Can social media really bring in revenue?

The role of social media in marketing has increased drastically over the last few years. Companies have the ability to see their following grow and enjoy a sneak-peak into the lives of this following.

If this is the future, how do we monetize it? Can social media bring in revenue?

Don’t be deceived, social media is exactly that – a place of social engagement. Prospects follow you, because when they need your products or services, they want to engage with you socially.

Increasingly, marketers have shifted their focus to the obstacle that now remains; how do you turn social followers into paying customers.

(A fun fact: 1 out of 5 Business-to-Business marketers generate revenue via social media. 1 out of 3 Business-to-Consumer marketers generate revenue via social media.)

The power of social media is its streamlined advertising capabilities. It allows you to identify your ideal consumer accurately. The following attributes explain how using social media will result in increased revenues after you’ve identified these consumers.

**You can engage with your customers in a special way**

With social media, you have the ability to provide each one of your customers with a personalized experience.

You can ask questions and answer theirs.

By offering your social media following special discounts and promotions that are not available anywhere else, you create an atmosphere of appreciation and desire.

Get them to your website and you’re good to go

To really bring in revenue with social media you need to:

Gain a following
Engage with them
Get them to your website to buy things!

Social media can make potential buyers excited about your offering. It creates a curiosity in followers. If you can guide them to your website, in order to satisfy their newly discovered curiosity, you will have new buyers instantly.

It’s like a search engine for social media posts

With social media, everything is on display to the public. When people want a product, they will be posting about it, hoping to find someone who can help them.

There are services available that filter through such posts, searching for relevant keywords. By using a service like this, you can find qualified clients instantly.

Use social media effectively

The crux of the matter is that you need to be active on social media.

Your focus needs to be on creating excitement and expectancy about your product or company. You need to make people so curious that they can’t help but visit your website.

And, don’t forget the customer service… Prompt, positive, and promising responses to customer inquiries will leave a good and lasting impression.

Running a business and a social media presence – both as effectively as possible – isn’t easy. We understand that having an active social media presence requires a lot of maintenance.

At Mirror Marketing, we are the experts in social media management and marketing. Contact us today!

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a comment 🙂

Get more bang for your communications buck

“Fifty per cent of advertising works,” goes the industry saying. “The question is: which 50 per cent?”

In other words, no one can predict exactly what an audience will read, click on, forward or respond to.

However, a few basic tips can help shift the odds in your favor.

KISS your audience – Keep It Short & Sweet

Attention spans are decreasing, while reading off small screens is increasing, so large solid blocks of text don’t cut it. You have about five seconds to catch a reader’s attention with your heading and lead sentence(s). Think of them as a Tweet and place your main message clearly up top. Don’t make reading content a treasure hunt for meaning.

Use simple words. Get a job, instead of “achieve an employment situation.” Keep sentences below 25 words. One thought per sentence. Don’t ramble on. Use the online Flesch Readability Test to check how easy your text is to understand.

Show don’t tell
Go for concrete descriptions rather than abstract terms and use strong verbs.

For example:
Participants in last Sunday’s fun run for charity were hindered by bad weather.

Better:
Charity fun runners last Sunday battled heavy rain and icy winds.

It’s shorter, more graphic, the verb is stronger and the ‘victims’ are turned into ‘heroes.’

Appeal to the senses, give examples and use language that fits the subject.

Version 1
The Rio Café in the Plateau is known as a great place for cool ambiance, good coffee and a venue where famous musicians gather to relax.

It’s all a bit vague. What’s “cool ambiance?” Who are the “famous musicians?”

Version 2
The sounds of Miles Davis mingle with the smell of Brazilian espresso at Leonard Cohen’s favourite hangout, the Rio Café on Rachel Street.

Paints a picture, appeals to two senses and provides details. (The Rio Café is made up, but you can see what I mean.)

What’s in it for me?

Think of what your audience wants to hear rather than what you want to say.

For example:
We are pleased to announce the opening of our new hardware store in NDG.

Most readers probably don’t care whether you’re “pleased” or not, but they might show more interest if you offer to improve their lives:

Revised message:
New NDG hardware store will save locals long car trips just to buy a few screws.

Note that the main keywords (New NDG hardware store) have moved to the top left of the text, where people start reading first. Also the revised version contains more of the vital 5Ws: Who, What, Where, When & Why.

These are just a few tips to get you started — more to come

Whether it’s a website, social media, a brochure, video, ad or flyer, Mirror Marketing’s team of experts can help kick start your efforts to get more bang for your communication buck.

Watch out for my next blog, about the Elevator Speech: the 60-second sales secret used by startups, job seekers, Dragons Den hopefuls and crowd funders.

Richard Andrews is a Montreal-based media consultant, freelance writer and PR lecturer who has also worked in Australia, China, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.