Marketing is immensely important for every business including small businesses. Business owners know it for a fact that their businesses growth and successes hinge on good marketing strategy. It is essential for business owners to promote their services if they wish to draw in customers. But with limited funds how do small business owners execute a good marketing strategy which is cost effective and will yield the needed result in bringing about business growth and success?
We will explore some social networking platforms and their potential to aid business growth and success if small business owners exploit their benefits.
Facebook is the topmost social networking platform with close about 2.2 billion users and it has enormous benefits for the business owner who uses it fully for business gains. Previously connecting with friends and families was the order of the day but now it proves to be a handy tool for business promotion and advertising.
The Facebook marketing strategy is low cost and at times free. You can sign up your business on Facebook which is free unlike a website which you’ll need to pay something for web-design, hosting etc.
An advantage of using Facebook for business and brand promotion is that, it is not only free but also provides access to a worldwide audience which runs into the billions. The possibility of converting some of your audience into potential clients/customers is very high, if the right marketing strategy is employed.
When it comes to information concerning your business or any latest updates on new arrivals for your store you can share that to millions on Facebook. By entering some useful information about your business; history, product details and business purpose it will be provided on your business page on Facebook and this will draw Facebook users. These users are then converted into potential clients/customers.
You also have the opportunity to be interactive with users as well on Facebook. It serves well for feedbacks and enquiries. Sharing photos and videos about your business also comes in handy on this social media platform. This is unlike the traditional website which appears to be more complicated for some business owners to own it and make frequent updates as and when they wish. Not much tech expertise is needed to handle your business page on Facebook. And it also helps in customizing and personalizing to your taste.
Marketing tool
Whatsapp is an effective tool for marketing for small businesses. It’s a very effective medium small businesses can employ to market their products and services. Unlike traditional marketing efforts, customer interactions are enhanced using Whatsapp because it gives instant customer engagement on a one-to-one basis giving it a personal touch. This puts you ahead of your competition if properly managed. It also aids in promotions.
It is very easy to create a broadcast list on Whatsapp. Once you have your customers contact information you can use Whatsapp to create a mobile promotion that targets your loyal customers
STEPS TO CREATE ADVERTISING AND SALES BROADCAST LIST ON WHATSAPP
• Open Whatsapp on your phone. ( You can even access it on your PC)
• Search New Broadcast
• Create a New Broadcast with a title, eg. Sales & Marketing, Clients, Cosmetics Clients, Ladies Shoes Clients etc
• You can add up to 256 customers to a single broadcast list. You are talking about reaching 256 prospective clients/customers by a single broadcast of your products or services you broadcast. Additionally, you can create several broadcast list for segmented customers/clients according to their needs.
• Make sure you add adequate info as to how they can contact you for a product or service you broadcasted. Add name of business, contacts, and directions to your place of business or state how they can receive a product or service they intend to acquire.
Many small and medium-sized companies are enriching user experience and effectively engaging with their customers to increase visibility across a wider audience.
Instagram has more than 300 million users worldwide. It is connecting businesses and brands with people.
How you use Instagram will depend on your goals and your business. It will serve a great deal to promote your business and brand, connect the physical presence with the online world (virtual) and launch a new product or service etc. If you are a fashion designer, it would be great and make business sense to have photo displays of people wearing your designs in their own environments. This will go a long way in promoting your business and brand to several others who are following the customers posting your designs on Instagram. It’s common to see Ghanaian fashion and accessories brands taking advantage of Instagram to promote their products and services. Just a sign up to Instagram and you are good to market to the world.
SNAPCHAT
Francis A. Obirikorang shared on Facebook…
Question: How do I use snapchat for my business?
Answer: Snapchat is perfect for real-time social media marketing because it can give the audience direct access to live events. You can use it for product launches, trade shows or one-of-a-kind events. Snapchat gets your audience excited because you are providing a different, more authentic view of what is going on at the event.
