Engage First, Sell Second

Smart marketing is not about following trends to sell products in an effective manner. Smart marketing is all about keeping step with the changing technology and staying ahead of the trends to be able to anticipate the next big thing. With the marketing landscape changing at the speed of technology, it is only prudent to align the marketing strategies to fit the current requirements. Small businesses need to have an even better thought out marketing strategy to weed out competition. This is because small businesses face direct competition from immediate competitors and the competition is generally neck to neck. The business that finds favor with the audience wins in this case and is thus rewarded with increased sales and customer trust. Social media gives enough flexibility to marketers to create short-term marketing campaigns that are in line with the immediate trends. Various creative social media marketing ideas for small businesses are employed to achieve the goal of engaging the target audience and helping it communicate with your brand.

Why is Engagement Important?

People tend to do business with organizations that they trust. In order to build that trust, a certain level of interaction between the customer and the business owner is necessary. Social media provides an excellent platform to businesses to build relations with their audience. Prospective customers decide on whether or not they’ll be inclined to do business with you on the basis of what kind of reviews your brand has generated, its relation with its previous customers, and the way it has been handling crisis situations for its clients. When they get satisfaction on these important issues, they move ahead and decide to trust the brand. A dead social page or very limited activity on the social media page clearly indicates that the company does not believe in keeping good customer relations. This leads to mistrust even before the prospective client has checked out or bought the product.

Good customer relations are a part of the marketing strategy these days and are as crucial as any other marketing activity. Word of mouth travels faster than light in the age of technology and creates impressions about the brand in the person’s mind. A good impression leads to conversions whereas a bad review can harm the business to an extent.

Engaging customers on the social sites also gives the business owner a peek into the customer’s lifestyles, desires, and preferences. He is then able to modify his products or services based on this data. In addition to this, it gives him an opportunity to subtly sell his product and be the Good Samaritan to earn the trust of customers. It makes the work fun, and serving customers gets easier. It also helps draw a larger crowd to the business.