Social media, for some, is just a means to connect with their loved ones; but for SMEs in Singapore, it has the potential to be an excellent tool for branding and marketing. Social media allows a business to showcase itself via a conversation, unlike a one-way communication that traditional advertising offers. Hence, social media is a must if you want to advertise your business. And here is how to do that.
Find the Right Platform
The first thing that you need to do before starting your social media channel is to find the right platform that suits your requirements. You need to assess your target customers, do some research on which platform they use, and how they use it. Then you have to figure out how your service or product can be marketed on that platform.
After starting out on the right platform, you don't have to stop there. You can always expand into other platforms, and start cross-linking your posts and content on the various platforms. This will give you a broader reach and accessibility.
Create a Brand Image
Then, you have to create a brand image for your company. Many businesses fail to realize that on the internet, a story sells better than a product. So, you have to come up with a story that connects with your audience and showcases your brand's values.
Once you have this in place, you can start by cementing your image on social media. You can either go for a formal image, or a comical image that relies on memes and jokes. And you have to commit to this image whenever you post, interact, or promote on the platform. This will, over time, gain you loyal customers that appreciate the brand image and story.
Strategize a Calendar
You then have to come up with a plan of timely posts and content. Nothing is worse than sporadic content on your social media; and moreover, last-time posts can be shabby and unattractive. Hence, you have to strategize a plan on how and when you will post content on social media. You need to follow this plan thoroughly.
Here, you have to plan out everything from images, visuals, captions, links, hashtags, and even the time when you will upload the posts. A general rule of thumb is to post daily, so you need to plan accordingly. This gives a steady flow of content to your audience and customers, keeping your brand relevant and on-top on their social media feeds.
Avoid Spammy Posts
Sure, posting content daily is a good idea, but you must never spam your customers with your products and services. Hence, everything you post must be valuable or useful to them. The idea is to get your brand's name out there without spamming about your services. So you can post things like how-to's, memes, think-pieces, entertaining content, etc. daily. Your content should be enjoyable and impactful.
As a general rule, six out of seven posts should not contain overt product advertisement or brand promotions. And when you post general content, you can subtly link or relate it to your brand and products.
Doing so will give your brand credibility, and the audience will, over time, trust your brand as they start equating your post with value or entertainment, and not just promotions. Another advantage is that enjoyable content will be shared by the audience, giving you even more exposure without spending a dime on paid promotions. No one shares promotional advertisements anyway.
Choose Visuals Over Text
And when you are planning out your posts and content, remember that the audience is scrolling through their feed, and you only have a second to grab their attention. Hence, you need to make your content as visually enticing as possible. Keep the content visually dense and less text-based.
You have to be creative, and you have to say less by saying more. If they see a wall of text, they will likely scroll past without even thinking about it. And over time, your content will automatically be given less priority by the algorithms as no one spends time on that post.
Engage With the Customers
One of the most important things that you have to do on social media is to engage with the customers. This two-way conversation between a brand and its customer is what gives social media an edge over other forms of advertising and marketing. And hence, you need to utilize it to its fullest.
There are many ways of doing this. You can start by just answering their queries and issues regarding your products and services, and then move on to actively interacting with your regular customers by giving them discounts and offers via social media. The point of engaging with your customers is to build an active community where they can freely interact with you and each other.
Pay to Promote Your Posts
And lastly, if your business is big enough, you can try paid promotions on social media. This can either mean working with an influencer to showcase your product, or directly paying the platform to boost your content on the platform.
This will obviously cost some money, but can vastly boost your outreach to newer audiences who are not aware of your brand yet. This can work wonders in bringing in new leads for your business. But while doing so, make sure you are working with a credible influencer, and that your content is not spammy.
A famous saying is that when it comes to social media marketing, content is king. You need to keep this in mind. And you have to treat your strategy as a marathon as opposed to a sprint-run. By applying the above tips to these two mantras, your business will gain immense following and credibility over time, bringing in even more business.
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