Targeting Your Ideal Customers Using Social Media

By Tony Restell

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Social media has had a massive impact on the ways that small businesses attract new customers and market to their existing customer base. Let's have a look at some of the ways social media has affected businesses - and how you can profit from these trends.
 

Social Media Targeting


Background

Before the arrival of social media, your small business may have attracted customers in a number of ways such as:

  • Attracting customers via localised advertisements, perhaps utilising area specific magazine space, business cards, or an invasive leafleting method.
     
  • Being thrifty and relying on old school word of mouth. This not only required established customers, but also that their experience with your business was positive enough for them to recommend your services to others.
     
  • Reliance on cold calling and an aggressive sales team to persistently "knock on doors"


Why Might A Small Business Owner Now Look To Find Customers Using Social Media?

These dated approaches to winning customers have distinct drawbacks. With localised advertising the business is hostage to whether they’ve placed advertisements in the right places, whether that method of advertising is persuasive enough, and whether the target audience is likely to respond to it – or even have access to the places in which the adverts are running. The up-front cost of such advertising may or may not be modest - and if the business is still establishing their brand, it may not have the desired immediate effect.

Old school word of mouth, on the other-hand, is a more personal way of attracting your target audience, but is far from ideal for a young business looking to generate a large number of customers in a short period of time. If you don't yet have a big pool of existing customers, you're ill placed to generate mass word of mouth unless using the multiplier effect of social media.

So how can a modern day small business owner attract their target audience using social media? How has the balance therefore changed?
 

Social Media Explored

Using sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, a business is now able to:

  • Research markets and find the ideal target audience via social media so that you’re aware of exactly who you’re reaching out to, and where to find them.
     
  • Directly approach potential customers via social media channels - bringing an element of direct and more personal marketing to the traditional advertising model.
     
  • Influence customers through the sharing of updates on your services and/or products and business insights via social media.
     
  • Share articles and images that are likely to attract your target audience to your social media pages. If you’re a bakery, for example, sharing images of baked goods or updates on baking competitions will result in more clicks.  Ensure you have an active online presence, and maintain the momentum!
     

Social Media Has Created A Hybrid Approach

Social media has fundamentally transformed the methods in which we are able to find potential customers and its global and boundary-free nature ensures we are able to reach our target audience regardless of location. It has effectively created a hybrid approach to marketing that sits part way between mass market advertising and personalised individual outreach. In essence this approach allows better results to be achieved and for word-of-mouth referrals to be accelerated, whilst facilitating the A/B testing of your product messaging and calls to action.

Business owners not using social media to market themselves and build a pipeline of prospects are likely to put their companies at a competitive disadvantage; restricting their pool of customers to those who are already inclined to seek their business out, rather than the far broader pool of viable prospects who are out there waiting to be engaged.

Have you researched your sector recently to see how other small businesses have adapted their advertising strategies? Could be an exercise well worth undertaking...


And Finally...

We're of course only scratching the surface in this post. If you've been meaning to generate more business wins from social media then do join me for a SME webinar lifting the lid on how to do this effectively in your business. Or you're welcome to reach out for a social media consultation to talk through the specifics of your business circumstances. Putting this off is no longer an option for any business owner wanting to ensure they're not left behind by more innovative local competitors.

 

The kind of stuff that Social Hire do...

The team at Social Hire never just do social media marketing.

Is it important to you to increase the digital footprint of your business by utilising online promotion, but can't work out how to begin?With the professional understanding of our digital experts working in your business, you can begin to see interaction, brand loyalty and enquiries get better without having to take your team out to spend time on ineffective marketing strategies, or spend money on a internal marketing manager with a view to get results that may not deliver!

The social media marketers in our company are the best in the business at helping our partners enhance their online marketing. We outline and implement cutting-edge social media marketing plans that help our customers realise their organisational objectives and further their social media presence. Our experienced team of digital experts do your social media strategy creation and management in an uncomplicated monthly plan that is cost-effective and is genuinely useful, whatever results you demand from your marketing team.

Our team of managers are a team that assists our partners improve their presence online by producing online marketing services on a regular basis. Our service is transparent and economical, which ensures that you get a great service and results that make a difference when you utilise our services. We arrange many different marketing services for enterprises from small businesses to large corporations to help make the most of of your company's social media marketing.

You might like these blog posts How Can Social Media Increase Your Marketing Potential?, You wait all day... then 3 turn up at once..., 7 Smart Ways to Start Using Facebook Live For Your Business, and How to Use Twitter to Promote Your Business.

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