Should I be Utilising Social Media to Grow my Business?

The real question isn’t if you should be using social media. You should be asking yourself: Have I been using social media to grow my business? If not, then you most probably leaving money on the table.

Using Social Media to your business’s advantage

You cannot sell anything without attention. What do we mean by this? Well, if you want to sell someone a product or service, you need their attention so you can explain the benefits as well as the value of your product or service. So, where would you find attention that’s affordable for a small to medium-sized business?

South Africans And Social Media Usage

Recent stats indicate that South Africans spend up to 3 hours a day on social media channels. That’s a lot. Also, more than 60% of South Africans today own a smartphone. This means that they have access to social media channels like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other channels.

The stats speak for themselves:

• Facebook has over 8.1 million monthly active South African users.
• YouTube has over 9 million monthly active South African users.
• The third most popular social media channel is Twitter with over 3 million monthly active South African users.
• Currently, the second-fastest growing social networks in South Africa are LinkedIn, with over 2 million active South African users per month, and Instagram bragging with over 2.5 million monthly South African users.

The good news is you can advertise your brand for free, if you wanted to, on these platforms and use social media to grow your business.

How To Choose A Platform To Use Social Media To Grow My Business

As much as you want to create a social media page on all the different social media channels, it’s not always the best move as part of your digital marketing strategy. You need to ensure that what you have to say as a business fits in to what the social media network represents.

For example, LinkedIn is a professional social media network. If you aren’t necessarily selling a product or service to professionals then having your brand on the platform might not produce the best results.

The same goes for Instagram. This platform is more of an entertainment social media network. Knowing this, if your business is selling a professional product or service, then being active on the platform might leave you with little to no engagement as what you have to say doesn’t necessarily resonate with anyone using the network.

Before choosing a social media network, ask yourself, what are you selling, who is your ideal customer, and which platform might they prefer to hang out on a daily basis? We also suggest that you limit yourself to one or two channels in the beginning. Committing to too many might leave you scrambling when it comes to producing content for each channel. Master one or two channels first before moving on to any others.

3 Valuable Social Media Marketing Ideas

Below are some of the most popular kind of ads you can run on social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

1. Video Ads

Video marketing is growing in popularity. Creating videos that clearly explain or articulate your product or service is always a good. Try and start by creating a 60-second video about your brand. See this as an opportunity to give people a deeper insight of what your brand is all about while focusing on what sets you apart from competitors.

2. Traffic Ads

Traffic ads can help increase the amount of visits to your website. If you have a specific sales or product page that explains the value of your product or service, then looking at running traffic ads to the specific page might not be a bad idea.

3. Lead Ads

Lead ads are a great way to capture a potential prospect’s e-mail and contact info, or any information for that matter. Instead of driving someone to a specific webpage you can ask them to submit their information so that you or a sales representative can reach out to them at a more convenient time.  These kind of ads are great for business that are in the service or software industry, not to mention that it’s also a great tool for small business that don’t have websites.

Interested in becoming a qualified social media marketer and helping others to use social media to grow their businesses? Our social media certificate, which is one of the only digital marketing certificates accredited by MICT SETA, will enable you to grow a brand online any social channel, increase customer engagement on these channels and correctly target the correct market on social media.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

With this digital marketing course under your belt, you will be able to measure the success of your campaigns and adjust your message to suit your target audience. The Social Media Marketing Certification is a must for those who love interacting with people online and want to create a solid brand for themselves or their companies online. Follow this link to read more.