The number of social media users has reached a record high worldwide, and many businesses have taken notice. Social networks can connect small businesses with a wide range of potential customers. Business owners can use this pipeline of prospects to build brand awareness and, over time, drive leads down the sales funnel.
However, a social media-based customer acquisition strategy doesn't come to fruition overnight. Businesses need to first build a base of followers and then create content that will be of interest to those followers. More importantly, they need to actively engage those social network users to start online conversations that will hopefully lead to conversions down the road.
Achieving all of these objectives requires creative social media strategies. Business owners will have to facilitate content creation efforts, organize creative user-generated content campaigns that will turn everyday users into brand advocates, and actually take the time to interact with their target audience by responding to comments and addressing queries and complaints that may arise on the channel.
While this all may sound time-consuming, social media is a relatively cost-effective marketing and sales tool. Success is mainly a matter of understanding the most effective practices and putting them into action.
When leveraged strategically, a social media platform is an affordable avenue to highly successful customer acquisition campaigns. In turn, social media for small businesses has the potential to become a powerful facilitator of company growth.