Helping Small Businesses Grow
January 29, 2013 Social Media / Strategy
As a small organisation, you have to be careful where your resources are allocated both financially and manpower. Though 80% of sales orders derive from phone calls or e-mails for B2B organisations, your website is a primary source for clients to gather information and is a great sales lead tool. Having case studies, testimonials, client portfolio, an understanding of business practices, even pricing can give even the smallest organisation a competitive advantage.
Start with a Website
Once the customers have landed on your website it is important to create a User Experience that is easy to navigate and encourage customer convertion. Having a good website, with clear images and easy navigation is a good first step.
Add e-commerce functionality
With customers becoming more digitally savvy, having an e-commerce functionality added to your website is a step further to allow the customers to buy from the comfort of their home.
Use Social Media
But how do you get clients to your website? And how do you engage with your customers creating accountability, giving them the “trust” factor? An effective brand interaction method is using Social Media. However, using Social Media the wrong way could damage brand loyalty. First step to good Social Media practices is to give something in return to prospect clients for i.e: Good Content, Coupons, Offers or Customer Service. If the customers believes the brand cares, the customers are more likely to follow your brand and evidently visit your website.
Brand Reinforcement
Today, customer are more conscious about their purchases. They want to feel connected to the brand. Knowing that the brand cares more than just for their pocket. If you’re a restaurant or a retailer, customer want to read reviews before their purchase, gaining trust and brand reinforcement. Curating your reviews presents the brand as caring and customer-centric. In return, the organisation derives link building, customer engagement and User Generated Content.
Use Social Media to Improve Customer Service
Building the brand might start with a logo. But remember, customers want to feel emotionally connected to the brand. And what better way to do this than using Social Media. Share your milestone, customers stories / brand experiences, involve customers, give them something valuable in return for their time and understand how to use social media to improve customer service.
Converting Visitors to Customers
With so many ways to convert a site visitor into paying customers, which route are you taking? A visitor might land on your website, but sometimes multiple brand engagement is required to convert the user. Great content, offers, competitions, free shipping and give aways are a few things that can be planned into your digital campaign and encourage the visitor to become a paying customer.