We live in an advanced world of social media and we cannot help but admit that using the internet is the easiest way of advertising a business. Whether you’re the owner of a huge enterprise or you’re just getting started, it is important to know that most of today's deals are performed online, including sales, transactions, negotiations, and more. Traditional marketing devices are a small fish in an ocean of opportunities and soon enough, offline means of advertising a business may decrease even more.
The Internet Has Changed The Way We Do Business
Print advertising has been decreasing significantly in the past years. In fact, the number of people watching TV has declined due to the popular increase of video streaming from the Internet. With the popularity of these mediums declining, the internet will soon become one of the major sources of information. For a business, having social media presence is fundamental to its success. Business owners must have an online marketing plan in order to help their start-ups develop, grow, and make a profit. In theory, using social media to advertise seems easy. However, there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is one of the most efficient ways of advertising a business online. According to HubSpot, 54% more leads are generated by inbound tactics than traditional paid marketing. Rather using old-fashioned techniques such as purchasing ads, praying for leads, and buying email lists, inbound marketing centers on top quality content aimed at making people interested in what you’re selling. By lining up published content with the interests of your company, you attract inbound traffic; sharing is caring, which means that inbound is all about producing quality content and sharing it with the rest of the world. In fact, you’re showing your expertise through the use of content to become resourceful for any prospective users. Through the creation of content aimed at appealing to customers, you attract more and more people interested in what you have to say and offer.
Have a Target Audience
Having a Facebook or Twitter page attached to your business is not enough to attain success. It’s really important to have a target audience. For example, if your company sells toys for preschoolers, your Facebook page must be targeted at adults who might have kids within that age group. There are options for targeting specific groups in Facebook. In addition, the use of hashtags can often help to reach audiences searching for the specific hashtag. If you are unfamiliar with social media advertising, it’s best to consult with a specialist to help you target the right audience.
Foster Relations With CRM
Generating leads is often about focusing on pertinent data that surrounds those leads. Generally speaking, customers want to relate to a product (and indirectly to a company), and if you can’t foster relationships with them, eventually they’ll leave. Investing in a CRM system (customer relationship management system), allows companies to analyze, store, gather, and track important data. This data helps companies tailor the customer experience. CRM is excellent at converting and generating leads through massive quantities of raw data that locates promising prospects. An excellent CRM system is used to gain significant customer insight. Thus, companies can quickly and affordably disseminate pertinent information to a wider array of potential customers.
Focus on Visual Content
Blog posts are great at generating leads. However, not everyone is interested in reading an article. Many people are drawn by visual content, and if they see something that’s enticing, they’ll click to find out more. Studies have proven that what we see (video and images), is processed much faster than the things we read. Therefore, incorporating visual elements into the content you’re providing is an excellent way of gathering leads and increasing your company’s reputation.
Bottom line is social media can bring important leads. However, it won’t work if company owners don’t use it properly. Social ads are now more powerful than ever. Facebook alone has a wealth of ad products that can help entrepreneurs generate leads, from targeted tabs, advertising, events, organic posts and more, but it can’t work alone. It needs to be fed with quality information on a daily basis to keep an audience engaged.
on
These are great guidelines. I was hoping you could provide more insight into how each social media network generates leads for a business. Are there different ways to acquire leads depending on the social media network you’re using? Or any specific tips you might have for a local business, let’s say a small neighborhood cafe.
on
Social Media plays a vital role to get targeted traffic. Good informative article. Thanks