Social Media and Email: Tactics for the Small Business Owner
When running a small business enterprise, you are in a position to wear different hats. From the CEO to the director of HR, you may find yourself functioning in many business roles simultaneously. As you shift from the managing director to the marketing agent, you face the most difficult question in every small business. How do I have my business marketed?
For most small business owners, marketing poses a great challenge. This is because data is vague and the options are so varied. For you to navigate towards successful marketing campaigns, there is no straight road ahead of you. It takes a patient heart to get the best way to market your particular small business. When limited resources are involved in the marketing campaigns, the challenges become awful.
For this reason, many small business owners always look at social media platforms as the best opportunity to spread the word about their marvelous services and fantastic products. They also need to be looking at email marketing as a way to connect with their audience. When you do it well, social media and email marketing can be great ways to market your product. Let’s look at the basic principles to help you launch numerous beneficial social media and email drip campaigns.
Quick Lesson: What is an Email Drip Campaign?
What is email drip marketing? Email drip marketing is a process of using a sequence of emails to “drip” relevant information and features to prospects and customers and takes them successfully through your organization’s sales funnel. The emails can be set up to send automated messages based on such “triggers” as a customer opting in to receive your emails, clicking through a call to action in an email, downloading a white paper, or subscribers making a purchase. The trigger can also be time-based (e.g., can be scheduled out once a day or once a week for a certain length of time).
Be Discriminating
Run for the hills if someone tells you to create numerous accounts on all channels if you don’t plan on utilizing them. While you may wish to own an account in case you want to branch out, you will hurt your brand if you set up dormant accounts that will never be active. Instead of activating your website with dormant accounts, the end result will look like you are out of business. Same goes for your email newsletter, make sure you are active on that and you are adding value with each email.
Be Strategic
Never sign up for social media accounts for nothing. Be sure to consider the target audience. If you are targeting older customers, don’t waste your time with Snapchat accounts. If you are selling services with the less visual appeal, you won’t benefit most from Instagram. Think about your target audience and their appropriate channel. Put yourself in the place of the customer. What do they want, when do they want it, how do they want it? What you decide that deliver! In many occasions, you will get first-time clients who will never come back to your business if the first impression is not appealing.
Be Aware
While you are learning, it is guaranteed that you will make some mistakes. You are a beginner in social media and email channels and their norms. Moreover, pay attention to what people speak about your brand. Be sure to also look for the brands you admire. For you to succeed, never engage in spamming others with the useless messages. You should also desist from talking about yourself constantly.
Be Responsive
Resist the temptation to automate or schedule your social media channel or account. However, automate your emails. Automating or setting up triggered emails will save you time and increase email engagement. The main point in social media is to have a two-way communication to facilitate perfect interaction between your business and your audience. Your followers and audience have to know that you are listening for your brand to make a splash in social media. Be sure to respond to comments as much as they pop up. Engage yourself in business posts and their comments. Be part of your business community. If you are looking for feedback from a purchase, directly email the customer and explain your role in the company and they are more likely to respond.
Be Quality-Conscious
In social media and email marketing, the rule of the thumb is that quality trumps quantity. Your social media and email efforts should be focused on customer engagements and brand awareness. You will turn off customers with cheap brands if you put low-quality posts. There is nothing as bad as losing your clients after spending lots of money to gain their attention in social media and email drip marketing.
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