Is there anyone here who doesn’t think they could make better use of social media for business? Hands? No one? Okay! We can all agree that social media is a powerful tool for advertising a business. Any company, from the relatively unknown CBAC Funding in the invoice finance industry to the household name Coca-Cola in the highly visible soft drink industry, can benefit from the creative and strategic use of social media platforms for advertising purposes.
Generating Leads
Finding new customers is important, but for many companies, finding new customers is even more crucial. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is through the utilisation of social media platforms. Advice for four of today’s most well-liked social media sites follows.
1. Live Hangouts via Google+
An Associated Press article from October 2013 claims that Google+ has 540 million users. While this places it well behind Facebook, the current market leader, it is still an outstanding amount. I highly recommend spending some time on Google+.
Google+ has a function that lets you transmit live audio and video to your followers. It’s called a “Hangout on Air,” and it’s similar to sponsoring a “focus group” in terms of its purpose. The feature is novel and might be used as a lead generation resource.
2. Twitter
With Twitter, you can organise conversations with a specific group of people and invite them to join the conversation by using a certain hashtag. These interactions are perfect for producing leads.
Participating in or starting relevant conversations is a great way to generate leads for your business. Twitter has a database of ongoing discussions, and you may search through it to find relevant ones to join.
In terms of monthly active users, Twitter has 232 million, making it the third most popular social media site overall. You shouldn’t be too worried about these figures, though. Reaching people who could be interested in what you have to offer should be your top priority.
Keep tabs on people who seem interested in doing business with you, and listen in on any talks they may be having. At the appropriate time, send personalised messages to people who could enjoy your offer.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn has 259 million monthly active users, making it the third most popular social media site overall. In addition to its preexisting commercial focus and heavy professional user base, LinkedIn also lets you start or join a discussion group centred around topics of mutual interest. You can find these by looking through the group directory.
Members who ask inquiries about your product or service on a regular basis or who appear to be in need of assistance can be qualified as leads by responding privately to their questions.
As a result, you may utilise this function to give detailed responses to queries and demonstrate your knowledge without worrying that you will be seen as overbearing by the rest of the group.
4. The Social Network
Facebook, with its staggering 1.19 billion members, is the last but certainly not the least. It’s important to note that 75% of this total is located in countries other than the USA.
Lead creation is just one of many objectives that may be met with Facebook ads. Providing a news feed to your target audience is a highly effective strategy. Facebook’s direct marketing value is low, but the platform is great for establishing credibility through reliable articles.
Sign-up forms requiring personal information (email addresses, zip codes, etc.) before users can access your Facebook material will help you learn more about your audience so you can better serve them in the future. In conjunction with promoted postings, this will help you find genuine interest from potential customers.
Here are 9 more hints to remember
Using LinkedIn tags is a terrific way to show your connections that your business is still relevant to their needs. Assuming you have labelled your LinkedIn contacts, you can filter them by label and contact up to 25 people simultaneously. You can keep doing this until you have reached every desired link.
Find out what your rivals are up to in terms of content. Understanding the tastes of your rivals’ customers can give you insight into the direction you should take.
Making use of YouTube? You should take a check at your nails; how they’ve been doing lately. And by “thumbnails,” I mean little versions of a larger image. Blunt, uninteresting thumbnails are a common issue with YouTube videos. If you take a few hours to polish your visuals, composition, colours, and text, you may expect to see a dramatic increase in views the very next day.
When it comes to social media, less is more. It takes effort and concentration to manage them well. Quality, not quantity, is what matters. Keep your efforts focused on the top three or four channels that will provide your message the highest chance of success.
Most social media sites also provide search functions. If you learn how to use them properly, you can increase your chances of reaching your target demographic.