Finding qualified buyers is a very real challenge for businesses, especially for small businesses that don’t get the same name recognition as the Walmarts of the world. Waiting for your next customer to simply walk through your front door is not really enough in today’s market. You need to be proactive and seek your customers out.
To find out where your next customer is hiding, keep reading below.
Your Next Customer is Hiding Somewhere on Social Media
Social media and social networking sites have been an absolute game changer for businesses. Social sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. are filled with literally billions of users. In June 2017, Facebook announced that they had reached 2 billion active monthly users.
Based on recent surveys and research, 92% of marketers say social media is important for their business and 90% of markets said that social media increased their overall exposure. Additionally, 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits directly from using social media for their business.
An agency called Five by Five recently released a report showing that 74% of marketers in the U.S., U.K., and Australia prioritize social media in their top five launch communication channels. In the U.S. and U.K. particularly, marketers prefer social media over all other channels concerning product launches.
Based on this information, it is clear to see that effectively using social media to find new customers can be extremely successful. So how do you go about using social media to find your next customer? What social networking platform should you start with?
Starting Off
It should be clear that you need to begin using social media if you haven’t already or at least ramp up your social media marketing efforts in order to find your next customer. If you are not sure where to begin, start with Facebook. They have the largest amount of users, which means you will definitely be able to reach a good portion of your target market on this platform.
The Pew Research Center found that 72% of adult internet users use Facebook. Of that group, 70% log in daily and 43% do so several times a day. In the same report, they mention that Facebook is still the most popular social media website in America and that nearly 80% of Americans online use Facebook.
The numbers don’t lie. Facebook should definitely be considered as your primary platform for your social media marketing strategy.
Using Facebook to Find Your Customers
Now that you know your ideal prospects can be found on Facebook, you can create strategies to begin finding them and converting them to customers. One strategy you should consider is the use of Facebook Ads to target your prospects.
Facebook allows you to build ads directly into the social networking platform. They also provide the ability to target individual users by offering a wide variety of demographics to choose from. They make it very simple and relatively user-friendly.
Not only can you target your exact audience within Facebook, but you can also create multiple types of ads on the site. For example, you can post ads with a photo, a video, a carousel (multiple photos or videos in a single post which is great for mobile applications), a slideshow, or something they call a collection which helps showcase your products. You can also post the ads in various formats depending on your overall goals.
Finally, Facebook ads allow you to choose a placement for your ad and set a specific budget. They also offer other strong analytical tools to help you measure the effectiveness of your ads so you can be more successful. You can dive even further beyond Facebook ads by using Audience Insights. Facebook has created this tool to help marketers learn more about their target audience. You can see more information about audience insights here.
Using Facebook Ads to Overcome Marketing Challenges
When using Facebook for business, there are some common challenges marketers face. According to The Social Marketing Trends Report, many marketers faced three main challenges:
- Measuring ROI
- Tying Social Activities to Business Outcomes
- Developing a Social Media Strategy
Using Facebook and their advertisement options can help overcome some of these challenges.
Measuring ROI is obviously very important for businesses, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Facebook offers reports on your ads, helping to more accurately measure your response rate, conversions, etc.
Facebook also allows marketers to use conversion pixels within ads. These conversion pixels enable you to track customers that visit your website via your posted ad to see if they register or actually complete a purchase. By using conversion pixels, you can see if your ads and overall marketing strategy are meeting your specific business outcomes.
Finally, all of the analytical tools and reports generated by Facebook can help you tweak your current ads and marketing strategy to see what works and what does not. This will enable you to create a more effective social media strategy moving forward.
Need Additional Help?
Your next customers are out there somewhere – and likely they’re on social media. You can find them by using targeted ads and by tracking your effectiveness.
If this seems overwhelming and you need guidance, seek out some expert marketing consultants to eliminate some of the guesswork. Connect with us on Facebook as well to get more valuable content.
Leave some comments on how you utilize Facebook for your marketing strategy and advertisements.
What’s working for you? What mistakes can you share that we all should avoid?
