Hello World!
Welcome back, once again, to my blog!
Carrying on from my previous post, I have decided to focus, again, on social media. BUT! This time we will be looking at the ways in which entrepreneurs, of all ages, and small business owners can use social media to the best of their advantage. #entrepreneursof2017
DISCLAIMER! These are my opinions only and are only meant as a useful guideline and not a How-to manual.
As of 2017, the amount of social media sites and apps as well as the use of them has increased. (image taken from http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/)
This makes digital marketing one of the most popular forms of advertising as it is able to reach such large audiences. #everyoneandtheirmother
Apart from the “Discovery” tab of Snapchat, the sponsored ads of Instagram and the “Marketplace” of Facebook, entrepreneurs and small business can take advantage of the fact that creating pages on these sites or platforms is free. When creating a business page (on any site) there are a few steps that need to be taken into consideration in order to get the ball rolling on your business;
- Follow similar pages
If your business is in the fashion/ retail industry, companies like Vogue, Boohoo, Zara, Topshop etc. all have social media pages/ profiles as well as individual designers like Olivier Rousteing, Karl Lagerfeld etc. Following their pages will give you access to who they follow and allow you to keep up with current trends and possibly network with similar small businesses.
- Hashtag! Hashtag! Hashtag!
I cannot STRESS enough just how important the hashtag in the 21st century. This sign # is effectively your key into the world of digital marketing. It allows you to find anything that has the same tag and, likewise, anyone can find your post/s if they search using the same tag as you. This means that people that weren’t even searching for your page could stumble across it and even become interested enough to follow you just by searching using the tag #england. Instagram is perfect for this as, by clicking on a tag, you are able to see more than one post at a time (all with visual aids! i.e. images and videos). “Instagram absolutely dominates when it comes to interactions per 1,000 followers” (Chaffey, 2017)http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/.
- Establish a customer base
Whether you are a student looking to make some extra money using your own skill set or graduate looking to get your business off the ground, social media can be used to help you build your customer base. However, in order to achieve larger coverage, you could also use word of mouth amongst your friends and social groups as well as creating some business cards and handing them out at events as a form of networking. (image taken from Instagram https://www.instagram.com/)
- Advertise your business accounts on your social accounts
One might be private and the other public but the thing they have in common is YOU! The people that follow you socially might not know about your business and therefore you can attract more customers by posting updates about your business account on your social account.
- Make use of YouTube!
If your business is fashion orientated, videos on YouTube showcasing your creative process or a catwalk of a model (could be one of your friends) wearing your clothes could help to boost traffic on all your social media platforms. Likewise, if you are a hairdresser or makeup artist, YouTube has proven to be the platform that beauty vloggers and bloggers get their start.
And that is pretty much it for today’s post – I hope some of you found it useful!
Here are some helpful links you:
11 Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Content: http://www.curata.com/blog/11-effective-ways-to-use-social-media-to-promote-your-content/
The new hybrid element of the promotion mix: http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Faulds/publication/222415599_Social_media_The_new_hybrid_element_of_the_promotion_mix/links/00463532845a0100af000000.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm3TF1REnm-30akDzmkHnRjwJS8ThQ&nossl=1&oi=scholarr&ved=0ahUKEwi05_vQpanTAhVqI8AKHbzUCUgQgAMILygCMAA
Users unite!: http://michaelhaenlein.com/Publications/Kaplan,%20Andreas%20-%20Users%20of%20the%20world,%20unite.pdf
Till next time! x