A lot of small business owners have this idea that once they create a website their customers will come flocking to them. They couldn’t be more wrong. The internet is a crowded marketplace with millions of websites and the competition for visitor traffic is so tough that your target market may not even know that you exist unless you make some real efforts. One reason business websites fail to attract customers despite having everything is that they have no social media presence.
Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus have completely changed the way business is done. It is not just enough to open shop and have an attractive website anymore; you need to actively engage your customers. And the place to do that is online social networks. You have to communicate with them, answer their queries, provide solutions to their problems, update them constantly on your activities and make attractive offers. If you neglect to do any of these, they will likely go looking for their competitors.
According to the latest statistics, one in four people in the world uses social media to keep in touch with their family and friends. That’s a whopping 1.4 billion people and the number is increasing every day. It is estimated that at least 50% of the users log in on a daily basis and spend an average of 15 minutes per visit. The implication of this for businesses is highly significant. Social networks are great marketing platforms where savvy businesses can make a killing.
As a small business owner, how can you take advantage of the wonderful marketing opportunities social networks provide? The first step is to launch a website. The next step is to create a Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites. You should then systematically go about engaging with as many people as you can. To save time and extend your reach, you can link different social media accounts so that what you post in one also appears in another.
You then have to identify potential customers, create a marketing strategy and proactively communicate with your existing and potential customers. This involves making status updates regularly, taking part in group discussions and sending personal messages. While marketing in social media, you should be careful not to push sell as your customers may find that annoying. Rather, you should share your knowledge and information and gently guide them to your website.
One great and indispensable way to make yourself known to your target customers is to create a business page. This page should contain information about your company, description of products and services being offered along with attractive images and video clips, link to your website and contact address. Studies have shown that the more “likes” and “shares” your business page gets, the higher the percentage of sales.
Your business page makes your business discoverable, connects you to your customers, helps you reach out to your target market and gives you an insight into their shopping habits. Therefore, your focus should be on getting as many “likes” and “shares” as possible by building relationships with potential customers. The most effective way to achieve this is by communicating with your existing and potential customers regularly by status updates, chats and personal messages.
How do you engage your customers?
Picture by Aslan