Do you know where your customers are? It’s easy to say “Be Where Your Customers Are”, but how do you find them?
ASK
Sometimes the most obvious way of finding out where your customers are hanging out is the most overlooked option. Ask Them.
HINT: Do you have a form on your website? An email newsletter or a shopping cart perhaps? In addition to asking for your customer’s name, address, and email address…add a field for Twitter, Facebook, or Linked In.
Facebook now offers the ability to do research in the form of polls on group pages. Join some groups and ask your customers or potential customers some strategic questions.
- What social channels do you use?
- Why have you joined social media?
- What do you or your company aim to achieve with social media?
- What problems can you help customers solve?
- What type of content are customers interested in?
- What resources can you share with your customers?
NETWORKS
Here is a great article that helps you to find out where your customers are hanging out online. To optimize your social media marketing efforts, it’s important to know who your customers are and which social networks they spend their time on.
In this article you’ll discover how to connect with your target audience on social media.
SHARING
Most email service providers give you the option of easily adding sharing tools to your email correspondence. You can the ability for email/eblast recipients to share content on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and many other social platforms. You can even run a report to show which of your subscribers clicked your Twitter link or shared content on Facebook. Google your service provider to find out how to add social share buttons and links to your emails. Here are two articles how to do just that, on the popular email service sites: Constant Contact and Mail Chimp.
Constant Contact https://blogs.constantcontact.com/integrate-social-media/
Mail Chimp https://mailchimp.com/features/social-sharing/
Once you have the buttons installed, and can review reports from the service providers. Presto! You will know which social medias are attracting your customers.
INVITATION
Twitter, Facebook and other social medias have added functionality that allows you to see if your email contacts are using their services. And you can invite them to connect with you. You can utilize this for your business by uploading your customer email list.
Facebook: Click on the “Contacts” link found in the upper left part of the page. Click on the “More” button to open a menu and select “Export” from the drop-down menu. Select the email addresses you want to include by the group you have assigned them in Gmail, or leave the settings the same to export the entire contact list. https://www.facebook.com/help/212291088790957
Twitter: You can find your friends on Twitter by importing contacts lists from other services — such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, and Hotmail — that you already use. Twitter will let you know who among your contacts are already busily tweeting away as registered Twitterers. http://www.dummies.com/social-media/twitter/how-to-import-contact-lists-to-twitter/
To find your customers on social media, it may feel a bit like detective work. But it’s totally worth the effort. Social media can be the equalizer between small and large companies; leveling the playing field in a very cost-effective manner. You will need a strong web presence, including a strong website, optimized with the right words and phrases. And a consistent branding effort across at least one of the major social media platforms. You will see an immediate benefit in the low-cost benefits to this type of advertising, as compared to other traditional methods, such as newspaper or billboard ads. You just need to take advantage of the are or low-cost opportunities that social media provides. You will have to create content and post information that will keep your customers engaged, but with this technique, even a small business can have a BIG BRAND.
