Advertising your business yourself has never been easier. Now with the boom of social media, the opportunity to market your business for pretty much nothing has been handed to you on a silver platter. By simply making an account on any of the top social networking sites a user can have thousands-upon-thousands of other members wanting to know what you have to say.
Take a look at all of the people who have become famous purely through the Internet, such as Justin Bieber or Rebecca Black. Even influencing has become a career path. It is proof that social networking is powerful.
No matter what you want to advertise, social networking is the way forward. A social network like Facebook is probably one of the best to use when advertising and part of Facebook’s free advertising is their ‘reach’ concept.
The Facebook definition of ‘reach’:
“The reach chart shows how many people have seen any content about your Page, and where applicable, whether these people were reached through an organic, paid or viral channel. People might see your content through more than one of these channels. As a result, the sum of your organic, paid and viral reach might be larger than your total Page reach. Organic reach is the number of unique people, fans or non-fans, who saw any content about your Page in their News Feed, Ticker or on your Page. Paid reach is the number of unique people who saw an ad or Sponsored Story that pointed to your Page. Viral reach is the number of unique people who saw this post from a story published by a friend.”
Reach allows anyone to monitor their progress and improve their posts if needed. Here are a few tips to make the most of the free marketing space on social media:
Know when to post
If you are trying to reach the common businessman, then don’t schedule content to be posted at 5pm when he’s just leaving the office. Instead, schedule tweets and status updates during lunch breaks, as this is a time when more people will be searching online. Similarly, make sure your content is smartphone and tablet friendly, as most people on the go will be catching up on their smaller devices.
Do your research
Different demographics search social networks in different ways. For example, mothers are more commonly found on Facebook than on Twitter, so if mums are your target audience, then you need to go to them rather than wait for them to come to you. It is vital to always do a little bit of research on where your customer is lingering and what time they are most active. The more you know, the more likely it is that your content will reach your desired demographic.
Never ‘spam’
People will never pay attention to constant updates that are quite clearly computer generated and scheduled to appear at the same time every day. Make your content unique, fun and most importantly, real! Encourage people to click on your links and follow a trail of interesting content that may eventually lead to your website. By spamming consumers you are more likely to be unfollowed by loyal customers.
Lastly, be responsive
Always keep a sharp eye on hashtags and mentions of your company and make sure you are reacting to it. Social media is more than a marketing platform; it is an essential PR tool, so use it. By creating a brand that positively responds to feedback, you will create a strong brand identity, which will do wonders for the business as a whole and hopefully increase sales organically.
Social media is a goldmine for the marketing mogul. It is a free and quick way to spread the word of a new product or idea, so be tactical and use it wisely!
Edited by Olivia Newman – 11/07/2019.
