How Do Small Business Owners Succeed on Social Media?
Small business leaders are coming to understand the importance marketing has on their success. Read more about how social media can influence your business!
Do you have your own business or want to start yours? The prevalence of social media has accelerated college students starting their own businesses as it affordably allows individuals to access a large audience and promote products. Social media is a great platform to increase brand awareness, reach potential customers, and establish loyalty. So, how can you as a small business owner succeed in social media?
Social media offers equal opportunities for businesses, be it small or big, to attract their audiences and improve traffic. Once you gain the audience’s attention, you can lead them to the website or directly drive the sale. For those running social media accounts, it is essential to give the audience incentives to follow your accounts or see their content: posting viral content and offering humanistic interaction.
Making viral content is one of the most effective ways to achieve success on social media; it can also be user-generated content. Word of mouth is so powerful that people trust what they hear from others rather than the brands themselves. To increase brand awareness, it is essential to make people motivated to feature their products and increase exposure on social media. You can see tips to create visually-appealing content in Lauren's blog post.
It is also important to form a relationship with your audience and customers. Small businesses have a great advantage of focusing on individuals. They are more likely to foster connection with each customer than larger businesses such as by a personalized response. Showing that there is a real person behind the brand accounts and welcoming comments and questions will lead customers to feel that brands care about consumers and are credible, resulting in establishing customer loyalty.
It is indispensable to use social media to promote their products, especially for college student entrepreneurs. Not only just having the accounts but also maximizing the use of social media will contribute to the growth of your business. Do you want to increase your traffic?
Resources:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/01/25/why-small-businesses-and-startups-should-invest-in-social-media-marketing/amp/
https://www.quicksprout.com/social-media-for-small-business/
The Simple Brilliance of #OptOutside
Within the marketing industry, magic moments are what make brands great, and REI may have landed on another one.
ISAIAH CROOKS | OCT. 9, 2020
Within the marketing industry, magic moments are what make brands great, and REI may have landed on another one.
Recreational Equipment, Inc.– popularly known as REI– is an American retail and outdoor recreation services corporation. They cater to outdoor enthusiasts and outdoorsy fashion lovers, but also sell sporting goods, camping gear, and other outdoor equipment. If you love Patagonia, but can’t afford their clothes (like me) or love Bass Pro Shops, but are too suburban to shop there, then REI is the store for you.
This Black Friday, REI wants you to shop their products, but there’s one little problem: REI will be closing their stores on Black Friday and paying employees to spend time outside. And they want you to join them.
Following their #OptOutside campaign, REI is encouraging its customers to “tap into the joy, renewal, and connection that comes from spending time outside with friends and family.” The campaign is in its sixth year running and will undoubtedly continue to thrive. While no customer is allowed to physically shop in the store on Black Friday, they are certainly encouraged to visit in the preceding weeks. #OptOutside is an event, and no customer should be left behind.
What makes #OptOutside such a brilliant campaign is its simplicity and subtlety. It’s a campaign that relies on their audience to participate in the event and put their equipment to use. And this year REI may have found its magic moment that will make the event even more successful than it has been in past years. As the world endures “a divisive election season, the continued impacts of a legacy of racial injustice, a devastating wildfire and hurricane season worsened by an accelerating climate crisis, and a global pandemic,” #OptOutside has never been more relevant.
This Black Friday, instead of going out into the sea of masks at the mall in order to get your favorite discounted products, consider having a cute Friendsgiving picnic and #OptOutside.
SOURCE
https://www.rei.com/blog/rei-news/eric-artz-more-important-than-ever-before-we-optoutside-on-black-friday