LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA: A MARKETING TOOL FOR SME GROWTH

The future of businesses is online. Sales and marketing, commerce has gone “e”. I.e. Electronic. Technology is now the new tech block. To strive as a brand, SMEs must have their digital footprint visible online, they need to consider online advertising and social media marketing will be key to business growth and continual sustainability.

Over the past decade, businesses and brands are using advertising as a way to boost sales, increase growth and generate quality leads. Marketing methods is evolving and the need to engage with the new form of marketing is essential to business growth. The era of budgeting huge amount of money on traditional marketing like newspaper adverts, radio jingle and billboards is fast becoming secondary to marketing. Most brands new engage online marketing by leveraging on social media as a way to market their products and services to a wider audience.

In an ever increasingly competitive environment MSMEs have to find new and innovative ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors, build brand visibility and loyalty, increase customer engagements through brand storytelling otherwise known as content marketing, generate leads and eventually increase conversion.

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?

Social media is a staple for any modern marketing campaign, but it’s also now being used as a new tool by sales teams. Overtime, social networks have evolved to become a very powerful tool for businesses today. If small businesses engage these platforms, they can attract millions of new users and at the same time have direct contact with existing customers thereby improving their brand experience and reputation almost on daily basis. According to a study by Wildfire, who asked about 700 companies in the digital world on social networks, the results shows:

·         88% – Boosting your brand: social networks give us the opportunity to achieve visibility through a clear and useful message to position ourselves in the minds of our consumers, achieving differentiation from the diverse range of competitors.

·         85% – Encourage dialogue: social networks give the opportunity to be in direct contact with each client, listening to their needs and feedbacks continuously. This also allows each brand to improve gradually getting closer and closer to its customers and improving their experience. This direct link creates a human, honest and very trustworthy relationship.

·         58% – Increase sales and alliances: creating such closeness has direct impact on company sales, as consumers increasingly being happier they buy more often. This also can be an opportunity to attract potential customers or create alliances of interest.

·         41% – Reduce costs: social networks can be very useful to save money. Not only in terms of marketing strategy, as through social networks also you can do market research or recruiting staff through platforms like LinkedIn.

Let’s quickly take a cursory look at the importance of some Social Media Networks for SMEs:

• Facebook: is great for small or local consumer businesses. It is a good starting point for SMEs, as it can be used to share updates, pictures, videos, and company information including address and summary of the business. The best way to use the platform is to create a Company Page, ask your friends and family to like it (and their friends too), and upload pictures.
• Twitter: is best for short-form, more visual updates, as well as other forms of posts such as polls. It is also an excellent medium for engaging with other users in a fast-paced dialogue, for monitoring comments around your brand and establishing good customer service. Twitter is essentially great if you’ve got a lot to say and can dedicate time to updating it at least three times a day. The use of Hashtags also thrive on this platform.
• LinkedIn: also known as a digital CV, is also a brilliant platform for B2B (Business-to-business) companies. LinkedIn is the best place for establishing authority, whether through blog posts, participation in groups, or the sharing of relevant and informative updates.
• Pinterest: is a visual platform, where users can ‘pin’ your content for inspiration or to make a potential purchase. You can also create your own boards for others to make use of and therefore build a loyal audience on the network.
• Instagram: works best if you share frequent images and videos, including hashtags to engage in specific conversations. Since its algorithm update, it is also important to post regular, relevant pictures, as increased user engagement means you are more likely to appear in your followers’ feeds. Like Snapchat, Instagram is also particularly powerful for fashion, lifestyle or gift businesses.

In inference, there is need to determine which network deliver result you are looking for. Test a little on all social media channel, measure what works and then invest more time and energy in the channel that gives the results you are looking for. However, the goal of online marketing is to stay relevant and remain competitive!

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About the author: Samuel Adu aka Mr. Exponent, is a man of many parts, He is a public speaker, trainer on e-business, digital business management and entrepreneurship. He is a ghost writer, reporter, visual communicator, web designer, commercial printer, brand expert, and a blogger at www.mrexponent.blogspot.com

Sam is the Creative Director at Advantageplus Concept, a fast-growing printing and branding outfit in Lagos.

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