How Can Social Media Help a Business Grow? (Practical Guide)

How Can Social Media Help a Business Grow? (Practical Guide)

Arif Chowdhury
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Last Updated on November 5, 2022 by Arif Chowdhury

If you are a business owner, you should know how businesses use social media for marketing.

Websites and apps intended to enable users to exchange information quickly, effectively, and instantly are social media. While many individuals use social media via smartphone applications, it all began with computers long ago. The term “social media” refers to any online communication platform enabling users to share information and interact.

Social media changed our capacity to communicate real-time pictures, thoughts, and events that have changed our lives and business operations.

Any digital technology that enables users to produce and share information with other individuals worldwide rapidly is referred to as social media. Therefore, as you can see, there are many social media benefits for your business.

The term “social media” refers to various web applications and platforms. Twitter, for example, focuses on exchanging links and quick short messages. Others, such as the Instagram and TikTok social media platforms, are designed to make picture and video sharing more accessible.

Why is digital marketing important nowadays?

The times have evolved, and so has the way companies interact with their consumers. Marketing strategy has shifted away to allow a new way to introduce a business before audiences.

Our ambition for improvement and efforts to make it happen have steered many things in a new direction. However, not all conventional marketing tactics have vanished. Marketing experts’ current approaches are very different with keen tactics than our predecessors.

The web has opened up a world we have never seen before. Digital marketing has become the standard for a profitable brand, and if a business isn’t using it, eventually, it will stagnate.

Businesses may benefit from digital marketing in a variety of ways. First, it has the potential to increase visibility and revenue. After all, as a company owner, your first objective is to grow profits.

How do businesses use social media for marketing?

As we all understand, online marketing is mostly about approaching target audiences through various digital or electronic platforms.

The social media platform is constantly becoming an essential element of online marketing because it offers far-reaching added value that enables brands and businesses to approach millions of clients worldwide.

Therefore, social media’s impact on business is vast, and you must decide how to manipulate and use those impacts for your business advantages.

How can social media help a business grow? It's not rocket science, read this guide and learn.

Suppose a business or brand needs to invest more time and effort in social media marketing. In that case, they are wasting out on numerous marketing possibilities since it allows them to successfully promote the message about the company or products.

It offers a business or corporation more potential customers, increased customer acquisition, a higher conversion rate with increased CTR, and, most crucially, customer retention, encouraging existing customers to purchase more products or services from that Business or brand. However, you must provide excellent customer service to achieve these.

The following are the most often-used platforms for business promotion and brand awareness:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

However, there is no one-size-fits-all platform for all enterprises. It’s challenging to suggest that your company use Facebook above any other social media network.

Even though Facebook has become incredibly popular for mass awareness and brand marketing, it is not appropriate for all businesses. Furthermore, it is not suitable for all kinds of customers.

Quick Note: Most active social media users nowadays engage with their favorite brands through social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Pinterest. And that’s why most prominent brands and small businesses accept customer complaints on their official page. It also increases audience engagement on their post, video, or social events.

Recommended Reading: What are the Best 6 Types of Social Media for Online Marketing?

What is social media word-of-mouth marketing?

WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing) is a notion that has been around for a long time. You transform your consumers into brand ambassadors, the folks who love your brand. It is one of the best marketing tricks available.

Social media word of mouth is a perfect way to grow your business.

Particularly now that social media is a part of society.

In the past, people would only speak to their relatives or friends once a day. However, in today’s easy communication world, individuals may communicate with hundreds of people daily via Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms. With social listening, large brands discover what people are talking about to identify their needs and desires.

Thanks to social media, the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing has dramatically increased in recent years. If you haven’t already, now is the moment to utilize social media word-of-mouth for your brand awareness.

Recommended Reading: How Do Beginners Start Social Media Marketing? (Definitive Guide)

How to create a content strategy for social media?

You probably heard this numerous times in previous years. While it may seem self-evident as a marketing task to increase your social media visibility, generating excellent content remains the most critical component of a successful post and social media marketing plan.

Unfortunately, many social media marketers fail horribly in their marketing campaigns because they haven’t created anything worthwhile to offer their targeted consumers.

How does social media help in building communities?

It would be best to refrain from carrying out your marketing activities on social media solely by posting anything regularly. Instead, your marketing campaign and product or service should get your social media audience to interact and engage with your brand.

Remember that social media engagement is similar to conversing with your target market, so focus on topics that will spark their interest.

Use the CTA button in your social post to draw an audience to your site or products.

Always include a CTA (Call to Action) in your post.

Every feedback should be responded to as soon as possible. You couldn’t ignore these statements, whether compliments, suggestions, or complaints. According to studies, Facebook users anticipate a response to their messages within 24 hours. Twitter users expect the same thing, but their wait time is far less, at only 2 hours.

There are several social media benefits for business. For example, reacting to your audience's comments to build a strong relationship with them.

Positively or constructively respond to unfavorable comments. Never participate in arguments or reply adversely to such statements. Instead, send them to your leading site that can respond to their questions. Discuss the situation individually with those concerned, then publish the settlement to the original topic so that others can see how effectively you solved the problem.

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Utilize flash promotion marketing campaigns.

Regular discounts or flash promotions are an innovative approach to gaining social publicity that many online businesses need to employ.

These are highly efficient strategies to get people talking about your Business, create a regular following, and recognize your most devoted fans and engaged social media users. Online audience involvement is a beautiful way to make content go viral and get more people to see it, and you can do it using flash promotions.

Use flash sales promotional offers to attract your audience's interest.

Flash offers are also a good option if your sales are slowing down. This promotional offer will raise awareness and build enough buzz about your offerings to spark the curiosity of both old and new consumers.

Flash promos should be time-limited or confined to a particular group of people. It would be best to highlight countdowns or clocks to specific participation deadlines. You’ll observe how customers react to such a surge – and you can also use this in your marketing efforts.

Is social media marketing more effective than traditional advertising?

Social media marketing provides two unique benefits:

First, the audience is often unaware that they are being promoted, making them more responsive to advertisements.

In contrast to traditional marketing, social media advertising is short, specialized, and highly targeted.

There is the impact of social media on business. Social media is much cheaper than traditional marketing options.

Using traditional marketing tactics, you could pay $1,000 on a billboard to reach roughly 1,000 general audiences daily, with no flexibility over demographics. However, you may market to individuals interested in your brand and most willing to buy your service or product via social media advertising. Although the expense is minor, the result is a highly particular action directed at a specific set of people.

Social networking is less expensive than any other kind of advertising currently accessible. It’s one of the few kinds of a platform that can get you in front of thousands to millions of targeted audiences for a few hundred dollars or even completely free.

You might also use traditional marketing tactics in social media strategy. For example, you may use it to promote video ads, articles, live webinars, podcasts and seminars, and much more. Social media is the only online platform to connect with your consumers, answer their queries, and offer feedback.

Recommended Reading: An Ultimate 6 Steps Guide to Become Successful in Email Marketing

Use LinkedIn for your corporate marketing.

LinkedIn is a social media powerhouse for B2B marketing. They created LinkedIn for business owners and employee networking. Still, it also performs incredibly well for Business to Business (B2B) lead generation, thus making it one of the most effective B2B marketing strategies. These data will illustrate the social media network’s worth to individuals debating whether they should spend money and time on a LinkedIn social platform.

Some interesting facts about LinkedIn.

According to different businesses, LinkedIn boasts 500 million users, 61 million high-ranking business personnel, and 40 million choices. The network has many members, but the audience is influential business people and highly qualified executives focusing on most B2B marketing initiatives. As a result, LinkedIn is a prominent location to contact these decision-makers when seeking to market for business communication or deals.

LinkedIn members are well-educated and make a good living. 49% of LinkedIn users in the United States are college graduates, and 45% earn more than $75,000 annually.

According to the site, LinkedIn is also one of the top social media platforms among Fortune 500 businesses. However, in contrast to other social platforms, including a family component, LinkedIn is a professional platform for Business.

For employee recruiting purposes, use LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a professional networking and job search site that was founded on 5th May of the year 2003. Let’s begin by examining the sheer vastness of its user base. It has around 756 million users and 50 thousand remote employees in the United States. Each week, 40 million individuals utilize LinkedIn to look for work, and LinkedIn states that three candidates get hired every minute.

How to use LinkedIn profile for business (Infographic).

It was founded to assist in creating possibilities for corporate communication worldwide, and its purpose is simple: make business communication easy and affordable worldwide.

It’s become a valuable resource for companies looking to network and aid with their hiring requirements. As more job searchers and connections create their profiles each year, the possibility grows even more—thus, LinkedIn plays a crucial role in finding a potential employee for your organization.

Quick Note: When you advertise on social media to promote your brand products and services, social media analytics can help you identify your marketing strategy’s effectiveness. It is advisable to frequently check your customer engagement, such as likes, comments, share or link clicks, and how much sale has been made through your social media marketing campaign.

How do recruiters find candidates on LinkedIn?

1. Post job circular.

LinkedIn gives you results by combining job postings, applicant searches, trustworthy leads, and the potential of partnerships.

Post job circular on LinkedIn. It's better than any other job advertising option.

You can attract appropriate individuals by advertising a position directly on LinkedIn. Applicants may submit their job applications for the post; thus, it will free space from your inbox.

2. Search within your corporate network.

You can extract applicant suggestions for a specific job vacancy as a recruiter. All 500 Fortune businesses are represented on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has 50 million businesses as members. “LinkedIn Jobs” has 14 million open positions.

3. Stay connected with former colleagues.

You may utilize LinkedIn to stay in contact with your colleagues for future job and recruiting opportunities. In addition, you should use this social media to connect with folks with whom you’ve had previous success.

Build relationships with other business owners, employees, or suppliers on LinkedIn.

These are the folks who might be your best employees in the future.

4. Utilize a business website to draw potential employees.

With over 50 million Businesses on LinkedIn, you’ll need to distinguish yourself as a lucrative opportunity for employees. You may accomplish it by adequately marketing your firm on LinkedIn.

Recommended Reading: Is a Social Media Marketing Certificate Worth it? (Definitive Guide)

Use Facebook Marketplace for Business.

Facebook Marketplace is a global platform where users can purchase products or services and sell their items. It’s similar to Craigslist but much better.

It’s a marketplace with direct connections to buyers and sellers for buying and selling new and used things. Sorting options include category, area, and more.

Facebook marketplace is perfect for promoting your products or service.

This social marketplace is the latest option for e-commerce companies to generate sales and reach Facebook’s 2.8 billion monthly regular visitors without paying for listings or advertisements.

All you have to do is submit your products or service, and you’ll have access to a local community eager to buy them in under 60 seconds.

Is Facebook marketplace safe?

Craigslist’s lack of responsibility and openness makes it “untrustworthy.”

You may pretend to be anybody on Craigslist, and you must collect more data to help market participants filter out scammers.

There is an additional element of trust with Facebook Marketplace because an account is required for each buyer and vendor.

Be aware of fake accounts in social media. These imposters can harm your business reputation.

It allows you to dig around and validate that the individual is “genuine.”

  • Check their profile
  • Check how many friends they have and how old this account is.
  • Check previous market activities.
  • Remember to report any suspicious account if you find it.

While there’s no assurance that Facebook Marketplace will be devoid of scams, its lack of privacy makes it a safer alternative for everyone.

Recommended Reading: What are Fake Social Media Accounts Used for? (Practical Guide)

Use Instagram to promote your brand products.

Instagram has 15 times the amount of interaction as Facebook and Twitter combined. As a result, what started as simple photo-sharing software has evolved into a significant sales channel.

The world’s top 100 businesses are on Instagram, while potential consumers are almost certainly present without any doubt.

Instagram is a trendy social media platform to promote your brand.

I’ll show you how to discover potential clients, draw their attention, and encourage them to follow your page in the below sections.

1. Include popular and relevant hashtags.

Hashtags are a means of grouping ideas, thoughts, or discussions on social media. Using these hashtags makes it simple for users to locate others passionate about the same things.

You may attract new individuals interested in your items by using the relevant hashtags in your posts. The idea is to include hashtags regularly searched by users on Instagram and ones that reflect your products or service and brand image.

Use social media hashtags or establish your brand hashtags for massive promotion.

You may utilize a free internet tool like Iconosquare or Websta to identify the most popular hashtags relevant to your posts. These tools will help you identify popular hashtags for your business based on your keywords.

Make a list of popular hashtags relevant to your company, brand, and goods, and save them on a notepad. Then, you’ll be able to refer to them regardless of where you’re writing from.

2. Use appropriate filters in your image.

Most individuals don’t consider how filters can influence engagement rates; instead, they use what they believe looks nice and publish their content. However, the filter you choose might impact the entire interaction.

Use various Instagram filters to attract your audiences.

According to recent research by TrackMaven, the Mayfair filter can provide the most engagement from Instagram users, while the Inkwell filter receives more attention, such as likes and comments.

Of course, everyone’s target audience is unique. Try out different filters and utilize a social media management tool to discover which ones best suit your needs.

3. Spy on your competitor’s followers.

It would be best if you spoke with anybody who follows your competitor’s Instagram account. It should be your intention to drag those potential clients to your website, product, or service.

By merely following your competitor’s account, those individuals have already shown that they are interested in the products from your niche. Therefore, finding and connecting with them will improve the number of targeted followers and quality leads you to have.

Pay a visit to your social media competitors' profiles and try to grab their client's attention.

There are numerous tools available to assist you in locating your rivals’ followers. Crowdfire, for example, allows you to find your rivals’ Instagram profiles by name and see the details of their followers. Then, connect with your rival’s followers by following them on Instagram and liking or commenting on one of their photographs.

4. Showcase new products.

Your Instagram page is an excellent platform for digital selling and showcasing new items.

Packer Shoes has a solid Instagram following of 54,000 followers and uses it to promote new and unique items to increase sales.

Highlight your products or service on social media like Instagram.

How successful was this strategy for Packer Shoes? Why not check by yourself?

Use Pinterest for product promotion.

You are wrong if you believe that Facebook is the king of social media marketing platforms. Not even Twitter or Instagram. There is no king here. If you want to bring success, then focus on all major social platforms you can. Your social media marketing strategy will bring success, not the platform itself.

Let me introduce you to Pinterest, your company’s best interest.

Do you know Pinterest contents receive more exposure than tweets, with only 1.4% of tweets being retweeted? So in terms of Facebook, a pin has a double half-life than a post from Facebook.

Pinterest is a powerful social media platform for visual content such as posters, infographics, etc.

Pinterest is one of the best marketing platforms for a company after Facebook’s recent merge with Instagram.

And there’s a solid reason behind it. If a 27% rise in Fortune 500 Company Pinterest accounts over the past year isn’t a sign that your company should join the 250 million overall users.

Utilize Pinterest analytics.

This Analytics option is one of Pinterest’s newest business features. When you confirm your account, you have access to critical tracking data.

Pinterest built-in analytics is a powerful tool to analyze your audience and marketing performance.

You’ll be able to observe which techniques and content are effective so you can enhance your marketing over time.

Use rich pin features.

Rich Pins come in five different flavors, each jam-packed with more data than your ordinary pin for significant sales potential. The features are real-time pricing and updates, direct connections to your business site, and online resource locations. We will discuss rich pin’s approach in further depth later.

Utilize social media influencers to promote your brand.

Only superstars and a few devoted bloggers could have been considered influencers a decade ago. Social media influencers appear to have risen to prominence, saturated the platform, and even become victims of fraud.

Suppose you’ve done any prior study on influencer marketing. In that case, you should have come across contradicting information, with suggestions ranging from utilizing social influencers without hesitation to not using them.

As a brand, navigating influencer marketing techniques is more challenging than ever.

Definition: Influencer marketing.

At its most basic level, Influencer marketing relies on recommendations and product references from influencers–people who have a large number of followers and are regarded as experts in their field. Influencer marketing succeeds because social influencers have a high level of trust with their followers, and their recommendations act as a kind of social validation to your brand’s potential customers.

Use social media influencers to get a massive boost in your brand promotions.

It was simpler to stand out on Instagram in 2014 than now. Your chances of getting chosen as an influencer were great if you were fortunate enough to be highlighted on Instagram’s featured page or if your appearance was just different enough. After forming enough corporate connections, some people have made a full-time profession out of this marketing career opportunity.

How to bring more clients to your Business by using influencer marketing?

Though this marketing option is powerful, influencers are increasingly using other platforms. According to recent research, the advertising business will be worth $12 billion by 2022. Instagram, YouTube, and other social channels have different influencers catering to distinct audiences.

Mediakix, an influencer marketing agency, polled marketers towards the end of 2018 to find out how they felt about influencers in the next year.

89% of those polled thought influencer marketing’s ROI was equivalent to or greater than other networks. According to the same poll, 65% of marketers want to increase their spending in 2019.

Conclusion.

If you read this guide, then by now, you should realize how social media can help a business grow. I tried to explain everything in plain text and visual illustration. Reading a guide will not help you go anywhere unless you test yourself first.