We can all acknowledge the fact that social media sites provide an excellent platform to business owners to further develop their customer base and expand area of operation. Popular social networking websites like Facebook might come under heavy scrutiny from time to time due to frequent changes in their privacy policies, but if used correctly they can certainly help one promote products and services both locally and internationally as well as establish an online brand identity.
Using Social Media to Increase Customer Interaction
Let’s take a look at some of the pros of using social media marketing to drive those transactions and sales figures:
Communication
It all starts with how you talk to your customers. That’s step 1. Ask any business tycoon about how they grew their small business into a huge conglomerate and they will be quick to respond with “good customer service”. There is no denying the fact that establishing an effective line of communication with your customers will make them sit up and take notice of what you are selling. Using Social media for your Online Business can be that channel where you can not only reach out to customers that live in close proximity of your business but also those that might be interested in your products overseas.
Updates
Spreading word about new product arrivals, special promotions and discounts can be a real hassle and this is where the power of social media can work to your advantage. Just a few clicks and your products are visible to millions of people around the world. Providing periodic information through tweets or posts will not only keep your business page current but will also ensure that certain seasonal goods get marketed on time. Not all users know exactly where to go when they need to up the ante on their existing products. Social media provides a great platform for your users to come to you and put up their problems, and for you to push forward your own solutions and updates. Social media is all about connectivity.
Trends
Social media can be useful for especially those who are looking to set up shop but are not sure what they want to market and to whom. Several social networking websites including Twitter come equipped with a “What’s Trending” section that can help you discover products potential customers might be interested in buying. If you’re able to successfully decipher what your customers want you’ll be able to create better products and services, and in turn grow your share of the target market. This is just as true for small businesses as it is for larger firms.
Twitter also stands out from the competition in that regard. The micro blogging platform supports various client applications like Tweet Grid and that can help business owners carry out focused searches to determine what kind of clothes are in vogue for example or get notifications when people tweet about a product that your business specializes in selling. An invitation in the form of a tweet can be sent to these potential customers to visit your place of business and drive sales.
Groups
Among plethora of features offered by social media websites is the ability to create groups and place individuals with similar taste in clothes for example in that specific group. This gives the user the ability to market specific clothes to those individuals only which might find them interesting. This may limit your customer base but the chances of making a sale increase exponentially.
At the end of the day what we need to remember is that social media has become a gigantic force. Your average customer is right there, all you need to do is reach out and grab them – and with the right kind of social media marketing campaign, you actually can.