Forbes reports that companies continue to spend more on social media each year, increasing commitment levels significantly over the least ten years.
Referral Candy claims that 93 percent of shoppers' decisions are impacted by social media influences.
Below are some proven strategies for harnessing the influence of social media to acquire customers.
1. Establish a social marketing plan of action.
It is far too easy to become entangled in social media activity without a clear plan that forwards your marketing agenda. For serious marketers, it is important to stick to a schedule so that posts are consistent and engaging.
Remember that social media can work for you or against you, depending on how methodical and dependable you are about following up. You need to establish at least two different periods of time, preferably at the start and end of each day for social media follow-up to comments and questions. Don't ignore these people since they represent your future or current customers.
2. Speak to your customer where they live.
Inc. confirms the importance of knowing your customer before designing a social media plan. If you can't define your customer in terms of gender, age, income level, interests and buying habits; you can't sell to them.
You have to know your customer. Market research is one way to learn about them. Study the data so you know the social media platforms to leverage for customer acquisition.
3. Analyze the data to improve your social media approach.
One of the major perks offered by social media is insight into the way your product or service is perceived. What is the main reason customers want what you have to offer? Once you know the pain your business solves, then you can use that to create a clear message.
Since markets change along with competition and technology, smart marketers recognize the need for ongoing analysis of data. Industries evolve and companies must keep up if they want to maintain and grow market share. Review Google Analytics and other metrics' tools to get up-to-date information.
4. Target your content to appeal to your customers' top concerns.
Social media thrives on valuable and relevant content. Social media provides you with the insights you need to create content that your customers want. Listen to the questions asked on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram and answer them.
The more entertaining and informative the content, the better. Videos and podcasts are two ways to attract your customers' attention. There is no substitute for visual content that is engaging.
5. Cultivate a personal and authentic relationship with customers and prospects.
The Wall Street Journal verifies the importance of establishing relationships with customers via social media platforms as a way of connecting. Mass marketing techniques of yesteryear don't work. Social media is part of your wholesome marketing plan.
Prudent marketers and business leadership recognize the upside and downside of social media and respond accordingly. Disgruntled customers are quick to post negative information about businesses. This type of derogatory rant is common and can go viral, destroying a company's reputation in a day.
6. Utilize target marketing to reach prospects looking for your product or service.
With so much more customer data revealed on social media platforms, it is easier than ever before to target market. If a prospect asks for referrals online, this information is recorded and can be used by savvy marketers for marketing purposes. Google and Facebook searches offer businesses a lot of information about who you are and what you need.
Huffington Post reports that Facebook records intimate details about customer relationship status changes and other personal information that can be used by companies. The giant social media platform knows when people are looking for a job or for a new insurance company. With so much information accessible, it is important that companies implement data security measures to protect customer information from identity theft.
7. Utilize social prospecting to reach out to prospects.
Moz suggests using this common social prospecting tactic on Twitter. This platform is an ongoing conversation where people often ask for help or comment on what they need. This is fertile territory for anyone interested in doing some prospecting.
It is important to be helpful and not the opportunistic, bottom-feeder who sends out a timely link. This type of approach is typically not well-received and undermines the goodwill your company seeks to generate via Twitter. It is as simple as conducting a search on Twitter to identify people looking for what you're offering.
Final Word
Social media has definitely leveled the playing field between larger and small businesses. By using the strategies above, you can significantly boost your client base and income.