

Plan to Run Facebook Ads to Target New People (Target Correctly)

When you think about how many people are now on Facebook, it makes you realise that the reach you have at your fingertips is substantial. Think about your niche and what interests your target market would have, what their behaviours are, what would be their ideal age etc. This will enable you to hone in and target your audience correctly. Honing in on your target audience will result in cheaper clicks in the long run, so consider using a tool that will help you target correctly, such as Connect Explore – this revolutionary tool delivers targeted buying Facebook audiences in seconds and will give you a head start on your competitors.

We talked about retargeting earlier and of course, this is an essential part of your advertising but you also want to reach new customers as well. Using the power of advertising can help you build your brand, sell your products and increase the likes to your page.

This article only touches the surface on a few of the strategies you can use to drive traffic to your site but hopefully you are now starting to realise the influence of social media on business. Always be mindful of sharing your content. What information would your target customer find helpful? Remember not to reveal the fully story, just provide an enticing sentence which encourages the reader to want to find out more.

Ways To Promote Your Content On Twitter

As you are no doubt already aware, Twitter is one of the older social media platforms but it’s still popular and certainly is not going anywhere. Twitter is particularly good because it has a dedicated audience who tend to visit their timeline frequently to see what’s been going on. In addition, people are always checking out their tweets which means that your content is regularly in view, which is quite different to Facebook’s algorithm, which works in a different way. Utilising Twitter to promote your content enables you to drive visitors to your website or product page. Here are a few ways that you can use this platform to your marketing advantage.

Reply To Comments and Answer Other People’s Questions

Using your keywords, you can find tweets based on your niche and answer any questions that people might be posting about. This is a valuable opportunity to show your authority in your field and network with other users. In turn, this will help you get traffic and conversions on your website.

Look for Popular Accounts Based on Your Chosen Market and Follow Other “Twitter Influencers”

Providing you don’t overdo it, there’s no harm in following these people as long as you do this gradually. Interact with Twitter users in your chosen niche and look at their followers and follow the same accounts. This is the best way to grow your audience and get free traffic. Create engaging content and retweet other people’s content so they are more likely to do the same for you. Again, as with other social media platforms, it’s all about giving, rather than just receiving.

Implement the Hashtag Feature to Get Your Content Seen and Help Attract Followers

Did you know that tweets that contain relevant hashtags receive twice as much interaction as tweets without them, so why not use them to your advantage? Twitter also has a tool called Twitter Analytics which will allow you to see what hashtags you have used that have been most popular, so make sure you check this tool out. Don’t overdo it though, tweets that use more than two hashtags often see a 17% decrease in engagement so take note of this important point. Consider creating a unique hashtag related to your brand or service and use it in every tweet you make to help people find your content. Use free tools such as hashtags.org to find popular and trending hashtags in your niche. Using popular hashtags can be a great way to help new people find your brand.

Run A Twitter Poll or Contest

A great way to interact with your audience is to create a poll or contest. You can decide how long your poll or contest will run from a set number of hours up to 7 days and is a great way to find out what your followers are thinking and what kind of content they find interesting, which in turn will help you post engaging content. A well-prepared Twitter contest can greatly increase the awareness of your brand and help generate conversions on your website. Include excitement and buzz, for example – the first person to ‘tweet’ the correct answer wins!

Ask Your Followers Questions Which Helps Start Conversations Using YouTube to Drive Traffic

Asking questions on social media platforms is extremely effective and using the concept on Twitter is no different. Encourage interaction by asking for opinions and asking people to respond by retweeting their answer. Try and be creative and unique in your approach for better engagement.

Using YouTube to Drive Traffic 

At this point, there’s really no excuse for you not to be utilizing YouTube in your business, especially with how easy it’s become to create awesome videos. With that said, if you’re still thinking of a way to implement YouTube into your business and your marketing strategy, this is for you.

We have provided some suggestions on how you can benefit from the authority and increasing pool of traffic which YouTube can deliver.

Add a Video to YouTube and Optimize for Your Keywords

There are different programs (some free, some not) to produce promotional or informative videos. It could be plain text or a presentation type video or you could even use animation to showcase your product or service. Turn your content into a video and use a keyword tool (such as Google keyword planner) to target low competition keywords. Create a title and description which incorporate the keywords you have found and link back to your product or service in the description. It’s really that simple.

Create Your Video and Upload to YouTube 

Using the power of video to share valuable content can generate buzz about your live streaming event. Include engaging visuals and accompanying audio to help encourage people to attend your live stream event. It helps people engage with your content and promote social sharing with friends and other social networks.

Make the Most of Testimonials and Feedback 

Have you received positive comments or reviews on your products and services? If so, make the most of these golden nuggets! Use these statements and use a free tool like Canva to create simple images which incorporate these reviews or positive feedback. Use these images in your social media campaigns, on your blog posts or in your email signature.

Hold Contests and Explain Them in Videos, Ask for Interactions to Enter 

Similar to other platforms, you can easily host all kinds of different contests and crowd incentive-based events on YouTube. All it takes is a little thought and creativity, and the effort to create and upload the video. You can set-up rules for entering, ask viewers to share something or sign-up for something, and so many other things. The possibilities are endless.

Engage with Other Users by Adding Comments 

Although this can be classed as spammy, it isn’t if you take care in what you are doing. If you engage and comment on other user’s videos by posting helpful comments and joining in on discussions, you can establish yourself and generate people’s interest. Helping others often leads to other people offering to return the favour.

Utilising the Power of Pinterest to Promote Your Brand or Service 

Many people ignore Pinterest for traffic and content promotion but in our opinion, this is a huge mistake. Did you know that over 14 million articles are pinned each day – unbelievable – so why would you not want to get in on the action? Just remember to sign-up for a business account if you are planning to use it to drive traffic to your website/product – commercial use of Pinterest is only allowed for a business account. If you already have a Pinterest account, it’s really easy to convert and of course, it’s totally free.

Think Carefully about the Type of Images You Post to Your Boards 

There are tons of images already out there which you can pin and repin but why not upload your own images of your products or services. This will help give your profile an original feel and will help portray your authority in your nice. Again, think about what your target audience would engage with and find useful. When creating your images, make them stand out – some images will take off and get saved and repinned and some images won’t. Experiment and find out what works and what doesn’t. Add comments to images to help grow your following. If people like your pins, reciprocate and take the time to go to their account and like their images too.

Help Other Pinterest Users Grow Their Network 

Pinterest has around 335 million users and they make it incredibly easy to connect with others in your niche. Utilise this opportunity to help increase your authority and your audience. You never know, some of the bigger accounts or celebrities may also promote you and your board and imagine the impact that could have on your traffic! But remember, this is two-fold, you want people to promote you, so don’t forget to promote other people’s posts too by liking or sharing them. If you stay consistent on the platform, you will reap the rewards.

Marketing on Reddit 

Reddit is a network of users based on people’s interests – it has 430m+ users. Whatever you’re into, there’s bound to be a community on Reddit just waiting for you. Be careful though, one of their golden rules is that you don’t spam your posts and expect to receive glowing feedback. Their pet hate is people who only submit their own content and they take a very strong view on just using Reddit to get traffic to your blog. Used correctly though, it’s another powerful tool – posts that focus on images do especially well. Remember the initial AAV = Always Add Value and you won’t go far wrong. Give 100% and the community will give you more than enough back.

Reddit is a social network forum that sorts content based on popularity within its community and its content is organised in a truly unique way.

Join Sub-Reddit’s that are Related to Your Niche 

Sub-reddits are made up of people who are focused on a particular topic. To get started on Reddit, pick a sub-reddit that is not over-crowded with users but that has enough people within it. Don’t go posting your links right away, otherwise you are wasting your time and people will not react kindly to you. Instead, take time to introduce yourself, make yourself known as an authority in your niche, provide value to other users.

Post Images or Infographics with Interesting Information to Help Create Interaction Between Users

When you have taken the time and patience to establish yourself and provide some value, by all means, post links but don’t just post your own content, post content that other people will find helpful and gain yourself a little bit of trust as an active contributor.

Infographics seem to do particularly well on this platform as they provide information/statistics visually, which helps start discussions. Infographics are simple to create, using a tool like Canva.com and people are usually interested in looking at them, especially if they are unique to you.

Help Other Users by Answering Questions 

As with most other social media platforms, people are always looking for help and advice, so you will have plenty of opportunity to share your knowledge and help build your reputation as being someone who knows what they’re talking about. Put the effort in and you will reap the rewards quicker – spend time each day and comment on other people’s posts, answer any questions that you can and look for trends on what content is doing well to help give you ideas on how you can contribute.

Share Valuable Content and Other Information 

Reddit users are on the ball and won’t fall for rehashed information or generic information you’ve quickly dug up from your hard-drive from 2005.

Keep your content relevant in whatever sub-reddit you are contributing to. Post content that is actionable and useful and try and avoid generic content. Build your post history and use text posts to show you are genuine. Another golden rule is to always reply to comments on your posts, this in turn will boost engagement and your traffic.

Marketing Your Brand on Instagram 

Learning how to drive traffic from Instagram to your website could be one of the most valuable lessons you learn as a marketer. Instagram is an extremely powerful engine for posting your images when you’re on the move. We’ve shared a few examples on how you can use it to help market your business.

Share Photos Showcasing Your Product or Service 

When you’re first starting out, you may feel a bit unsure on what images you should be posting. Start off by adding branded images of your product or service. Post images of people modelling your product for example to help create brand awareness. Remember to include your company logo for further brand exposure – do this on all images you post for consistency.

Add Personal Images of Your Team Members or a Great Picture You Took at the Weekend

People like to connect with people, so what better way to do this than by sharing a personal image of a beautiful beach you visited at the weekend, for example. Upload images of what life is like at your business, such as an image of your reception area with happy team members. Sharing aspects of your business can be a wonderful way to help connect with your audience personally, so they see you as a real person and not just a name behind the screen. It helps get people talking!

Expose Your Personality 

Further to the previous point about sharing your personality and providing that human touch to your brand is definitely one of the most recommended ways to show your authority and help drive traffic back to your site. It’s a sure-fire way to engage with your audience and help them to get to know you a bit better.

Use the Power of Hashtags to Get Your Content Seen 

Similar to Twitter, Instagram uses hashtags to organise content so why not use them to help tell your story. Cut through the noise and come-up with a hashtag that defines your brand and makes it stand out from the crowd. Use it to connect with your target audience and help get you discovered by new users – you’ll need to dedicate time and effort to create a hashtag that people will relate to and that you can use going forward.

General Ways to Promote Your Content Using Social Platforms 

In summary, we have provided a few tips for helping market your brand across all platforms.

Take Time to Brainstorm and Creatively Find a Hashtag Which Defines Your Brand 

This may seem obvious but it’s disheartening when businesses don’t see this as important. Every time you post an image to social media, make sure you always use your branded hashtag. Using this technique regularly will get your product or service out there, which is exactly what you are aiming to achieve!

Many people are already utilizing this technique, don’t forget to use yours! 

If you follow this advice, it will be much easier for users to find your profile and what you are sharing. It will also help people find out what others are saying about you! Any positive feedback people have left will be easily accessible to others.

Other users in your niche can engage in conversations that focus around that hashtag and it provides consumers a way to remember you in the future.

Connect Your Social Media Accounts Together View Pages and Groups in Your Niche

With the ever-growing popularity of social media networks, many platforms offer the option to connect each of the accounts together so that you can post your content on more than one network at a time. Having this option saves time and makes it easier to get your message out there helping to drive free traffic.

View Pages and Groups in Your Niche Use the Power of Automation Tools

A rather simple but extremely useful tip is to take a look at other pages or groups within your market and get an idea of the type of content they are posting and what seems to be doing well. Don’t copy other people’s content but use it as a springboard to generate your own ideas. Do this regularly to help you improve your marketing tactics.

Use the Power of Automation Tools Closing Thoughts

It should come as no surprise that for pretty much every single social network out there, there’s a compatible tool or software that will help make your social media marketing a little easier. These days there are many options to choose from, some of which are paid and some of which have a monthly fee. Do your due-diligence to find a suitable platform that works for you, your business and your budget. Creating a social media content plan does take time and using an automation tool can help reduce the time it takes to find decent content to share with your audience. We recommend and use Social Kickstart – you can check it out by clicking on the image below.

Closing Thoughts

So, there you have it. That may have been a lot to go through, but as you went through it all, we hope that we have provided some ideas on what to get the most out of social media and the benefits these networks can have on your marketing campaigns.

Social networks aren’t difficult to get started using, and in all honesty, it’s a lot better to set-up shop and at least make an effort to use them – being consistent with your posting will help people recognise your brand which will pay dividends for your marketing as a whole.

For businesses that have an actual store, using the power of social media can help people find out more about your business, such as exact location, store hours etc which will only increase your footprint.

For businesses online, a social presence is now considered essential, so don’t skip over spending the time to set-up your accounts.

Click here to download our social media checklist for business!