We get asked daily by local business owners how much time & money needs to be spent promoting themselves on social media? We tell clients to take a look around next time they are in a public space- see all of those heads tilted down into the phone? Those are your customers on their mobile devices and guess what, over 50% of time spent on phones is on social media.
Ok, so you are thinking I need to be active on social media, but where do I start? Here are 5 key reasons to up the ante with your Social Media plans today.
Go Where Your Customers Are
The average user spends 58 minutes per day on Facebook and 53 minutes on Instagram. It’s harder than ever to get in front of your target customer in a more competitive landscape. But, what Social Media gives us today is a destination where local consumers are going every single day. In fact, 79% of American internet users are on Social Media and ready to receive your messaging.
Increase Brand Awareness
Do you find it hard to get the word out on a new product or promotion? Or feel like you can’t tell your full story in a postcard or magazine? Social media channels give you the ability to post what you want and when you want. Create videos or take advantage of “Stories” to bring the local community behind the scenes and feel more connected to your business.
Create Loyalty
Half of Facebook users like a page to support a brand they like or utilize. Facebook and other social media channels give your business the opportunity to truly connect and have a conversation with customers. That interaction means they are more likely to talk about you to friends, recommend your business, and of course, come back to you again. You can create engagement with your social media efforts and this gets people talking about your business.
Get Better Search Results
When I want to learn about something I go and Google it or look it up on social media. I am guessing a lot of you do that, as well. Your customers also do this and coming up on Google results or when they search on Facebook or Instagram is vital to capturing them in the exact moment they need you. Posting on social media can have a positive impact on those search results as it leads to having more content out there for potential customers to find. The other advantage to strong content plan is social media gives you a real opportunity to show off, so if I search for a business on Facebook and they don’t come up- I will likely go elsewhere. It’s a goldmine with hundreds of thousands of local users to capture today.
Run Targeted Ad Campaigns
Building a loyal tribe on Facebook & Instagram can take time. Do you have hundreds or even thousands of followers, but can’t seem to get any traction on your posts? Yep, that is by design. Organic reach is down to under 2% of your followers and decreasing daily. That means if you have 1,000 followers and post something today- you are lucky if 50-100 fans see it which makes engagement that much more important. Where does that leave you? It’s time to turn to paid social advertising. The targeting capabilities and ROI on these ads is off the charts good right now. Want to only reach your followers? You can do that. How about create an audience that looks like your followers? Yes, we can do that, too. Test all different types of audiences depending But, it’s we’ll worth it- especially when you think back to what I mentioned earlier. Look around at how many people are on their phones non-stop. Advertising lets you find them and talk directly to them.
If you don’t have a social media plan or expert in-house, there is no better time than now to team up with a pro. Work with someone that is ahead of the curve, that plans for changes to social media and makes sure you have the right strategy.
Let us know if we can help make Instagram grow your business.