Is it time for your company to evolve and grow its base of clients? While you may be active in the community, placing your logo on your company vehicles and getting the word out among your friends and neighbors; the internet has provided an exceptional opportunity to revolutionize the way we market our brands and services. In fact, if you've ignored the power of the internet up until now, it's already cost you thousands of dollars in missed leads and opportunities.
The Impact of Social Media
Every second, thousands of people in your local community are engaging with their smartphones on social media. Whether they're updating their friends with pictures from their trip to the mall, or discussing current events with friends and family, Edison research tells us that 22% of Americans use Facebook or Twitter more than once a day. The vast majority of Americans use it at least once a day, and almost 60% of the US population utilize social media once a week. This is a powerful, free tool available to your company.
Directing the Social Media Spotlight
It's time to come out of the dark, grab your shades and shine the social media sunlight on your brand or service. Build a Facebook page and post to it at least once a week. Invite your friends and family to like it. Then track your progress from week to week (Facebook makes this easy with a weekly email).
Effective Posts and Content
The most important part of building a Facebook page is creating content that is relevant to your users. You can do this by linking to interesting content that is relevant to your business, or taking the more rewarding path of writing your own content. By choosing to write your own content, you won't have to drive your traffic away to a competing site. Instead, write 50-100 words about a specific topic that relates to your industry. Then, at the end, invite your audience to "like" your post if they found it helpful, and "comment" if they have any follow-up questions. This is an excellent way to start a conversation, and boost your post on multiple Facebook news feeds.
Social Media Paid Advertising
A great tool for exploding your reach on social media is Facebook's paid advertising options. While it's important to produce unique, engaging content for your followers to engage with, boosting your posts with paid advertising gives you maximum effect. The most cost-effective option, in my experience, is using the option that shares your page to friends of your current followers. This allows your advertising dollars to be targeted at the groups that are most likely interested in your product or service. For example, if Peggy has liked your page, when you pay to boost a post, it will reach out to all of Peggy's friends with a link to "like" your page and check out your content.
Get Noticed!
Social media is a free resource for your company to use to promote your brand or service 24/7. It never sleeps, and is always there when your customers want more information. Take advantage of these exciting tip and tricks to help explode brand awareness while targeting those potential customers that can really use your service.