Use social media to grow your business

A marketing consultant, with Doux Desire consult, Mr. Abdul Latif Ibn Mohammed, popularly known as ‘Alim’ has admonished small businesses to use social media marketing to grow their businesses. He explains that ‘Social media marketing is a form of digital and internet marketing that requires creating and sharing professional or brand content on social media networks to achieve your marketing and branding goals. It involves the use of social media sites to create and raise visibility and promote Products and Services.  it also includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and other content that drives audience engagement.

In an interview with Gauge Network’s James, Alim noted, ‘that social media is a useful tool for establishing and building Social and Business networks. Social media marketing is often described as the use of social media platforms to connect with target audience to build brands, drive website traffic, and increase sales . This involves publishing superior content on your social media profiles, listening to feedback and engage followers, analyze results, and possibly run stronger advertisements.

Before a small business begins creating social media marketing content or campaigns, consider your business goals. As businesses, you need to establish a strategy to govern your social media activities. This will keep your campaign focused to your business needs and drive required growth. Starting a Social Media Marketing campaign without a strategy in mind is most likely to fail. There is a high tendency of diverting to personal content.

Alim, further explained that there are some key questions to consider when planning your Social Media Marketing Campaign;

1. What are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing? – Goals
2. Who are your target audience? customer profile
3. Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media? preferred social media handle
4. What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?

In Ghana, the major social media platforms (now) are Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat. There are several more social networking sites that are suitable for specific locations, target market, product, and service type. Profiling your customers leads you to know where to spend your resources. It is not prudent to use every social media platform. He insisted that they should use it to promote businesses.

Alim concluded by saying that most entrepreneurs hold smart devices with personal profiles on all social media handles but without a business profile. He recommended that one could have personal and business accounts. ‘in that way they socialize and make money as well’.

Alim promised to make another session to discuss the  risk and threats on social media and how to over come them.