Starting social media-based businesses is now more popular than ever due to the low barrier to entry, low overhead costs, and wide potential reach. However, many fresh online entrepreneurs quickly find out that social media is a tough place and that it takes a lot of work to build even modest gains.
To succeed in social media, businesses need to employ a strategic approach that conserves their financial resources and purposefully aids in reaching strategic business goals. Here, we’ll look at 11 critical strategies for sustainably growing your business on social media.
1) Use Payment Links
Letting your customers pay via an online payment link removes a common friction point from the payment process, empowering your business to establish better cash flow as well as more stable liquidity. Maya Payment Links has become the most popular link payment solution for Philippine-based startups and SMEs (small-to-medium enterprises) thanks to its ease of use and ability to accommodate a wide range of payment options, including credit and debit cards, QR Ph codes, and popular e-wallets like Maya, GCash, ShopeePay, and GrabPay. Once Maya Payment links is enabled, all you have to do is share your custom link for payment on any messaging app that enables live links and your customer will be able to complete transactions with their preferred payment method.
2) Integrate Other Marketing Channels
Having your own e-commerce website, a store in a popular online marketplace, or even a small physical branch to display your items can help increase trust and visibility for your business. While managing multiple channels might be more challenging than focusing on just one, the synergy and added growth potential that comes from offering customers an omnichannel experience is usually worth the effort.
3) Run Giveaways and Other Promos
Attention spans are limited on social media, and promotions are the simplest way to keep people hooked. Giveaways are especially worth considering as they can put your products out in the real world and raise your brand’s profile.
4) Collaborate with Other Brands
Collaborations with other brands can build your credibility and help it reach new audiences. The key is to find partner brands that don’t directly compete with you but also have a customer base that strongly overlaps with your own.
5) Team Up with Key Influencers
When done well, influencer marketing can build your credibility and help your brand reach new audiences. Identify key individuals who fit your niche and collaborate with them to produce content that promotes your business.
6) Use Hashtags
Hashtags are useful for both tracking your posts and helping potential customers find your products. Take time to research relevant hashtags and consistently integrate them into your posts.
7) Leverage Stories and Reels
While shares made through stories are temporary, they tend to reach larger audiences compared to regular posts. Post relevant stories regularly to keep your brand’s profile and engagement in front of your potential customers. As a more permanent alternative, also explore reels, which can be shared across platforms like Facebook and TikTok.
8) Monitor, Measure, and Readjust
Not all your social media campaigns will be equally effective at converting customers. For that reason, it’s important to keep track of how well your different strategies are doing so that you can adjust your approach. Familiarize yourself with the different analytics tools offered by your social media platforms and leverage useful 3rd party tools that can broaden your insights into customer behavior.
9) Actively Engage with Your Audience
Regular audience engagement is absolutely key when it comes to running a social media-based business. Brands that regularly respond to comments and DMs will do much better than those that don’t. Allocate sufficient time to respond to customer queries on your platforms and try to respond to everything within a day to avoid losing potential customers. Additionally, avoid using generic templated replies when possible to help maintain your trust and authenticity.
10) Consider Creating Free Content
Social media platforms are designed for content sharing. By creating shareable, quality content that aligns with your business’s goals, you’ll not only increase your brand’s reach but you’ll also improve its audience engagement, ultimately increasing your brand’s value and reducing the marketing budget you need to complete each sale. Content creation for social media can take up much of your time, so consider hiring full-time content creation specialists or outsourcing part of your content creation pipeline.
11) Be Authentic
When it comes to social media, the best thing you can be is yourself. Authenticity builds trust and encourages engagement, ultimately raising your brand’s online profile. Bolster that authenticity with transparency and you’ll soon have a level of trust that even major brands will envy.
Elevate In-Store Customer Experiences with Payment Links
Payment Links is a hassle-free payment link solution for boosting your social media-based business’s cash flow and growth potential. Simply share your online payment link to allow your customers to pay through QR Ph codes, credit or debit cards, or e-wallets. Create a Maya Business Manager account and start sending Payment Links to customers over their preferred messaging apps and social media platforms.
Creating a Maya Business account also entitles you to unique offers like the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle. The Maya 1-2-3 Grow is specially designed to help small businesses grow faster through a 1% merchant discount rate (MDR) for QR Ph transactions completed with Maya Business products like Maya Payment links. This comes out to around PHP 14,600 in savings for every PHP 1M in sales. Moreover, as part of the bundle, having a Maya Business Deposit account as your settlement account also lets you enjoy free fund transfers via InstaPay and PesoNET, as well as a generous 2.5% p.a. interest on your account. This translates to PHP 25,000 in earnings on a PHP 1 million deposit. The Maya 1-2-3 Grow promo also qualifies you for extra funding through a Maya Flexi Loan of up to PHP 2 million within just 3 months from onboarding, giving you the funds you need to cover emergencies or to expand your business. Create a Maya Business account today to take advantage of growth opportunities like Maya 1-2-3 Grow and to enjoy seamless payment solutions like Maya Payment Links.
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Maya is powered by the country's only end-to-end digital payments company Maya Philippines, Inc. and Maya Bank, Inc. for digital banking services. Maya Philippines, Inc. and Maya Bank, Inc. are regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
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