Social media is both a wonderful and horrible part of our lives. It can help us network and connect to anyone anywhere on the globe. But it can also make us feel insecure or keep us from living in the moment.
When it comes to running a business and social media, it's a great tool to connect with your customers, showcase your product, and collaborate with partners. Every day I learn more and more effective ways to use social media marketing, but the one thing that has forever changed my perspective is that each platform serves a different purpose.
Currently, I'm on 3 platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. But today, I'm going to talk about Instagram. At first, I was using Instagram to only showcase my products. Which is probably what 99% of businesses do. Here is my product and here is where to get it.
After a lot of podcasts and research, I now use Instagram not only as a place to showcase products, but also as a blog for my customers to get to know me. I want people to know who I am and what makes me tick. Before I sit down and brand someone's business, I want them to feel like we're already friends and know I will design what is best for them. I want to make real human connections, not just drive people to my website.
Since all my work is done over the computer, it's hard to make those real human connections. Instagram has been such a great way to show people who I am and what I am all about and I hope you have enjoyed getting to know me as much as I have enjoyed creating art and inspiration for you!
Here are 5 Important Benefits of Social Media Marketing Every Business Should Know that have helped me and my business:
1. Have Clients Coming Back for More by Telling Your Brand's Story
Instagram is the perfect platform to share your brand's story. An effective story can have a great impact on your following and your brand's image. We all know the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words." It's true! Use photography to tell a story about your business and/or brand. Humans are more drawn to a good, heartfelt story. It will keep them coming back to your page for more!
2. Create Brand Recognition so Customers are More Likely to Buy From You
Building brand recognition is one of the most important marketing goals for your business because people are more likely to buy from brands they know. For this, social media is more effective than any other media because it gets your brand out in front of customers quickly and easily. Social media is FREE (for the most part, unless you pay for promotions), all it takes is time and effort to get the recognition some people spend thousands of dollars on in advertisements. Make sure your brand is easily recognizable in every post, so even new customers can make the association.
3. It Will Build Customer Loyalty
Customers will follow and interact with brands they love! Not only that, but through Instagram, it's very easy for your loyal customers to share your posts and stories to their follows...free advertising! Be sure to keep your customers happy and interact with them. You can do this by offering special promo codes to your followers, ask interactive questions on your stories, and have exciting giveaway competitions!
4. It Can Direct New Traffic to Your Site or Blog
Social media marketing is an easy way to direct people to your website or blog. Include the link in your Instagram bio so it's easy for people to access. This will help with inbound traffic, not everyone uses Google search engine anymore. More likely, they browse social media to see what their friends, family, or followers are looking at. Post frequently and on a schedule. Sporadic posting will only serve to slip your business into irrelevance. These days, everything happens in seconds! So stay on top of your game and traffic will increase.
5. You Can Keep Your Customers Up to Date
Social media, especially Instagram, is a great and free way to keep your customers up to date on new products, changes, and events. Nowadays, email subscriptions tend to be lumped in with spam. If Mailchimp is your go-to, that's great! BUT, you'll want any information in your newsletters to show on your social media as well, that way, if they missed the email, they'll see the post. Anything NEW to your business or brand should be shared. It'll keep your customers engaged and waiting for the next big drop.
I hope these tips help your business grow as they did mine! For even more social media tips make sure to check out this article by Bulk.ly https://bulk.ly/social-media-tools/
