Social media has gotten more popular as of late. It is often used to engage old friends and meet new people. But did you know it can be used for the benefit of your marketing strategy too?
Why should you use social media?
Don’t sit in the sidelines! There’s a lot of reason to make use of social media for your marketing strategy. Here, we’ve listed down a few:
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It gets the word out.
Do you have a new promotion? A sale? A new product or service? Whatever it is that you have to offer, social media can direct eyes towards your brand.
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It boosts brand recognition.
Of course, all businesses want to gain popularity. However, popularity is not something that you can get in one sitting. Social media changes all that. With the right combination of posts and strategies, popularity only becomes a matter of time.
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It offers a cost-effective marketing solution.
Print ads are a thing of the past. Sure, they are still in circulation, but for how long? Can you imagine them still being distributed 10-20 years from now? If your answer is no, then it’s about time you get started on social media.
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It extends to various demographics.
Who is your product for? Who are your most common clients? No matter who your target market is, you can bet that they are present in social media. In fact, almost everyone is. Who knows, social media might even further your market.
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It educates clients.
Are you looking for a way to tell prospects about what you have to offer as a brand? Well then, social media will go right up your alley. You can disperse information about your products, services, and a whole lot more thanks to it.
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It serves as a platform for customer service.
If you have a small business, customer service is something that you can’t ignore. To make it big, you will have to satisfy your customers from the get-go.
Well, social media is one way in which you can boost your customer service. With it, clients can easily contact you if they have any issues. At the same time, it allows you to respond to those concerns in a prompt manner.
A lot of different business owners have already made use of social media. Both big corporations and small ones. It’s never too late for you to get started.
How do you integrate social media into your marketing strategy?
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Make a Twitter Channel.
Twitter is only a social media platform, but it packs a punch! It can host product promotions and content marketing as well. In addition to that, you can even use it as a medium for customer interaction. This approach is simple, yet just as effective. Even a small business can execute this tactic.
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Merge email with social media accounts.
That’s right. These two unique platforms can complement each other’s strengths. Combining them is easy too! Keep reading and check out the tips that we have given below:
- Add social media icons in email templates. It will help clients find your business accounts on social media easier.
- Include sharing buttons on email templates. If a client likes your existing campaign, they can easily share it with friends.
- Show email campaigns on social media with a post. This helps automate the whole process.
- Turn social media followers into email contacts. You can do this with the help of many email marketing platforms. Examples include the Mad Mimi, iContact, Constant Contact, etc.
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Get started with SEO.
Search Engine Optimization is one of the many online marketing strategies that you can use to your disposal. As the name implies, it optimizes how easy your brand is found in social media.
How do you use it? Simple. Share content from your website to your social media account. This should make your posts more visible and accessible. As a result, it helps increase your rank in the search engine results page too.
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Work with journalists.
Not just journalists, but writers and bloggers as well. These professionals are always out on the hunt to find credible sources. Where do they get some of their raw data? From social media of course.
Don’t sit and wait for a pro to come and find you. Be proactive. Go out and follow their social media accounts. Share their content and even comment post comments. Do this while making quality content of your own. That way you can establish brand authority and popularity.
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Use campaign hashtags.
You’ve seen larger brands make use of this practice. So far, it has done them a lot of good. Not only does it offer a filtering mechanism that can draw in the curious crowd, but it can also put your brand on trending. This means you can reach more possible clients too!
Besides, almost every other social media platform now makes use of hashtags. It presents an easy way to get your message across. You won’t even have to invest in expensive marketing tactics.
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Bring over other existing strategies to social media.
If you’ve dealt with eCommerce for quite a while now, then you’re familiar with the common tactics used. Some of these include seasonal promotions, special offers, and other marketing campaigns. With that in mind, wouldn’t it only make sense to add in social media to the mix? To do that, you can:
- Use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. It will promote your posts to a much wider audience.
- Create a feature page on your Facebook or LinkedIn account. It will call more attention to promotions.
- Showcase winners of contests and promos. This encourages them to share the mention with their followers and friends.
- Add in related hashtags to boost the hype of contests and promotions.
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Encourage customer ratings.
Clients put value on transparency above all. It shows that a brand is sincere in improving their product or service for the benefit of the consumers. But how exactly do you display this short of value online?
Easy. All you need is to cater to customer reviews and ratings. In fact, many eCommerce platforms already have this function built in. In case your custom web design doesn’t have this yet, you can ask us to add it for you. Why don’t you discuss your options and concerns with one of our representatives today?
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Sync content with social media.
What is the type of content that you host on your website? Do you have blog posts? Pictures? Videos? No matter what they may be, you can extend their use over to social media. There, internet users will find them more easily.Now, that you have a broad idea on the topic, getting started shouldn’t be as difficult. Of course, you can also request Proweaver for help.
Are there disadvantages to this type of approach?
Social media is a treasure trove for both clients and businesses. But just like most things, it comes with some limitations. Here, we rounded up some drawbacks that you may encounter and their possible solutions:
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It brings negative feedback.
Let’s face it. You can’t please everyone. No matter how hard you work or how good your business is, there will always be those who will gripe and complain.
Just as much as people will post praises about the brands they love, they too, don’t hesitate to make their bad experiences public. (Especially on Twitter! There, users can tag companies in their posts and detail their complaints.) This can be troubling for your brand. Why? It will affect how new clients will perceive your business.
The solution? You respond to it, of course. The more promptly you can give a reply, the better. Don’t leave any of the concerns unaddressed. By facing these issues head-on, it shows what your business is.
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It affects reputation.
Posts on social media can go viral in a matter of minutes. Because of this, people tend to keep a keen eye on what’s trending. This includes both the good and the bad. Lucky for you if your brand gets on top of the awesome list. But what happens if it’s the opposite?
Take hashtags for example. They’re hip, catchy, and easy to remember. Jumping into the bandwagon has never been more convenient with these around. However, you should be careful. Certain hashtags may sound perky; but, they can actually be about something unrelated to your business.
The solution? Make a bit of research ahead of time, no matter what the subject on hand is. You need to know how the modern-day crowd uses and applies these hashtags so that you may use them in the right context. You can avoid putting your brand under a negative light with this small effort.
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It requires a lot of effort.
Social media may seem like an easy alternative for marketing on the surface. But in reality? It isn’t. It’s not a one and done method. If you want this strategy to work, you will need to pour a good amount of time into it. After all, there’s not just one social media platform out there!
Yes, this can be a strain on your work operations. (Even more so for small business owners). The need to post balanced content, check it, and send replies can be overwhelming. If you don’t put in enough effort, your campaigns will surely suffer.
The solution? It’s all too simple when you start to think about it. If you can’t take care of social media yourself, there’s always an option to outsource your needs. You can call us in to take care of it and provide you with web content. On top of that, we can also optimize your custom web design as needed..
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It needs time to bring results.
It’s normal to want to see immediate results after using a marketing strategy. That’s highly understandable. You want to see if the investment you give in this type of advertising is worth the money. But with social media? Things work a lot more differently.
The success of marketing in social media rides on your whole campaign. One good post is not enough to secure conversion. You must keep these posts continuous. In most cases, the results take weeks to manifest.
The solution? Be patient. Continue posting and creating good content that is shareable and engaging. Track the performance of each post. Take note of the ones that do best and make similar or related content to it. After some time, you should see great results.
As you can see, adding social media to your marketing strategy has a couple of drawbacks. But when you look at the big picture, the pros still outweigh the cons. With social media at work, you can broaden your market and further your conversion rates. Plus, you get to extend brand recognition and inspire customer loyalty! It is a marketing tactic that you shouldn’t miss.
Do you need help integrating social media into your marketing strategy?
You’ll be surprised to know that custom web design is not our only forte. We can also assist you with social media marketing. It’s one of our many expertise. We have a team full of specialists and creative writers! They can definitely connect your brand with the audience.
Curious about the type of other services we provide? Come and check our website for full details. We can also give you FREE samples upon request. Give us a call and speak with one of our representatives today!