Social Media For Your Business
Do you use social media as part of your marketing activities for your business, or do you even see the point of it? Maybe your business doesn’t operate in the online realm. Did you know that Ireland ranks 9th in the EU when it comes to online shopping and 90% of people have access to a smartphone. Ignoring these statistics and growing trends means your business could be left behind. In todays busy online marketing space it’s hard to know where to even begin. What tools do you use, what content do you create and who is your target audience?
What is content you might ask? It’s the information you want to get across about your brand or service through the use of various tools available, in this case through social media! With everyone talking at once in a crowded market space it can be hard to get your message across to your audience.
Lets talk content…
Anyone can create content, but are you creating strategic data driven content? Looking ahead to one of the biggest trends for 2019. Video consumption has been steadily growing in the past number of years, with 42% of people in Ireland watching online videos every day. This area is set to continue to dominate, meaning businesses must consider including video as part of their 2019 strategy.
Not forgetting the importance of good images as part of your content. Vision trumps all other senses. We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.
Breaking down the data
Making sense of the data available to understand your audience’s behaviour can be a daunting task for any business. It’s an almost impossible task for anyone’s in-house team to execute and maintain successfully. Who has the time? Do you know what your audience wants? The use of social media is a way of building a customer following. But anyone can create noise; the successful brands listen to the wants and needs of their audience.
Customer Focused Content
How you interact with your audience and the content you share affects the success of your social media campaigns. With users becoming savvier in what catches their attention, it’s important to populate content that will draw in engagement. Showing the human and natural side to a brand or service is key in meeting your audience at their level. Being bombarded with sales content on a daily basis is not the way to win your audience over. Authentic and fun content gets engagement. Always ask yourself is this something that I would read?
Hashtag What?
Creating the right hashtag for your business is a powerful way of building brand awareness. It can be shared across all of your social media platforms. When creating a hashtag for your business you must consider what is relevant. Hashtags should be short and easy to remember. Using industry relevant hashtags in your content is also a successful way to reach potential consumers. #KeepItSimple
The Power of Video
Incorporating video into your social media strategy provides your audience with engaging content. It can showcase what your business does, or the people within in your organisation. It creates tangible and personalised content for your audience to connect with. Facebook Live and Instagram stories are simple and effective ways to reach your existing audience and also connect with potentially new customers. Understanding which social media channel works best for your business is key in making your video reach its maximum potential.
So what can you do?
Firstly you will need to view your social media activities as a long-term commitment. By combining consumer behaviour, brand strategy, analytical data, market trends and much more you can begin to have a successful online social media presence to reach your audience.
There are many ways to increase your online following and brand awareness. We have focused on just a few key areas for any business looking to improve their online reach.
