Perception is everything in business. Take large companies. Often, by virtue of their size, they convey competence and stability, which is invaluable when it comes to attracting and retaining customers.
However, if you’re not a big brand, how do you make a big impression? What if you are a start-up, or a small business? How do you go about getting noticed by the people you want to do business with?
Step in Social Media. Social media advertising gives you the opportunity to dictate how people perceive your brand, and it’s relatively easy to present yourself as a bigger, better version of what you are.
Here are five tips to make yourself and your business look like a big deal, worth a further look:
1. Get your social profiles in order
Get your social profiles across LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc in order. Ensure there is consistency in the content for each (in your profile), and be sure to use high quality imagery that portrays the image you are trying to project accurately.
Be clear and concise about what you offer, and what makes you different. Be sure it reads well, and isn’t overly verbose, or too light on detail. Seek input and feedback from those around you, to help edit and refine it.
2. Target specific people with your ads
Want to work with a specific company? Do your homework, find out a number of specific people and their roles at that business, and target them, before you chase that all important first meeting.
How is this achieved? Identify those people you wish to target, and begin presenting them with ads from Facebook. Facebook has incredible targeting ability. Select a handful of employees via specific job roles, and then run an ad campaign dedicated to them. Be careful not to target all employees, instead just focus on the right people to ensure they see your ads.
Why? Brand awareness. Your chances of success are much higher if key staff have heard of you, and have an idea of what you do, and you stand out to them as a result of creative, intelligent targeted ads.
3. Chase guest posts, and then promote them
Perform some research, find the leading industry publication or platform where your audience heads to for up to date news, tips, and content. Once you know who that is, chase them a for a guest post spot. This is where you write for them, providing a high quality piece of relevant content that will appeal to their readership. The key here is not to only supply high caliber content, but to close out the task, by promoting the piece you supply.
Promote the guest post via Facebook and a promoted tweet on Twitter, sending targeted traffic to the post.
If you have supplied a great piece of content that engages well, and you’ve gone the extra mile to promote it, you’ll likely find editors offering you a regular contributor spot.
4. Engagement campaigns work
Want to have a big impact, and seriously be taken notice of on social media and appear influential? Tag someone in a Facebook post or tweet and then pay to promote it.
For example, let’s say you’re trying to get the attention of an editor at a publication where you want to become a contributor. You could tweet: “Great post by [insert Twitter handle here]” also making sure to include the headline and link to the story.
That might catch their attention when they get the notification from Twitter – for a couple seconds. But once you start promoting it, you’ll really grab that person’s attention as it starts getting retweeted and liked in higher numbers.
5. Use social media ads
Organic content isn’t enough these days to trend or have a big impact. You need to pay for exposure and prominence. This is where Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn promoted posts come in. You can use these ads to quickly drive lots of traffic to your website.
Again, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on these ads. You can target your ads so they only focus on people you want to start a conversation with. Be narrow in your approach.
If you’re lacking in influence or name recognition and want to appear bigger than you currently are, try out these ideas. For a small investment, social media will help you get noticed and viewed as a serious force in your industry so you can grow your audience, influence, and business.
About the author
Nathan Sinnott is CEO of Newpath WEB, an Australian-owned Full Service Digital Agency.
