The one thing entrepreneurs, small business owners, large and small corporations around the globe have in common is the desire to grow and thrive in their line of business. In the last decade alone social media has significantly changed how people connect and communicate, with approximately over 2.4billion users worldwide. Keeping this in mind, growing one’s business simply boils down to building a strong brand online because that’s where the consumers are.
Let’s go through a few ways in which social media is good for business.
Allows you to adapt to shifts in consumer attention
Prior to the social media boom, businesses would communicate to their potential customers by paying to have their commercial ads on magazines, radio, and television. The non-free element of these platforms made it more difficult for startups to reach an audience and most would rely on ‘word of mouth’ to market their business. Today, online platforms are free, interactive and have an uncanny ability to reach a niche audience. As a business, you can constantly use surveys to find out if the consumers’ needs have changed or evolved and develop a marketing strategy to target your audience and meet their needs.
There is a lot of demographic data readily available on social media networks; analyzing this data can help you develop marketing tools that your audience is better likely to receive.
Social media is interactive
Social media allows you to have real-time interactions with your customers, and you can respond to comments and questions on your brand while on a grocery line or having a coffee. There are many existing online platforms which one can use to interact with consumers making it difficult for businesses to survive on all of them as this requires time. Which begs the question, how do I identify the right social media platform to use?
• Choose a platform your customers are on: A business should only exist on a platform that their audience is in to ensure value adding interactions. This allows you to ‘cull the herd’ in a manner of speaking, access and respond to your target consumer needs
• First, ensure your marketing strategy is better than your competitors and apply it on a platform that is comfortable for you. For example, if you are unable to create compelling short ads or hire someone to do it for you then twitter may not be the best platform to use; a business needs to play to its strengths. However, one cannot ignore core platforms which are essential for your business to be on such as LinkedIn and Instagram because of the attention such platforms receive.
• Choose a platform that allows you to have real-time interactions with people either through face to face marketing of group chats. This could be a strategic way to building lasting relationships and connections and leverage these connections for your business.
Interactive features like monitoring apps alert you to any bad reviews your business may be getting and allows you to respond adequately and promptly to avoid loss of sales and brand damage. It also lets you know how your competitors are doing, and this will enable you to make strategic business decisions if niches have been identified.
Offers many features
Popular social media platforms require the user to be active in order to gain a large following and subsequent likes. So, if you are unable to continually have an online presence, ‘cheat apps’ are your best bet. Let’s use the example of Instagram which is currently the most visited social network. The app offers individuals and businesses services such as Instagram likes for sale which gives the perception that your posts are popular and value adding to your audience. Instagram auto likes are a good marketing technique in the sense that it is easy to use and time-saving. A business simply has to submit an Instagram photo or URL and go about day-to-day activities while the system ensures that you receive as the number of like you requested. This feature not only brings traffic to the products and services your business offers but also gives you an edge over your competitors.
Advantages of auto like services
• It is time-saving. Once you subscribe and choose a package that works for you, the system does the rest while you can focus on other ways of growing your brand
• It is a great tool for entrepreneurs. It helps build the client base as people are more likely to take time to look and follow URLs of popular posts.
• It allows a business to increase sales while growing and promoting it’s their brand. The free auto likes will get the attention of consumer who will in turn like and sometimes share the post. This increases the likelihood of getting lifetime customers and reaching new audiences.
• It is affordable. Some packages are free allowing business to save on monetary resources while steadily growing their brand.
Allows you to partner with influencers
A social media influencer is an individual with a large online following that trusts their judgment and can easily help you improve brand visibility. These group of people often guide their followers purchasing choices by simply talking or sharing links and images about the products and services you offer. Since their opinions are trusted, your brand credibility soars, and this translates into sales.
In some instances business hit the gold mine and go viral through these partnerships. Consumers will share content they deem worthy with their friends and followers who will also do the same and before you know it your business has been exposed to millions of people online.
In conclusion
A lot has changed over the years; a business’s ability to adapt to these changes will determine whether it will succeed or fail. The use of social media to market one’s business is one such change. Social networks undoubtedly have a wide range of benefits to a company from increasing brand awareness to increased sales, and this makes it a vital component to business continuity.
