Grow your business: Master the art of social media marketing

Well, according to research, 90% of all start-up businesses fail within the first year and only 50% make it into the fourth year. Through a number of training sessions that I have conducted, I have helped a handful of start-up businesses overcome the challenge of getting customers through their doors. Hopefully by applying some of the social media marketing strategies that I will articulate here, your business will reach the ground up and running.

It is no secret that the majority of modern business promoters are facing the massive challenge of sustaining their customers’ attention in an era characterized by boundless distractions. According to neuroscience, a person’s attention span is so severely scarce that the majority of adults do not finish a dull ad. The social media marketing strategies I am recommending for your business are based on a concept called attention economics which regards human attention as a scarce commodity.

But what really is social media marketing?
The Balance business website defines social media marketing as a way for a business to interact with their target markets over the internet via platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn to name just a few. The good news about social media marketing I have, is that no matter the industry you are in or the size of your business; you can still adopt social media marketing today and boost your sales revenues.

Strategies to get started and master social media marketing

Strategy 1: Specify your target audience
To avoid posing as a business jerk of all trades and trying to offer everything for everyone, you need to embrace the art of focusing. The first and most crucial aspect in social media marketing is for you to identify your target audience and familiarize with them. This will help you in structuring and designing your ads in the best possible way to grab the audiences’ attention.

Strategy 2: Create content that ignites your audiences’ imagination

As a matter of fact, I usually recommend three basic ways to small and start-up businesses when it comes to designing ads.

1. Create video ads
   Personally when it comes to the world of social media marketing, I believe that there is no greater substance than great content combined with irresistible motion.
   DISCLAIMER
   When designing video ads for your business, avoid overly prominent branding. A research conducted through the use of IET technology reviewed that viewers consistently stopped watching video ads at the moment in which brand logos appeared on the screen. You can overcome this by incorporating a technique called brand pulsing which was employed by Coca Cola for their “Happiness Factory” ad. It a technique of unobtrusively weaving brand images throughout an ad.

2. Make use of headline psychology
   No matter what’s the size of your business, headline psychology ensures that your social media ads grab the maximum attention of your target audience regardless of whom they are? Basically headline psychology consists of techniques of surprising and questioning your audience in a manner that completely draws their attention. I can take you through a free step by step training session on headline psychology; make sure to get the details at the end of this article.
   

3. Be short and precise
   I repeat, be short and precise. Whenever developing your ads whatever type of ad, please keep it in mind that there is no second chance to first impression. I always say to my associates, there are two scenarios in business, it’s either your make it or you break it, you sink or you swim, you float or you fly, the choice is yours. Your ads should grab the attention of your audiences in the first sentence of a text and or first 6 seconds of your video, if that’s not the case, guess what? Your ad has failed!
   

Why then should you start social media marketing?
Well the answers to this question probably require a whole marketing volume, but in short, it saves your business money. Social Media Marketing also makes it easier to for your business to grab improved audience insights. From my introductory marketing course at University, I cultured that effective marketing is grounded on the premises of feedback! By embracing Social Media Marketing, your business keeps pace with the dynamic needs of your target audiences and you get to know what they are saying so you can strategize to cater for their precise needs.

All that being said, it’s up to you whether to take your business to the next level or to let it gradually sink and get carried away by the wave of time. Remember in business the choice is yours to sink or swim, float or fly. Till we meet again…. Stay blessed!

Kudzai Munyukwa (@zimentrepreneur) is the founder of Anchors Business Agency (A.B.A), a team of enthusiastic young Zimbabwean entrepreneurs, business researchers and financial consultants. He is the author of “Sink or Swim, Exploring the power behind choices”