One of the most common misconceptions about social media is the belief that the number of followers you have on Facebook is an important factor for success. While having a large fan base can be beneficial in certain situations, it is important to remember that it means very little if the followers are not part of your target audience. In fact, having a large number of irrelevant followers can actually hurt your social media presence by decreasing engagement and ultimately, reducing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Here’s an example – let’s say you own a wine shop that is focused on first educating about and then selling fine wine to people in the age bracket of 40 – 65. Having a bunch of 20 year olds that simply “like” your page will mean nothing. It will just clog up your account limiting your access to the audience who will convert to clients.
Here are just a few simple tips to help reach your audience through Target Marketing:
- Run Facebook Contests That Focus On Your Products and Services As The Prizes
If you run a Facebook contest, make sure the prizes are relevant to the products and/or services you offer.
If we use the wine company again as an example, it would be better to offer a Virtual “Wines of Italy” class or a wine related product over an iPad. Why? Because anyone would enter a contest for a free iPad but only those who genuinely are interested in wine would enter a contest for a free class.
2. Cater Facebook Ads to Reach Your Target Audience and Immediate Locale. If you are in a retail business this tool can be a huge opportunity to speak directly to your prospect. (Ask us about this tool here).
3. Encourage Target Audience Feedback through surveys, email campaigns, and social media polls. This is a great way to engage your clients and prospects to find out what their pain points are so you can provide the solution. Stay on top of your blog post comments, social media comments, and online reviews so you can respond quickly and answer any questions, concerns, or provide goodwill comments in return.
(If you find a negative review don’t panic. Check out our article 5 Tips to Manage Your Reputation here).
4. Create value and trust before you sell. Using social media as just another place to advertise is a mistake. Your prospects are checking out you and your business, oftentimes before they ever step into your shop. Creating a relationship based on the value you offer is the proper use of social media. The wine shop we’ve been talking about can certainly promote their weekly wine specials, but not at the expense of also engaging their target market with valuable information in addition to their offers.
The bottom line is this … by focusing your social media marketing towards specific audiences that want what you offer, and working to establish a relationship with them, you will be laying a foundation for the consistent growth of your business.
At Alchemy, we’ve been helping clients (like you) achieve their full growth potential. To learn more about our Core 5 and 3 Pak products visit the links below:
Core 5? Take me there!
3 Pak sounds interesting, let’s check it out!
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