Like a lot of other things, the new norm has changed the way we conduct and grow our business. With less human contact and a multitude of procedures to be adhered to in public spaces, growing importance is placed on the use of technology and having an online presence.
Social media, for example, has become a ubiquitous element in our lives. As of January 2018, about 75 per cent of the Malaysian population were considered “active” social media users. Further reports suggest that the average daily time spent on these platforms exceeded 8.45 hours. That’s more than half the time most people are awake during the day!
With all this taken into consideration, it would be foolish if you didn’t make use of social media to help you grow your business. As a matter of fact, social media and digital marketing have developed into genuine tools for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers.
Your customers are already interacting with brands through social media, and if you’re not speaking directly to your audience through these platforms then you’re missing out! Among its advantages to businesses are:
- Improve brand awareness
- Cost-effective
- Engagement with customers
- Improved brand loyalty
- Healthier customer satisfaction
- Marketplace awareness
- Higher brand authority
- Increased website traffic and SEO rankings
The award-winning author of Socialnomics, Erik Qualman once said: “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media; the question is how well we do it”.
So, prepare to grow your business during the new norm by following these 5 social media tips:
1.Opt for business accounts
Opening business accounts for your social media platforms (such as Facebook Business and Instagram Business) allows you to use the various analytical tools which are made available to you for free.
You will gain insights into what time and day most of your follows are active. This is imperative as it allows you to schedule the time of your postings. Oh, and yes, you can automatically schedule these contents without having to be online.
Not all posts appear on users’ social media feed as the platform’s algorithm takes into consideration the amount of engagement a post has. Therefore, posting your content at the right time increases the chances of engagement and boosts visibility.
These business accounts also allow you to make paid advertisements and to really target the right audience.
2. Be active and build relationships
Compared to other marketing channels, social media has one distinctive advantage – you can communicate directly with your customers and followers.
Other than your content receiving more visibility (as mentioned in the previous point), you can build trust and form a relationship with your customers over time. Whenever people engage with your content, you can react and interact with them right away. Compared to asking for a sale right up front, a long-term connection usually translates to customer loyalty.
Not only are you more likely to get repeat business dealings but the probability of them recommending you to their friends and family also increases.
One tip to increase engagement is to ask your followers to interact. Captions along the lines of “What do you guys think…” or “When was the last time…” can help boost interaction
3. Be clever with hashtags
For Instagram and Twitter, your content will be discovered by more users when you use the right hashtags. Currently, you can use up to 20 hashtags for a single post on Instagram. Try to figure out the popular ones and which best targets your audience.
However, in order to not clutter the caption of your Instagram posts, it will be much better if you post these hashtags in the comment section. Include them a few paragraphs down (you can use just a full stop for each paragraph) so these hashtags will seem hidden from view when users scroll through their feed.
4. Show off your personality
Be authentic when pushing out your brand. Yes, social media is about showing the value of your product or service to your customers. However, great social media presence is about connection and experiences.
The best and biggest brands usually have something that their audiences can connect to. Being authentic, having a personality, and not seem like brand robots pushing out content is key to that. Make sure your content sparks joy and make your followers happy to engage with!
5. Cross-promote with other pages
When you get mentioned in a post by another page, your account will show up in the News Feeds of a wider audience. This is the reason why the role of social media influencers has increased in the past few years.
Ensuring that the two Pages have a large pool of overlapping fans can definitely help earn extra reach.