Did you know that the 2nd most followed page on Facebook is Samsung, with 159.82 million followers? That’s six times the population of Australia tapped into all the moves the South Korean electronics giant is making - from a consumer perspective. That is, they’ve all opted in to being sold new phones, cameras, TVs, and tablets as part of their daily social media scroll.
Though enterprise businesses may employ social media managers (who may be flustered by the overwhelming demands of the job, as I’ve explored here), small to medium businesses often flounder under the constant demand for content - or mistaken belief that just because one posts it will be seen by all their audience, every time. (That’s the non-linear algorithm at work, baybay!)
Social media is free to use - but with all free things, it means spending time on it to gain any real benefit. Here is a primer on how to use social media to reach more customers.
Find Your Audience and Meet Them There
There’s no such thing as the Field of Dreams on the web. It’s not a case of “build it and they will come” but rather, “build it where they already are.”
That means looking at your business and figuring out where your core demographic customer base already hangs out. B2B businesses will likely want to focus on B2B social media, such as LinkedIn. (It’s where I hang out!) B2C will want to embrace Meta platforms (Instagram and Facebook), TikTok, and to a lesser extent, X (formerly Twitter.)
If you have limited time to spend, you may want to focus on one platform. Meta Business Suite helps you post across Instagram, Facebook, and even WhatsApp, which means reaching three sets of audiences at once.
Apps such as Keyhole can help you identify these audiences without waiting too long for analytics to come in - which can help you along tremendously.
Establish a Narrative and Social Proof
Stories are everything. People are drawn in by stories; brands that establish solid narratives about themselves will rise to the top of the pile compared with soulless, bland sales pages. For example, the DIY, grassroots values of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream - a small business started by two hippie college dropouts from Vermont selling fresh ice-cream from their gelatery - (almost) overrides the fact they are now a global brand owned by Unilever, a multi-national corporation with questionable holdings.
Social proof is the act of using other’s opinions of your brand to sell your products and services. This may come in the form of using content from your customers (i.e., re-blogging or re-posting their Instagram reels or TikToks) to “prove” that people like, use, and trust your product.
Using Influencers and Brand Advocates
Believe it or not, 40% of Twitter (as it was called in 2016) users said they bought something because an influencer tweeted about it. There was a 5.2x increase in the likelihood of a purchase when users saw both brand and influencer tweets about the product.
According to Mention.com, URL shortener Bitly saw 11x greater return on investment than traditional forms of digital marketing. People who have a large social media following are instant social proof - even if the audience knows that the brand is sponsoring their posts. Influencers need not just be on Instagram; they could be bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, TikTokers, and other high-follower count individuals or groups.
Reposting content from satisfied customers who become “cheerleaders” for your product is another way to reach even greater audiences. People love being seen - and according to an Olapic study, 70% of U.S.-based respondents are more likely to buy products after being exposed to a relatable or positive image created by other consumers.
Provide Value For THEIR FOLLOW
Yes, some people will follow certain brands or companies just to get the jump on sales. But the top performers provide real value to their customers in the form of informational or instructional content that they can use.
A food brand may want to showcase recipes; a fashion brand may want to emphasise which fragrances to pair with their outfit. Even if you’re an excavator company, you can still provide value by showing which kind of plant you use to tackle certain jobs, which may be useful for apprentices. The more content that you can provide that’s useful, the better.
Use a Strategic Approach
One of the most common mistakes brands make is using a scattershot approach to social media posting and content. A hospitality venue might make one post about an upcoming event…only for it to get buried under the algorithm and have it appear in people’s feeds three days after it’s finished.
Every business should have a social media strategy which should be planned out ahead of time with content (or at least ideas about content), its purpose (brand recognition, promotion, reach), and the goals it is attempting to reach.
This keeps your social media running smoothly as part of your overall sales or marketing processes. Instead of panicking about what to post, where, and when, your strategy will guide you in the right direction whether you want to make a post yourself or leave it up to the professionals.
With a bit of persistence and effort you can use social media to reach more customers - and greater sales!
For expert guidance and quality cut-through content that’s both strategic and impossible to ignore, trust I Sell Words for all aspects of social media management. Read about my social media success stories here!
