It’s been just over a week since Facebook, Instagram & Whatsapp all went dark!
If you enjoyed the short break or were someone constantly refreshing your apps, it certainly caused a stir!
For many people, social media is a lifeline in business. It allows you to reach a huge audience, it provides a space to connect with and form a community. It acts as a sales tool for your latest offerings and more. However, after the recent problems we experienced many people began to question whether you can trust social media to market your business.
So, we’re diving in deep, we explore the incredible potential that social media provides your business and also what you should be wary of.
Social Media and its benefits
Reach a large audience
The potential is very real! After the recent updates of Instagram and the introduction of Reels, many people have seen their content go far and wide and by creating a viral piece of content. This has introduced them to a whole new cohort of followers and customers.
Create a community
Update your social media accounts on a regular basis! You’ll begin to see ‘supporters’ that like, comment and engage with nearly almost every piece of content you put out there. You ask a question on your Instagram stories and they respond, you put out a flash offer and they buy, you celebrate some success and they celebrate with you. These people are your community, your ideal clients, the people that help you keep your business afloat.
Promote your services/ products
You should be promoting a product or service in at least 20% of your posts. But be careful, as people get tired if it is too sales orientated. This rule applies to the content that you are putting out on a daily basis, the content that results in sales.
In addition to this, social media channels like Facebook and Instagram also allow you to advertise on their platforms . This allows you to expand your reach and promote your business to an audience which might not have otherwise seen you. Facebook advertising is designed to get your content in front of a specific audience. You get to choose this audience by age, gender, interests, online activity and so on. You need to be clear in knowing who your ideal audience is and what offers are going to appeal to them.
As you can see, the benefits that social media can offer are wide ranging. Many businesses have had great success in increasing their income and expanding their reach.
Outages
Just like the recent outage we experienced, there was no warning and absolutely nothing we could do when it happened. For those businesses that are reliant on social media to reach their audience and sell their offers, this was a very daunting time.
Social media users were left wondering:
- Will my account still be the same when it comes back on?
- Does my account still exist?
- Do my Facebook Ads go live again?
- How can I speak to my audience as I’d planned to go live?
It’s concerning how many questions were raised!
Top Tip
Have an SEO optimised website! Your business will be found with ease on search engines like Google.
Ownership
Not many people realise but they don’t own their social media accounts. The channels could literally shut them down at any point. Yep, that audience that you’ve spent years building could vanish overnight. Now, this isn’t a very frequent occurrence, but it does happen!
Top Tip
Have an email list to connect and engage with your audience if the worst did happen.
The opportunity that social media can provide your business is huge, however, you should always act with caution as you never know when things might get taken out of your control.
At Carrick Creative, we always recommend having a digital marketing plan that is made up of a number of different online strategies. Yep, think SEO, Email, Google Ads… they can all work together really well! If this latest blog has got you thinking you need to be doing more contact our friendly team today! we’ll help identify a cohesive strategy that is right for you and your business.
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