social media

8 Proven Benefits of Utilising Online Advertising

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As businesses strive to gain a competitive edge, online advertising has become a crucial tool for marketers. In today’s digital age, it’s easier than ever to advertise products through various platforms, like search engines, social media, and websites. The benefits of advertising cannot be overlooked, and in this blog we will delve into the most significant advantages of using this marketing strategy.

Increases Brand Awareness

One of the most beneficial advantages of online advertising is the ability to increase brand awareness. Advertising campaigns can reach a large audience that has never heard of your brand before. By showcasing your products/services and highlighting their unique features, you can get people to recognise your brand and remember it in the future.

Expands Customer Reach

By strategically placing your advertisement on relevant websites and social media channels with a substantial customer base, you can connect with potential customers that you would never have reached otherwise. This tactic will broaden your target audience and increase the chances of converting prospective buyers into loyal customers.

Boosts Sales

Effective advertising campaigns will translate into sales. By targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time, advertising can prompt customers to explore your business and ultimately make a purchase. It can also encourage repeat purchases from existing customers, enhancing loyalty and boosting revenue.

Builds Positive Reputation

Advertising can help to build and establish a positive reputation for your brand by emphasising your product’s benefits. It can showcase your company’s commitment to providing a quality service, promoting your business image as trustworthy and reliable.

Provides Valuable Insights

Numerous digital platforms offer valuable insights, such as demographic information, regional sales, and customer behaviour, which can help you understand your audience and create better marketing strategies. By monitoring and adjusting your campaigns, you can increase your advertising effectiveness and ensure you’re targeting the right people.

Offers Competitive Advantage

Product advertising can give you a competitive edge by showcasing the attributes that set your business apart from your competitors. By creating a compelling message, you can show potential customers that your product is the ultimate solution and your brand a reliable industry expert.

Enhances Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is essential for the long-term success of any business. Successful advertising can promote loyalty by communicating your company’s values and ethos. This will help to create a deeper connection with your customers, leading to repeat sales as well as organic word-of-mouth benefits from satisfied clients.

Improves ROI

Finally, advertising can significantly improve your return on investment (ROI). By effectively targeting, attracting, and converting potential customers, you can earn a return on your advertising investment while boosting sales volume thanks to a wider online audience.

To make the most out of online advertising, be strategic, keep your message engaging, and always measure and adjust your campaigns to optimise results. If you’d like to find out more about other digital marketing strategies or require any other business support, our team would love to help! Get in touch:

E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com   T: 01903 688789

8 Proven Strategies for Generating Leads on Social Media

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You probably know by now how important social media is for your business. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter), can help you reach a wider audience and generate leads for your business. However, with the stiff competition out there, it can be difficult to know where to start. In this Blog post we will cover everything you need to know to secure more leads using your favourite platforms!

Understand your target audience:

The first step is to have a clear understanding of your target audience. Once you know who your target audience is, you can create content that speaks to them and answers their questions and needs. This will make them more likely to engage with your content and follow your business.

Optimise your social media profiles:

Your social media profiles are often the first impression of your business that a potential lead will get. Make sure your profiles are optimised with clear branding, a professional profile picture, and complete information about your business. Regular profile updates will help to establish a higher level of trust and credibility.

Leverage user-generated content:

User-generated content such as customer reviews, testimonials, and photos can be a powerful tool. Share reviews and testimonials on your active platforms and encourage your customers to share their experiences with your business online. It not only provides reassurance for prospective clients, but also helps to organically spread the word about your business.

Use social media ads:

Social media ads can be an effective way to generate leads. Use targeting features to reach your ideal audience and create compelling ads that speak to them. You can also use retargeting to show ads to people who have previously engaged with your business on social media.

Host social media contests:

Contests and competitions can be a fun way to engage with your audience. Create a contest that requires participants to follow your business, share your content, or tag their friends. This will help you reach more people and create buzz. To achieve maximum interest, utilise occasions such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween, or other global holidays.

Engage with your followers:

Social media is a two-way conversation. Engage with your followers by responding to their comments and messages and ask them questions to start a conversation. This will help you build relationships with platform users and make them more likely to become leads in the future. It’s also a great way to make your business appear more organic and involved with online communities.

Share valuable content:

Your content is what attracts your target audience and converts them into leads. Ensure that your posts are high quality, visually appealing, and refined for each platform. Use a mix of different formats like videos, images, and infographics to keep things interesting. Remember, your content should provide value, solve a problem, or inspire.

Measure Your Results:

Measuring your results helps you to identify what’s working and what’s not. You can use analytics tools to track metrics like engagement, reach, click-through rates, etc. Based on your analysis, you can make changes to your strategy and improve your results. Take the time to experiment with different aspects such as posting times, content lengths and graphic design, then repeat your successes.

If you’d like to discuss our Social Media Management services or require any other business support, our team would love to help! Get in touch: E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com   T: 01903 688789

Stay Ahead of the Game: Social Media Trends for 2023

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Social media continues to play a central role in shaping how we communicate, consume and make decisions. With every year, comes new advancements, trends, and technologies in the social media sphere. For small businesses looking to maximise their social media presence, the key is to stay ahead of the game by keeping up with these trends. Here are some social media trends that your small business needs to know to succeed in 2023.

Repurposing content: In 2023, repurposing of content will continue to be a significant trend in social media. This is where businesses recycle old content into new forms of content. For example, turning blog posts into infographics, using Instagram stories highlights, and reposting top tweets. Repurposing allows businesses to bump up their content’s online exposure and reach a wider audience. This is particularly important for small businesses because it means that they can sustain their social media presence without continually generating new content.

Video Content: With the rise of the short-form video platform Tik Tok, video content will continue to be a trend in social media for small businesses in 2023. By creating videos for social media, businesses can exhibit their creativity and connect with their audience. Small businesses can use various formats such as live-streaming, video testimonials from clients, and explainer videos to create engaging video content. Video content has been shown to increase engagement and build customer trust.

Personalised content: In 2023, personalised content will be more crucial than ever. With algorithms continuously modifying users’ timelines, businesses must focus on making their content tailored, relevant, and personalised. Personalised content includes targeting different audiences, segmenting email lists, and customising social media ads based on audience predispositions. For small businesses, personalisation is essential because it increases customer loyalty and brand loyalty.

Customised Influencer Marketing: Influencer marketing has been a crucial trend in social media for a while now. In 2023, it will become more personalised, focusing on specific influencers in niche markets. Small businesses can take advantage of this trend by identifying social media influencers that fit their industry, and partnering with them to create content. Content created this way has been shown to increase sales leads and build stronger customer relations.

Ephemeral Content: Ephemeral Content defined as digital content, is short-lived and designed to showcase more authenticity with limited time for capturing the moment. Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook stories commonly exhibit this trend in social media. Video content in social media manifests as live streams or disappearing videos, images or texts. Small businesses can use ephemeral content to share behind the scene moments, teasers for product launches, and provide exclusive looks into their businesses. Ephemeral content appeals to audiences that crave authenticity and transparency.

Small businesses that can anticipate and adapt to social media trends early will have a significant advantage in 2023. Repurposing, Video Content, Personalised content, Customised influencer marketing, and Ephemeral content are top social media trends for small businesses to consider.  Developing and improving social media strategies with these trends can help small businesses establish an immersive online presence, boost their brand reputation and connect with a wider audience. The social media landscape continues to evolve, so embracing innovative approaches is critical to staying relevant and successful in 2023.

If you’d like to discuss our Social Media Management services or require any other business support, our team would love to help! Get in touch:

E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com   T: 01903 688789

Why Client Testimonials Are Essential For Maintaining Business Growth

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As the world becomes more and more digitised, it’s important for SMEs to establish and maintain a strong online presence. In order to do so, businesses must build credibility and trust with potential clients. One of the best ways to do this is through client testimonials. Providing reassurance to your target prospects, testimonials help to establish your business as credible, trustworthy, and renowned.

Why Testimonials Are Important

Testimonials are an important way for businesses to establish credibility and trust among target prospects. They are a great way to showcase the unique benefits and experiences customers have had with your company. Simply put, testimonials are a form of social proof that your product or service works, is high quality, and can be trusted. By displaying authentic testimonials, potential customers will gain insight into your product’s effectiveness, reduce any doubt they may have, and view your offerings as a real, tangible solution. Ultimately, testimonials help to convert leads into new, paying customers, leading to increased revenue and business growth!

How To Get Testimonials

Apart from directly asking your clients, there are many ways a business can collect testimonials. Survey tools such as feedback forms or questionnaires are a popular choice, providing a quick and proactive way of receiving detailed feedback. Alternatively, if you’re looking to increase your brand awareness third-party review sites can also be a great option. As part of your onboarding process or post-purchase process, you could ask customers to visit a “Review Us” page that links to your profiles on sites such as Trustpilot, Yelp, or Google reviews. If you’re struggling to gain testimonials, you may want to consider a “reward system” for customers willing to share their experience. Finally, remember to always thank your clients for taking the time to provide feedback!

What To Do With Testimonials

Once you have collected your testimonials, the next step is to optimise them for usage and promote them on your websites and other channels. It’s important to feature your testimonials prominently by placing them on dedicated pages of your website, using them on product pages, or even featuring them in a slider on your homepage for maximum visibility. Additionally, you could create a customer success section that displays quotes, stories, or customer photos that can help onlookers visualise how great your customers find your product or service. You can also share customer testimonials on your social media channels. Testimonials that include photos of customers or products tend to perform better, providing visual appeal while helping to break up the text and grab attention. You can also experiment with different formats, such as stories, reels, gifs, or other short form videos that will help you captivate your followers and show off the customer’s experience.

Testimonials are an essential tool for any business looking to establish a strong online presence and increase business growth. Be sure to leverage them to the fullest, by optimising them for usage online. This will not only help boost customer trust and validate your product but will also be beneficial for overall brand visibility. If you’d like to find out more or require any additional business support, our team would love to help! Get in touch:

T: 01903 688789 E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com

Boosting Your Audience Engagement Through Social Media

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So you’ve created a social media account for your business. You may even have a significant following, but the audience engagement just isn’t coming. What can be done?  Luckily, many of the solutions are simple and, in most cases, benefit from immediate results. Here’s our list of 6 things you can do to boost your social media engagement today!

Optimise your following

Sure, it may be tempting to follow as many people as you can in hopes of growing your audience. You may have even considered inorganic ways of grow your following. The truth is numbers don’t matter unless every follower is either a prospect or a benefit to your business. First and foremost, it is interest that drives engagement; thus, an optimised audience is crucial when it comes to generating more interactions. Follow accounts which are fitting with your business – consider if they are suitable prospects with potential interest in your niche. For example, if you’re a brand which sells vegan food, your target audience is of course primarily vegans. A following of sworn meat-eaters would most likely bring little engagement.

Post frequently

A large part of engagement is often received from your long-term followers. Individuals who already know your business and have likely established a positive dynamic over time. It’s not too different from in person relationships; the more you get to know someone the more likely you are to engage with them! Therefore, it is important for your account to be active, post frequently, and be consistent. Don’t disappear for weeks and expect your engagement to bounce back upon your return! Build momentum with your following, establish trust, and give them a reason to interact.

Ask questions

Asking questions, is the simplest way of eliciting information and thus prompting engagement. They don’t always have to be business related either! Ask your followers about their day, current events, or their opinions. Just remember to reciprocate the interaction. Not only do questions encourage engagement, but they also provide you with an opportunity to obtain first hand insights into audience preference. Discuss upcoming products and ideas, use your platform to learn more about your prospects and in-turn write about your target audience’s main interests.

Include more visuals

Always include visuals where relevant. Recent studies show that information retention after a three-day period, is 50% higher when exposed to content accompanied by visuals. As well as being more memorable, their engagement rates are 650% higher, making them a great tool when it comes to storytelling and creating interaction worthy content. There are very few instances in which visuals won’t benefit your posts, so be creative and remember to make them branded! Include images, gifs, or infographics, and don’t be afraid to put out video content.

Give more than you get

It cannot be one sided, if you seek engagement, you must make the effort to interact too. Respond to your audience, make them feel heard and be an active participant in online conversations. Making a conscious effort to respond and interact with your audience adds personalisation and credibility to your account, subsequently giving your followers a reason to seek engagement too. Present your business as a social and approachable enterprise and breathe life into your profile. Try to limit automation to a minimum, a real time response can go a long way in personifying your business and improving prospective relationships.

Stay on top of current affairs

Always be a credible source for news and trending topics relating to your field. Don’t give your competitors the upper hand when it comes to offering up to date information! Becoming a go to source will encourage your audience to show their appreciation through the means of likes, shares, and comments – boosting your engagement while simultaneously expanding the reach of your content. Subscribe to informative newsletters, follow industry experts, and stay on top of trending and newsworthy stories. Make a conscious effort to stay up to date and spread your expert knowledge through your social media content.

Audience engagement is a crucial part of every social media strategy and thus a key step in growing your business. It’s a fantastic way of interacting with your prospects but most importantly a beneficial tool when it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of your content. If you’d like to find out more about other ways of boosting your engagement or require any additional support, we’d love to help! Get in touch:

E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com   T: 01903 688789