Grow Your Business Online with Social Media

Source: socialmediatoday.com viaLe Papier Studio on Pinterest

Have you all jumped on the social media bandwagon?

I spend a lot of time researching successful ways to grow your business online and I enjoy sharing what has worked for me here in the good ol’ blog. You all know the importance of building a strong foundation for your business. It consist of 3 important elements:

1. customer service
2. brand awareness
3. sales lead generation

Social media plays a big role in all of the above elements.  Your business’ reputation and performance is rated by your presence in social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, You Tube etc. You can now use social media to your advantage to connect and engage directly with your customers. How does each element breaks down?

Customer Service

It’s probably one of the most crucial elements of running a successful business online. When it comes to it, people are impatient (myself included!) and have very little tolerance for delays. Keep an eye on the various social media platforms on daily basis and respond to complains, questions in a professional and timely manner. Do this to keep them happy and coming back for more. Believe me, a personal message goes a long way.

Brand Awareness

Gone are the days where people found you only through a blog or google search. These days people come to discover your brand via the various social media sites. Pay attention to all your social profiles.  Whatever you say or post should be relevant to your business. Sites like Google + can make your content searchable on Google. Make sure to assign a profile picture to your social profiles – this has proved to increase click through rates which means great news for your SEO efforts.

Sales Lead Generation

Facebook and Pinterest  provide the most sale leads for my business. I spend more of my social media efforts throughout the week on these two sites. How can you generate more leads to your website? I bet you already know the answer! Share great content that is relevant to your business. Position yourself as the expert in your industry and people will follow you.

My advise to you is to pick 1-2 social media sites and use them well. Be consistent with your online presence. See what works for your brand and keep doing it.

Leave a comment below with the 1 or 2 social media sites you consider to be the most beneficial to growing you online business and why.