In the third part of its series of digital marketing tips, Stroma Certification looks at the value of smaller businesses utilising social media effectively.
Once thought of as a passing trend, social media has now grown to become one of the most common forms of communication integrated into our everyday routines. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook have evolved into marketing platforms, enabling electricians to promote their business to consumers.
Social media is widely used across the UK, with 63% of adults participating in social networking every day in 2016 (source: Office for National Statistics). With such a vast age range of the UK adult population accessing the internet on a daily basis, therefore, it’s hard to ignore the benefits of creating social media profiles to help advertise your services.
What social media platforms are available?
There are a number of social media platforms available to you and your business, though some are more complicated than others. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are fairly simple once you’ve explored their functions and these networking sites allow you to post updates on your profile and follow and respond to customers and contacts sharing their own updates.
Via your social media account, you can share content, images, links, videos and more to help you promote your business. You can also communicate directly with customers and offer advice and information about your business to convert prospective customers into active clients.
Accessing your customers
With such a high volume of users actively using social media networks on a daily basis, having your own profiles to promote your business is becoming one of the most effective ways to target your customers and generate interest in your services. Also, many users are now accessing their social media accounts whilst on the go, via apps on mobile devices, enabling you to connect with your customers on a more regular basis.
Customers can follow your account and like and share the updates you post. Once a customer engages with your profile, you’ll receive an instant notification on your mobile or desktop device, providing you with an opportunity to respond and connect with that customer. Updating your social media profile regularly with posts to promote your business, and responding to potential customers regarding their electrical queries, can help you increase your business potential and generate more bookings online.
Business networking
Social media is an effective method of interacting with your industry and other likeminded professionals and businesses. You can find and share information instantly by searching for other companies, and you can join industry discussions and follow trends and hashtags to find certain topic discussions.
For example, LinkedIn allows you to start a discussion from your company page, enabling you to invite others to join and offer advice on the industry.
Subscribing, following and liking other similar accounts also gives you the opportunity to stay up-to-date with your competition and help you identify what it is you can do to stand out in the competitive electrical market.
You can find Stroma on the following social media sites: Twitter: twitter.com/StromaCert Facebook: facebook.com/StromaCertification LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stroma
Brand identity
Managing social media accounts for your business can validate your business and its brand. The posts that you share, as well as the accounts you like and follow, can reflect your company standing and the industries and issues which concern you.
Social media can be a fun way to run campaigns and competitions to demonstrate your personality and generate more interest and followers of your business. You’re able to provide a voice for your company and shape the principles that you wish to portray for your business.
Professionalism
Whilst social media accounts can be beneficial for your business, they’re also very open, subjective platforms which can often welcome unwanted criticism from other users. It’s important to maintain an air of professionalism when promoting your business and offering advice in order to avoid negative comments on your profile and other forums.
Monitoring your social media
Whilst most social media accounts are cost-effective (membership is often free), maintaining your profiles can be time-consuming. We recommend preparing your social media campaigns in advance, and scheduling them to be posted. This can be a lot more effective to monitor, rather than drafting new posts every day, and there are a number of social media management applications that can help you to do this.
