Many small businesses rely on their websites as their primary means of marketing their business offerings but they don’t have enough drive or traffic, which will translate into increased patronage.
Experts note that a cheap way by which these Small and Medium Enterprises can publicise what they do is by marketing on social media platforms designed for this purpose.
Experts observe that eight out of the top 10 websites visited by Nigerians are social media sites.
Research has shown that companies attest to the benefits social media has brought to their business because it has increased the awareness of their organisations and products.
Experts note that social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ as well as Pinterest among others offer social media marketing solutions that will attract the huge users of these platforms to preferred products and services.
They note that social media has penetrated into everyone’s life and marketers have no choice but to embrace it to achieve their business goals. They have highlighted some strategies businesses can utilise.
Learn how ads are sold
Ads sold by social media platforms are used in different ways and small business owners who wish to use social media to grow their businesses need to understand this.
A digital marketer, Mr. DayoOwoniyi, points out that companies pay for ads on an engagement basis on Twitter while on Facebook and LinkedIn the payment is made per impression. As such he says it is important to design posts on these platforms to meet the criteria.
“For ads on Twitter, it is important to create content that will attract genuine prospects, who will not only view it but click on the ads,” he says.
Use search engine marketing
Aside having a physical location, businesses have been advised to have strong online presence to gain wider coverage and visibility.
Most people surf the Internet using search engines that are known to be the fastest and easiest way for finding what they need. Because of their popularity, search engines receive many visitors as well as clicks. With these benefits in mind, it is easy to see why so many companies would pay to advertise with search engines.
Experts note that paying for advertisements will ensure that the website will be on the top ranks, as a result, more traffic will be attracted to the site.
They note that once the key words used in searching for information have been identified, it can be used to improve your social media campaigns.
An Information Technology expert, Mr. John Albert, says that SEO can be utilised to improve the visibility of a website for various search engines by working with the key words set by various engines.
This, according to them will ensure that search engines index the website when people enter a search term that is relevant for a specific product or service.
Albert adds that the keywords can also be used on the personal and business social media accounts like Twitter profile, LinkedIn profile and posts, and in the titles and descriptions of your business on Facebook and other platforms.
Create strong content
Another easy and quick way of gaining followership and connecting with the prospects and clients is through content marketing.
Experts note that the use of good content in recent times has expanded the focus by marketers which is now on personalisation of content that fits clients’ demand and can be served to businesses at a convenient time when there is high probability of them seeing it.
Albert says that no matter the kind of information that is being put out through blogs and social media platforms, the content has to be interesting in order to attract the right audience.
He adds that content ideas can be sourced from comments of people on social media.
He says, “Ask your followers for suggestions on the type of information they are interested in reading. Ask them for feedbacks and questions about their own experiences.
“Share interesting content on what your followers know and love, in order to maintain traffic to your blog or social accounts.”
Use visual content for more engagement
Experts note that social media is designed to accommodate visual content in pictures and videos.
Owoniyisays research has shown that content supported with images attracts more engagement as compared to content without images.
Find influencers
Experts note that influencers are people who are active on social media platforms and can increase your business visibility when you engage them in conversations.
According to them, the content people provide on a regular basis and the engagement they draw from their audience counts.
Alberts says there are ways of finding these influencers. However, he suggests that it is important to assess the kind of conversations such people engage in to determine if they are the right kind of influencers they want or not.
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