5 Ways to Use Social Media to Reach Your Customers
4 min readSocial media is a free or, in some instances, relatively inexpensive way for businesses to connect with their customer base. It doesn’t require much infrastructure or hardware, it’s easy to learn and manage and it gives you access to your potential customers along with some personal information about their preferences in just a few clicks.
Your social media presence improves various aspects of your business, from brand awareness, customer engagement and satisfaction, sales, and ultimately, your company’s overall valuation. This is obtainable with the right social media marketing strategies in place.
Although many businesses now use such platforms, they often lack the engagement they seek due to all the other brand noise taking away attention. Here is how to use social media to reach your customer effectively.
- Use the Right Channels
There are various social media platforms nowadays and most of them are unique in a way that people utilize them differently compared to one another. Start by identifying which social media platforms best fit your business through the types of features it has and the users that engage with it the most. For example, if you are looking to reach teenagers, platforms with younger audiences like Youtube or TikTok may be a fit. But if you are seeking a middle-aged audience, Facebook or Twitter may be more fitting.
Research what demographics are attracted to certain types of social media platforms and how they are using them, so you can communicate with them directly. People on Twitter mostly pay attention to quick witty texts, GIFs or fun memes, while Tik Tok is for short-form interesting videos. Based on the platform or the combination of platforms you use, try to create and publish relevant content to maximize presence and effectiveness.
- Offer Help
Among the best ways of utilizing social media to engage with customers is by being of help to them. IF they find your content useful, they are most likely to follow and be interested in your brand. Make it advantageous for customers to engage with your brand, such as by offering discounts or sale info.
You can also offer bits of advice or information related to your industry that your audience may find interesting. For example, if you have a skincare product line, you can offer tutorials on how to give massaging facials or apply products correctly.
- Share Your Story
Most people on social media are there to hear sensible stories as they share theirs. They resonate with those that have an interesting narrative. Give insights into what your business is all about and the story behind your brand. This way, your business can be more realistic and relatable.
Be transparent about your company and share any information about your processes or business model that you think your audience will appreciate, such as having ethically-sourced products or partnering with nonprofits. Also, convey your brand identity with content and stories that align with your brand.
Though, try to not stray too far from your business, brand and offerings. Remember, you should strengthen your infrastructure and services as a top priority rather than being an entertaining media company online. Additionally, be mindful of what you share on social media pages as what you publish may become shareable content, forfeiting your ownership of it. Don’t share too much of your business strategy and trade secrets.
- Utilize Hashtags and Analytics
Social media is not just a platform for fun content publishing and engagement. It requires strategy and you have to understand and use the algorithm of each platform to your advantage. Using hashtags and analytical reports are valuable ways to boost engagement and drive traffic on your social media accounts. The good thing is that you don’t always have to be on the lookout for currently relevant hashtags or manually monitor your posts to see how it’s doing. You can make use of technology to help you optimize your content to fit social media platforms.
There are many sites and systems that can help you analyze how popular a particular hashtag is or run analytics for your content. You can use CRM systems to automatically track your statistics so you can also come up with informed decisions and smarter strategies that will work. See what people are engaging with the most and try to cater your content to something your audience will enjoy.
- Create Intriguing Content
No matter how much you research or plan out a strategy for social media, if your content is not good, you will not be successful on these platforms. It’s a challenge for businesses to trend social media charts or at least be talked about online. A post or tweet, when gone viral, can easily boost the number of followers as well as the page’s clicks and visits.
People like visually pleasing content that conveys a story or entertaining content that they can share with others. What makes content intriguing will be different for every brand. So think about what makes you unique. But be wary of exaggerating things, publishing false or misleading stories and spammy click-bait content. This can attract people but can cause a negative impact and can ruin your brand in the long run. Make your content grabby yet factual to keep your audience’s trust.
Use Social Media to Your Advantage
Social media is among the revolutionary innovations that emerged, changing the way people communicate. It has also given businesses an opportunity to reach and get to know their customers better. With proper research and strategy, you can make use of social media platforms to establish your brand and further serve your customers, ultimately propelling your business towards growth.
