Three social media tips to boost sales and engagement

Social media continues to grow in popularity and now plays an essential role within the marketing of many businesses. Research shows that the influence that social media has on purchases is rising, with a survey showing that 58% of respondents consider their purchases to be influenced by social media, compared to 45% in 2016.

With this popularity growing it provides businesses with the potential to utilise this opportunity. This article will show businesses three easy steps as to how to do this effectively.

1. Choose the correct platforms. With the number of social media platforms growing every day, it is important to use the sites that will most effectively target consumers from the right demographics. For example, a younger target market will mean using platforms such as Instagram where, according to Statista, the average age of users (65%) fall between 18-34. However, a cycling company would be more inclined to use more specific platforms such as Strava, where a large proportion of their target market would be found.

2. Use adverts. Adverts can increase sales, engagement and brand awareness. Consumers may have been previosly unaware of your business and the services you provide, making the ability that ads have to amplify reach is invaluable in attracting new customers. Ads can also be useful to gather market insights to analyse the clicks, comments and profile visits to determine how successful your ads are.

3. Try to post top quality, relevant content. Take the opportunity to provide your followers and potential customers with something relevant and interesting so that your brand becomes a name they're happy to see. This also means not posting promotional content too often as this can often not interest consumers as much as relevant articles and current events would. The one-in-seven rule suggests that for every one directly promotional post, six others should be content-based.

Useful links

• Find a shop
  
• Best Small Shops competition
  
• Jobs board
  

If you have any other queries please contact us.