Build it and they will come. How many times have you heard that if you start using social media and consistently schedule new posts that you’ll find new customers? Sounds so simple.
The truth is that it’s not quite that simple. The most efficient way to get started in building your social media community is to first leverage the stakeholders who already best know your business and are most familiar with its products and services. By engaging with your targeted demographic with relevant content you’ll quickly grow your network.
But, how can we influence the new members from an expanded community to actually become our customers? This migration that transforms a prospect’s initially passive engagement to becoming an active purchaser of your product is the elusive elixir of social media.
Define your target demographic.
Start by creating your ideal consumer persona. What will be of interest to them and how can they be engaged? Social media can then be searched by using hashtags to find and track online conversations that are relevant to your business. These conversations can be monitored. You can also find socially active and respected individuals who are experts in topics related to your business and often have a large following. Because their opinions are influential, engaging with them can help you gain exposure to a bigger, equally targeted audience. There are a number of mechanisms with which to accomplish these interactions across social platforms, such as liking, sharing, commenting and or using hashtags.
Once you’ve found meaningful social conversations that are relevant to your business, you can start to share your own expertise. Your contribution will serve to engage new prospects. Always add to the conversation without disrupting it. If people are sharing and commenting on articles related to your business, look for opportunities to share your opinion and provide key facts. Take the opportunity to offer assistance to individuals whose questions are about subjects about which you are an expert. If you enjoy strategic partnerships with other businesses, you can always look for opportunities to engage with your shared audiences on social media.
Clear calls to action, that encourage engagement, will help build your community and to begin to monetize your social media. Online interactions (posts) that ask the audience a question, provide true or false options or prompt replies with a “fill in the blank” opportunity are all easy ways to garner engagement from your followers. It is important to always be talking only about your business or its services. Remember the 80/20 content rule. Behave like a lifestyle magazine about 80% of the time by recounting stories that followers and fans of your business will find of interest. The remaining 20% of your content can be devoted to offering promotions and information about your products, brands and business services.
How do you plan on finding new customers through social media?