Social media marketing - an ideal guide for businesses

Every company needs its businesses to go digital to attain its goals of selling and getting more potential customers. We are in an era whereby everything has gone digital, and your business should be among them. According to Statista, 11.8 million Kenyans are using social media. Let's get your business among these numbers for a start. Your business on all social media platforms will expose you to a broad customer reach. 

Most people consider social media marketing as one of the most reliable and cheap forms of marketing for their businesses. The benefits are reasonable, given the Return On Investment that you will get is immeasurable.

Businesses have acted as a major stronghold of our country's economy. With new inventions daily, entrepreneurs can offer employment opportunities for those in need. Many have been able to pay their rent, among other requirements, just from earning from these types of businesses. Getting your business online will have you serve lots of people all over. The good thing with social media marketing, you can never know where you will land next just from what you offer.

Not yet convinced about marketing your business online? Let's find out some more brainstorming reasons that are going to move your thoughts to social media marketing in this article;

• Reasons why social media marketing is suitable for businesses
• Social media marketing strategies for businesses
• Benefits of social media marketing
• Conclusion

Reasons why social media marketing is suitable for businesses

With your business online, you are likely to get more fruitful results because most people are on social media and can interact with you based on what you have. You can create awareness of your products and pull more customers worldwide. 

With us are some of the reasons we believe social media marketing is suitable for your business, as stated down below;

• Having a business account online will allow you room for expansion and growth through the platforms.
• Marketing your business online will give you free marketing access to a wide range of potential customers worldwide. You won't have to spend a dime on followers to get this.
• You are at an advantage in increasing traffic to your website, that is, if you are marketing your products on a website.
• Social media platforms help you to be more focused and take accountability for your actions.
• Selling your business online will help you generate new leads all over, which will be good for your business.

Social media marketing strategies for businesses

To achieve a successful social media marketing plan for your business, here's what you need to have;

Goals

The first thing that should come to you invariably is what you want to achieve from a social media platform. Have you come up with goal plans that are to be met at the end of it all? If not, try setting them up based on areas you want to see change. Setting goals will save you time since everything will be planned without confusion and give you much focus. 

You can also set some of these goals for your brand's growing awareness and increase engagement with your followers online. Begin by carrying out research and reading blogs that will advise on how to set up realistic goals for social media growth for your business.

Familiarize yourself with each social media platform

You can only post your businesses everywhere if you have done the math of which site you will begin with. Everything has to go as planned, and you can start by familiarizing yourself with these platforms one after another to know how they work. 

Begin by posting on one platform at a time to see reactions, then post on another different medium too. If it's on Facebook or Instagram, create your business profile and post your items there. Take your time to understand the basics of all these social media. Eventually, you will get how they function.

Know your audience

Knowing your customers will help you understand which platforms your audience uses so that you can set up your accounts for posting there. This can be achieved by conducting online surveys and exchanging ideas. 

Create short surveys that can be filled in quickly. For a better outcome, consider separating them into different age groups so you can know which one likes which social media apps. You will notice not all of them like the same social apps, which is okay, and from this point, you can install the apps for your business purposes. 

Optimize your business social media page

Make your page online as professional as possible. Remember, this is your workspace, and you don't need to have weird-looking names that will confuse people about who you are. Run it professionally if you want people to take you seriously. 

You can add a few details, such as including the correct links and taking attractive pictures of your products for people's view. You can also include share buttons and hashtags for your content to reach many people. Remember to include your location when setting up an account for your business since people can find you through them.

Consistency

One secret no one tells you about social media is that consistency is vital. Yeah right. The fact that you will be giving people fresh content regularly will have you on the top pages and the most liked business. The main reason behind online marketing is to create awareness of what you have to offer, and leaving the page idle with no updates will make people uninterested.

Track your performance

One thing that you should always remember to do is track your performance. This will help you figure out how you perform and where to improve if necessary. You can do all this by checking out different platform analytics for use. You can try Facebook insights to track your performance if your business is on Facebook.

Use business text messaging apps.

This application will enable you to have a one-on-one conversation with your customers. Try out the google business messaging app that will give you access to communicate with customers freely. If you are an android user, consider downloading the messaging app on google play. Are you using an iPhone? Worry not. Download the app on your phone from the apple stores for easy use.

Benefits of social media marketing

Social media is a powerful marketing tool for your business. With many people on social media, you won't have to think twice about getting your business on board. Let's look at some of the benefits you will gain from it as follows;

1. Through social media, you will be able to increase your website traffic. This can be achieved with the correct URLs and great search engine-optimized content for display which will be good for your business.
2. Social media marketing can create awareness of your brand among potential customers. With people being able to familiarize themselves with your brand, they will be more encouraged to buy.
3. You will be able to generate prospects and manage to convert them into loyal customers through social media platforms. This proves that your customer is always near, and the more you market, the more they are convinced to purchase.
4. Creating social media business profiles and posting them simultaneously has proved cost-effective. Think about how you don't need to pay for your product to reach out to people.
5. Social media helps you create a relationship with customers. They can be able to interact with you for products posted through the channels. This will lead them to trust you and your services.

Conclusion

Social media marketing for businesses can sometimes be overwhelming if engaged with no plan. But that shouldn't be a reason for standing between your success path and exposure to many people. You can use platforms such as Facebook, and WhatsApp, among other sites, to showcase your business. Stop at nothing with these strategic plans that will make your business brand noticed worldwide.

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