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Is Your Business Ready To Embrace Social Media?

social media Kenya

Traditional methods of advertising are nowadays proving to be less effective and more expensive compared to social media strategies. And this has seen many small business owners join the social media bandwagon to publicize their businesses.

 
But does embracing social media guarantee positive results to your business?
 
No, it doesn't.
 
In fact studies show that most business owners who  join social media platforms do so with a lot zeal and energy but that energy soon fizzles out when they see no substantial results.
 
This of course does not spell doom to all businesses that opt to embrace social media. Quite a number of businesses have embraced social media and have turned out to be very successful.
 
If you study these successful social media adopters, you'll find that they employ certain strategies to guarantee success.
Here's a look at some of those strategies that will guarantee your business success as it embraces social media.
 
1. Determine the social media platform to use
 
social media in Kenya
Im:qablog
 
Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+ are some of the popular social media platforms that you can adopt for your business. But  does it mean that you have to embrace all of them just because they are poplar?
 
No, you don't. You are more likely to succeed with your social media strategy if you can narrow down to one or two more options. But how do you determine the best social media platform to use. Before choosing a social media platform, you should ask yourself some of these questions:
 
What are my goals?
 
Determine what you want to achieve by embracing social media. Do you want to interact more with your customers? Do you want to introduce your new product line to your customers etc.
 
Who is my target audience?
Determine your target audience? Determine their age group, their gender, their location and most important their favorite social media platform.
 
2. Create value to your audience
 
Once you've decided on what social media platform to use, you need to come up with valuable content for your audience. Don't make the fatal mistake of just "advertising" your products. Create value by sharing interesting and useful tips to your audience.
 
 
3. Engage with your audience
 
engage audience
Im: imgkid
Engagement is the fuel that drives social media. If you can't engage with audience you'll eventually lose them. And just how do you engage with your audience?
 
Ask them questions, comment on their what they've said. Tweet and re-tweet useful topics etc.
Don't ever make the fatal mistake of letting your audience battle it out on their own while you as the business owner sits back and does nothing.  Engage with them.
 
4. Come up with a posting frequency
 
Have you ever come across those sites that start with a bang by posting everyday without fail but a few weeks down the line they stop posting on a daily basis? How do you feel when you visit that Facebook page one day expecting to find fresh content as always only to be greeted with old content?
 
You feel ignored. You feel like the Facebook page owner is disgraceful. Generally it hurts and the best thing to do when you are ignored is to  find solace somewhere else where you'll feel appreciated. Right?
 
Yes, that's what happens when you erratically change your posting frequency.
 
Try come up with a posting frequency that best suits your time schedule and stick to it.  If you can post once everyday, then do just that. If you can post twice a week then please stick to that.
 
5.Track your performance
 
tracker
Im:cem
For those in social media, do you ever track your performance? Have you ever tracked the number of new customers you've gained via social media? Has the level of engagement gone up since you started using strategy X or Y?
 
These are some of the questions that you should ask yourself after a given period so as to know whether you're in the right track or not as regards your social media strategies. If the current strategies are doing you no good, re-evaluate and come up with something new. Do this until you find the right strategy.
 
 
Bottom line
 
Businesses that  successfully embrace social media often experience more customer engagement, generate more leads and increase their visibility ten fold. But unless you embrace social media with the right blue-print you are bound to be disappointed eventually.
 
Has you business adopted social media? What social media platforms do you use and is it impacting positively to your business?
 
About The Author
 
I'm Stephen Wameyo, a business and entrepreneurship enthusiast. I write about business, entrepreneurship and personal finances on my  BLOG.



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