Is it Necessary for Small Business Marketers to Go Social?

It is not easy to run a small business because there are innumerable hurdles, which a marketer has to encounter. Although the main element of an enterprise is to possess strong business insights, marketing is another factor that requires attention for keeping it afloat. The traditional marketing techniques revolve around press releases, PR and posting of advertisements. Big corporations in Ireland usually spend lump sum amounts on these marketing methods but for the small businesses, it is difficult. The reason behind the complication is the budget constraint faced by them from the beginning.

Where there is a will, there is a way

Small business owners operating in Ireland believe in the phrase, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Therefore, they have found out a cost effective way by which they can promote their products. This technique refers to the efficient utilisation of social media platforms. In the informal language, it is termed as Social Media Marketing (SMM). Since it takes less of capital to market the products and suits the low budgeted businesses, it has emerged as a popular device for SMEs (Small and medium Enterprises). Even the large corporations have started applying SMM for endorsing their products and services. It has been done for decreasing the cost and widening the profit margin.

What does Social Media Marketing mean?

In short, social media marketing is defined as a kind of internet marketing, which utilises different types of social media networks. These are aimed at enhancing communication with customers and other external stakeholders towards the achievement of a branding goal. In order to avoid the conventional methods of marketing and adapt to the new ones, companies are increasingly applying social media marketing. They are continuously sharing their content on the social media pages and posting their videos. For promoting their products, they are taking the assistance of graphics and images.

How to start Social Media Marketing?

For taking proper advantage of it, there is a requirement to create suitable social media campaign. However, before doing it, businesses functioning in Ireland, need to concentrate on a goal. The act of initiating an SMM campaign without the presence of a social strategy is harmful. It depicts a situation of operating an aircraft sans a compass. The outcome of such an activity is generally a crash. Therefore, before launching the campaign, business operators need to use their brain to determine their exact targets and the outcome of using SMM. Other than these, business heads require setting their target audience and locate them. Apart from these steps, the preparation of message that will be delivered to them should also be fixed. Hence, the mentioned issues have to be settled before venturing into SMM.

Achievable objectives through SMM

• Website traffic
• Brand identity and brand association
• Proper communication with target audience
• Conversions
• Brand awareness

Tips on SMM

• Research on keywords has still not lost its worth because it is popular among the target audience.
• Content is of sole importance for conducting social media campaigns. Unique content with the presence of useful information can help you in attracting your target audience. Apart from text, additions of social media images and videos relating to the product or service can create a gripping content.
• Planning is of sole importance before starting up an SMM campaign. A well thought out SMM campaign generates the desired outcome quickly and effectively.
• Steadiness in the brand image is highly significant in the course of executing SMM campaign. Through social media platforms, a brand image can be enhanced. Although, there are differences in way of expression for each of these platforms, business heads need to ensure that brand identity remains unchanged.
• Blogging is nothing but a marketing tool allowing individuals to share a huge amount of information with the readers. Consequently, it is motivated in SMM.

Social Media Platforms

• Facebook- Active users of this platform has exceeded 1.23 billion. Facebook provides its users with the chance to launch their business pages and post appropriate content for their targeted audiences. Business operators also enjoy the opportunity to interact with their potential and existing customers through this platform.
• Twitter- This SMM tool allows the business users to post their updates and the added advantage is getting followers after following the tweets of others.
• Pinterest- Retail sectors are largely benefited from this SMM platform because of its image-centred characteristics.
• Google+ - The users of this SMM platform enjoy the advantage of dividing their followers. Consequently, selected messages can be sent to specific groups for promotional purposes as and when required.
• LinkedIn- It is one of the most skilful SMM platforms where customers can be convinced of providing a recommendation on their profiles. This act has a chance of making businesses highly credible in front of the new customers.
• YouTube- It usually emerges as a powerful tool for SMM where business operators develop videos. “How-To” videos are the most helpful ones for marketers.

Conclusion:

The post will be supportive for all those individuals in Ireland who are not aware of the importance of going social with small businesses. Thus, it will assist small businesses in enjoying the multiple benefits provided by social media marketing