But is building and engaging an audience the limit, or are there other ways to capitalize on social media?
Nurturing your online relationship with your audience and consumers is always good for the bottom line, but actually turning a profit through these venues is proving to be an increasingly popular channel for revenue generation.
• From Small Starts Grows Brand Awareness
Everyone starts small in social media, but keep in mind that your online communities grow organically. And don’t box yourself in with just one social media outlet. Turn to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc - by reaching out to multiple channels you will reach those who prefer interactions in one channel versus another.
With all this tweeting and status updating, you are sure to build your brand awareness and improve your chances of customer interaction. So now that you have their attention, what’s next?
• Engage Your Audience
It is not enough to just broadcast your message; you need your social media connections to interact with your posts and with your company. Foster discussion with response provoking questions. There should be something for your audience to respond to or act upon. Now that you have your social media program in place, how do you convert that relationship to a sale?
• Encourage the Purchase
Whether it is a product or a service that you offer, coupon codes and special exclusive promotions will get the attention of your fans and followers. Encourage these to be shared, so your product offering goes viral. You can even reward this action by offering a coupon to the fan or follower who brings in a new member or customer.
Consider selling your products directly on facebook with the help of social commerce apps like 8thBridge or Payvment. You can also go the route of investing advertising dollars in ads on a social media site.
Or if you already have an audience, but no product or service to offer then consider becoming an affiliate and referring your audience to other companies. You could charge an advertising fee to feature an advertiser’s products or services in a banner ad or featured blog post, for example.
• Customer Service & Retention
Just because a sale has concluded, it doesn’t mean that a particular online relationship is done until the next purchase. Your social media interactions create the opportunity to keep your customers informed about your company and products, what’s in development, coming soon or being improved upon.
You will not always received raving reviews and love notes from adoring fans, but may instead find opportunities to address customer service concerns and improve your business, product, services or brand image through open interactions and thoughtful awareness.
But in general if someone follows your tweets, or likes your facebook page then they did so because they actually like you and they want to learn more and keep up with what is going on with you. So don’t disappoint - be sure to interact in addition to monetizing on your audience.
This article was prepared for you by Jacob Smith - a keyword strategy expert writing for SEOMAP.
Faizan Ahmad
About the Author:
This article is posted by Faizan the author and founder of TechSenser
This article is posted by Faizan the author and founder of TechSenser