Social Media: Your Free Marketing & Sales Tool

In the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 94% of respondents use social media to market their businesses. If you are like the savvy women entrepreneurs in Westchester and globally, you also have been using social media to market your business. Whether you are a new entrepreneur just starting and launching your business or been in business for multiple years, you can benefit from tools that are free. 

Today, to be successful in business and communications, women business owners are required to be visionary and see their business from a 360 degree angle daily. It is all about how one thinks and strategizes and not simply tactical execution. A successful female entrepreneur is an expert in their business, its competition, consumers, employees and issues. Social media can help you do that, by helping you communicate with customers, study your competition and become an expert in your industry.

Listen, monitor and learn.

Social Media is a listening and monitoring tool. With the proper set-up, your dashboard can become your listening and customer service center. By building your community and listening to potential customers as well as loyal fans, you can take advantage of sales opportunities you didn’t even know existed. You are able to gauge the interests and needs of your audience and provide services and resources that can assist them. You can also keep tabs on what your competition is doing, in order to ensure that you are providing the best service and added value to your customers.


Manage your community.

There is no better time like the present to jump in and beginning engaging with customers before, during and after they make a purchase for your product or service. Engage with customers before the sale by suggesting a product that will benefit them. Engage during sale and acknowledge the transaction and create content that will help the customer make their decision. By bringing information to them and keeping them engaged, you are more likely to gain a loyal fan instead of a one-time customer.

Follow-up.

After a sale or an event, reach out to your customers and attendees to ensure that they are satisfied with your product or service. Provide them the opportunity to respond to their experience and give you feedback and testimonials. By staying in touch via social media, you create a passive dialogue with you customers, build awareness and stay top of mind. Social media is a faster way to get in touch and you can cut through the clutter that an email might not be able to. There are many tactics that you can use to do this, whether a Facebook group, a twitter hashtag or comments on your blog. There are many ways to continue connecting and building relationships instead of making your sales process a one-time affair. 

By using social media as a sales and marketing tool, you should be able to build rapport with your audience so that the next time a customer needs a product, they should be well-informed and automatically think of your business for their needs.