Social media marketing is important. Let’s start with some quick figures from Forbes:
- 97 percent of consumers search for local businesses online
- 72 percent trust online reviews
- 61 percent of young people refer to social media to decide where to go when they go out
- 73 percent of consumers search for discounts and promotions
- 59 percent of customers go into a store because they find a coupon online
- 78 percent of small businesses get at least a quarter of their new customers via social media
Pay close attention to that last statistic. Social media marketing accounts for more than a fourth of small businesses’ new customers. If you want to make the most of your social media marketing strategy, it needs to be social, local, and mobile.
Social
It’s inherent in the name, but too many people don’t engage the social aspect of their social media marketing. For example, always reply to comments—whether positive or negative—and share content from other people or pages. According to Chris Horton, digital marketing strategist, “Content shared on social media amplifies your brand’s presence, while transparent social exchanges project its authority.” Creating relationships with people via social media marketing strengthens loyalty with existing customers and draws attention from new ones.
Local
Sure, you’d like to teach the world to sing your brand’s name in perfect harmony, but unless you’re a company like Coca-Cola, you probably don’t have the budget for a global campaign. But that doesn’t matter. Plato said, “Necessity is the mother of invention” — throw in proximity and affinity, and you’ve got the mother of new business. People don’t want to go out of their way to get the things they want or need. Keeping your social media marketing strategy local keeps your brand top-of-mind for the consumers that are most likely to pay for your services.
Mobile
Keep it local, but also keep your business searchable wherever people are. Speaking from experience, people may decide where to go and who to buy from because they see something in their Facebook feed when their out and about. Mobile users will not only click on mobile ads, but act on them as well. The best part is, social media marketing is generally cheap or free, and it’s already optimized for mobile devices.
Local, mobile, social media marketing can be a small business’s best friend. You can easily lure at least one or two of the 200 million daily Facebook users to your business as they’re walking down the street when they see your “check-in” deal pop up in their feed. In that scenario, you’re offering a discount at a nearby place, while also aligning yourself with a trusted brand like Facebook. Odds are, people will see reviews on that Facebook page as well and, hopefully, see that it’s the kind of place they’d want to spend their money.
But here’s the catch: there’s a lot more to effective social media marketing than posting updates about your brand every once in a while. You have to give people a reason to follow you while simultaneously cultivating a relationship. That means consistently posting quality content social media users can’t find anywhere else. Remember, too, that you have to be social, local, and mobile, not either/or. That being said, the role that social media marketing can have on generating new customers while retaining current ones cannot be overlooked. According to Horton, “It’s ability to tap into networks of customers is probably the greatest unused marketing opportunity in existence.”