Although initially designed to help connect people, social media has morphed into one powerful tool for a lot of entities.
Social Media sites, because of the amount of users, has become a great partner for media companies and businesses to reach a wider audience.
However, your will less likely stick around for basic text posts. You need to mix things up a bit and try to creatively think of ways on how you can put your content out there.
One of the best ways to do it is to explore creative content production. Aside from the fact that it’s highly entertaining and informative, these types of content are meant to challenge your inner creative person.
Here are ways on how you can optimize the use of social media to help you generate more followers and potential clients:
1) Optimize Your Social Media Profiles
Before anything else, you should first identify how you want to carry your brand through different social media platforms. Your profile should reflect the way you want your followers to view your brand.
Aside from that, you have to be clear on your messaging. If you want your customers to be able to message you anytime, say so. You can also add other contact information that they can call just in case you are not online.
You can also give them an option to sign up for your newsletter. It can be in the way of a social post, or it can be included in your About Me section.
2) Host Contests On Social Media
Social media contests are a huge help when it comes to pulling in great numbers. Aside from the fact that this strategy can help you reach your audience on a more personal level, it’s a good way to promote your products as well.
Although overused, it’s still a great way to increase your presence on social media, especially when your mechanics state that they need to share the post to their friends to encourage more people to join.
You can always align these types of contests according to what your brand wants to say. There are various ways on how to be creative yet still stay within the parameters of your brand ethics and principles.
If you really don’t know how to use this strategy in your favor, sometimes not overthinking it is the answer to that problem. Simple contests like inviting them to share a certain post and using a randomizer to pick the winner are some examples.
3) Utilize Lead Generation Ads
Ads are now all over social media. Advertisers have already gone digital ever since netizens have started populating online platforms.
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn now have “Lead Generation Ads,” where people can easily fill out an online form without having to exit the app.
You can utilize this feature to really get to know what your audience is looking for in a brand. That way, you can fully cater to their needs better. In return, those who answered the form will get a free item from the brand.
4) Share Gated Content
To be relevant in a platform where fake news and non-essential memes are popular, you have to stay on top of the game by sharing content that gets the attention of your audience. You have to be able to speak to them through these materials.
But one way to generate leads is to make use of gated content. But what are gated content exactly?
These are the types of content wherein users have to fill out a form before they can get access to the actual content. It may sound time-consuming for your audience, but if you package it in a way that really speaks to them, you can get as many leads as you expect.
This type of content will help you redirect them to a form where you can source vital information that could lead to your business improvement and such.
Interesting GIFs with general humor, videos, and images are great options on how you can promote your gated content. Guy Kawasaki said that every post, other than a response or comment, should have a picture or video.
5) Organize Live Streams
If you’ve noticed, live streams suddenly became a huge thing on the internet.
Although fairly new, it has caught the attention of different brands and even sole business owners to help boost their online presence. Not to mention, live streams are another avenue to sell their products while communicating with their audience in real-time.
Videos are really becoming one of the most effective ways to market your brands, especially now that 80% of your audience would rather watch than read a long post.
It’s a consumer behavior that we all need to learn from and adapt accordingly. So, make sure your live videos are engaging to increase your sales, possibly.
6) Create A Referral Campaign
A referral campaign is another marketing feature that you can cleverly use for your business.
If you’ve been tapped by several influencers to use their referral code to get a discount on an item, then you fully understand how this one works.
You use their referral code, and you get a discount. On the other end of the spectrum, the owner of the code also gets an incentive in return.
It might sound tricky, but it sure does change the game works. A recommendation is a great marketing strategy since consumers would likely believe what their friends, family members, and influencers would tell them.
7) Customize Your Own Hashtag
Brand-specific hashtags are what makes a business more present. These witty phrases and tags will help increase your brand awareness and create a more targeted plan for your social media platforms.
Try to limit the use of hashtags as much as possible, and create one that resonates best. Don’t try to crowd your post with hashtags that aren’t relevant to your content so as not to confuse your audience.
By customizing your own, and making it sound as unique as possible, will help your customers explore and discover your content more easily.
Wrap up
Social media has never been more helpful for brands and businesses. Thanks to the ever-changing times, we’re now at that point where we can reach our audience better without having to encourage a face-to-face encounter.
Don’t underestimate the power of a great social media plan. It’s what you can rely on to boost awareness for your brand, which can eventually create ripples for your sales.
If you really mean to use your social platforms to escalate your business process, make sure you’ve taken down all the pointers we have mentioned above to help you generate more leads through social media.
About the Author: Kevin Urrutia
Kevin Urrutia is the founder of Voy Media, a Facebook Ads Agency based in New York. He helps businesses maximize the benefits of Facebook Advertising, leading to a dramatic improvement in sales while pushing down costs. Voy Media thoroughly studies each client and comes up with tailor-fit solutions to bring about the best results.