Supercharge your social media

Chris Pepper, director of Time 54, explains how you can attract more leads through your social media marketing.

There are 2.8 billion social media users, which means social media marketing should be a key component of your business’s marketing strategy.

Whether you are looking to increase your sales, engagement levels, brand awareness, or increase your professional network, we’ve got four key tips to help supercharge your social media and attract more leads.

Select the right platform. Each social media platform has its own advantage and purpose, which means they should be used differently.

For example, if you are a B2B business, LinkedIn is a really good platform to connect with industry peers and increase your professional network. People buy people, and what better way to influence potential customers on LinkedIn than to create engaging content.

Pinterest and Instagram are very image-led and encourage sharing and interaction, which is perfect if you manufacture or supply aesthetically striking products in the interiors sector.

Think about your audience – where are they active, where do they search? – concentrating on the relevant platforms increases your chances of converting followers into customers.

We always recommend that you don’t spread yourself too thinly. Don’t just sign up to a platform because your competitor has a mass of followers, only to then only post and engage with the platform every few days. Consistent, high quality content is key. If you only concentrate on one or two platforms – but do it really well – you will get the best from your social media activities.

Set goals. What are you hoping to achieve from your social media activities? Are you looking to increase sales for a particular product range? Are you looking to increase enquiry levels? Are you looking to increase awareness within the marketplace? These are all questions you should be thinking about when undertaking your social media campaign.

To attract more leads from your social media campaign, make sure your content is original and engaging. Nobody likes to be sold to all of the time, so it’s a good idea to vary the content you publish.

Take time every month or quarter to analyse the performance of the social media campaign. Can you determine enquiries or sales that have resulted from social media activity? Has the campaign met the goals you set originally?

Create engaging content. While everyone wants to publish that one post that goes viral, your aim should be to publish great content that your audience will value. For example, thought leadership content relating to your industry, trends, technical pieces, and opinions.

Yes, post about your products and new product launches, but try to focus on their benefits they’ll bring to your customers rather than their specific technicalities. Due to the technical nature of the construction and interiors sectors, technicalities are important. Architects will specify a certain product based on its ability to satisfy the project requirements. But give your post a twist by stating the benefits to an architect of your product conforming to Building Regulations, eg, easier specification and confidence.

Also, focus on your brand and your core values. People buy people, not products/services. This is particularly relevant for the building product specification process or when designing interiors and selecting suitable products.

Create short video snippets on your thoughts on a wide range of topics from industry-related news, to providing a glowing testimonial for a client/supplier. Social media users want to see what’s behind a company’s branding or persona. If they like you and your content, you are likely to attract their enquiry and turn them into a customer.

Engage and interact. Be social. Don’t just constantly publish content with no regard to your audience and their content. Interact with their content. Comment what you think of their article on key industry trends. And if you like it, share it with your followers.

If you engage with your audience’s content, it will be reciprocated. And when this happens the reach of your social media posts will increase dramatically, and the likelihood of an upturn in the number of leads/enquiries will increase, as users will be influenced by the recommendation you receive.

www.time54.co.uk