Social Media Marketing and your Business Start-Up
Over the past decade, the question of social media and business has become more and more prominent.
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The vast majority of clients all revert back to the same questions: How important is social media to my business and which platform should I be using?
Let’s take a few steps back first. 15 – 20 years ago, no one had even heard of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn, let alone YouTube. In 2015 you are now talking about some of the top five most visited websites in the world.
Here is an interesting fact about LinkedIn, one of the top Business to Business social media platforms. Did you know that every two seconds a new member joins LinkedIn? With a staggering 364 million members, LinkedIn offers free access to your business to business network requirements when you establish yourself as a start-up business.
15 years ago this would seem impossible, but in the online age you have the ability to communicate your message to your target market, possible investors and potential customers through social online community innovations such as LinkedIn. What is even more mind blowing about all of this is the fact that it is completely free. Registering an account with any social media platform has no costs and immediately allows you to start having an online voice.
Find your Online Voice and Invest your Time
What most companies do not understand though, is that your voice is one amongst millions or in some cases billions in your particular industry. The only way to make yourself heard is to be different from everyone else. Ultimately everything comes down to your social content, from text and visuals to videos and infographics.
If you want to be heard you need to stand out. You also need to provide interesting content and engage with your target audience. Social media is about creating an online voice, one which creates dialogue and conversation among your target audience – keep them sharing, liking, commenting and engaging.
I came across many clients who, to date, started their business solely from creating a Facebook base with products orientated to Business to Consumer. They never had any revenue they could allocate to growing a business and this was the only opportunity for them. They made the best of it by allocating the only resources and commodity they have: TIME.
Ultimately they succeeded because they understood how to stand out from the masses and engage with their customers, which lead to growing their community.
Through constant engagement they have been able to grow their acquisition further and also use each and every post as a retention tool for their existing clients.
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