5 Ways to Grow Your Business on Social Media
It ‘s no secret that technology has really changed the way we do business today. Marketing has become easier, reaching people is easier, things happen faster, and we no longer need to sell only locally because we have millions of people at our fingertips. With all that said social media is a HUGE piece to the puzzle along with having a kick ass website. Here are 5 ways you can start to grow your business today on social media.
Hashtags
Hashtags allow you to reach a specific demographic of people organically based off of anything and everything. I’m’ sure you’ve seen people using hashtags for years now. Although some people just use them for fun, using hashtags at the end of your posts allow people to find them. It won’t just be anyone finding your posts it will be people who are actually interested in what you are putting out there because they’ve searched for the hashtag or are currently following it. Since pretty much all businesses grow from marketing and gaining likes and followers this can be a very powerful way to reach your target audience and start to build a following that will actually convert. The more you engage with your followers, the more you will show up in their news feed and the more they will pay attention to what you’re up to and ultimately buy whatever you’re selling. It’s also a great way for them to help spread the word to their friends and family, growing your network. Using hashtags is a great FREE way to start to grow your business.
2. Live Videos
If you’ve been in business for a little while now it will be no secret to you that Facebook uses algorithms to effect what people see on their News feeds. These algorithms are why sometimes two people see your posts vs. other times a thousand people see your post. The reason for this is Facebook and other social media platforms want people to spend more time there so they search for engaging posts. If you ever post a link on your Facebook page you will notice that not nearly as many people see it or have liked it where as if you post a video or photo there are many more views and likes. The reason is when posting a link you are asking people to click that link and leave Facebook so naturally Facebook makes those posts more hidden to your friends and followers. When you post a Live video every one of your friends gets a notification and people begin to watch and engage so Facebook wants these to be more visible to followers. This is why right now Facebook/Instagram lives and stories are killing it. If you want people to hear what you are saying or selling go Live! You will see a massive spike in your engagements and if you combine this with the hashtag usage you will be unstoppable.
3. Story Telling
Many business owners today truly underestimate the power of telling stories that people can relate to. Too often their approach is to just get on social media and sell, so they post things like “Get our product today for only $19.99” when they haven’t even warmed their audience up yet. You need to tell people why you are doing this, the obstacles you’ve overcome, who you are as a person, your interests, your likes and dislikes, etc. People need to get to know YOU before they will buy from you. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and show people the real you. There is too much fake on the internet and people will spot it from a mile away. If you aren’t doing this currently in your business and sales are down give this a try. Even the largest of companies need to explain their mission: why do you want to be successful in whatever you’re doing? How can whatever you’re doing help people? Use social media properly and you’ll see a HUGE conversion.
4. Joining Facebook Groups
I gotta say this was the main way I found clients when I first started my business Xpand. I owe all but 2 of my clients to this process right here that I’m about to share. Just like the hashtags there are so many groups for anything and everything. There are local business groups dedicated to selling products and services, there are support groups, entrepreneur groups, pretty much a group for every industry you are in. Become a member of as many of these groups that relate to you and your business and get on there and start to engage with new people. Again, you need to warm these people up, you cannot just come out of no where and start to try to sell to them. You need to post things that are interesting and will capture their attention. If you’ve ever heard of a sales funnel think of this part as the lead capture. You are making relationships with others and the more you help people out of the goodness of your heart the more people will follow you, remember you, and when the time is right buy from you. If you have no money for marketing these are the best 4 ways to start getting your name and your business out there. Yes, it takes time but all good things take some time dedicated if you don’t have time to do this yourself try paying someone else to do it for you, it will for sure bring in more then you’re spending to pay someone.
5. Paid Ads
Last but certainly not least are ads. There are many platforms now a days that you can purchase ads from but from my experience Facebook/Instagram ads can be the most effective. The beauty of ads are you can literally reach the exact audience you are looking for based off of just about every criteria from gender, age, income, interests, job title etc. It is suggested before trying this on your own to do some research or take an online course of exactly how this works that way you are not wasting money. If your ad has an interesting image and capturing message people will pay attention and buy what you’re selling. The trick with these again is to think of this from the sales funnel approach. Try putting out ads that offer something free in exchange for their email address. You first must show your value and that you are trust worthy before people will buy from you. Whatever your approach just be genuine and show people the value in what they are purchasing whether it be a product or service and you’ll be growing in no time!