Social Media Platforms are not only for social networking anymore.
Especially for successful businesses, these platforms are Definitely Not only for social networking. These are Primary Medium to share their message with their customers and a way to market their product/services in a creative way.
The beauty of social media is – it is not only for big brands. Every business can be on social media, unlike previous traditional ways of marketing.
To advertise your business on television newspapers, or even billboards – you needed to spend big bucks, just to get seen by people, that might not be your target customer.
But to promote or advertise your business on social media you only need two things to start with – access to an internet connection and a smartphone, which you already have.
Of course, paid promotions through Social Media gives you better results than organic results – but it is not a limitation for a Business of any size.
And if you are consistent with your content sharing, your messages are creative enough and you have a Social Media strategy in place, this strategy can do wonders for your Business.
Turkish Chef and Restaurant Owner ‘Nusret Gökçe’, aka “Salt Bae” is a perfect example for this.
Gökçe and other co-owners of Restaurant chain are considering selling a stake in their business. And valuation of this business could reach $ 1 Billion, if not more.
It all started with one Social Media Post. But How?
This Was The First Video Which Became Popular Amongst Internet Users:
Then This Image:
It was a time when everyone was obsessed with Memes – some of us still are, including me. (Memes are images, videos, or a piece of text, which are humorous and funny in nature)
Such Images of him soon turned it into Memes. People started sharing this.
And this, went VIRAL! All over Social Media Platforms, all over the Internet – Making Nusret a celebrity overnight. But was it really an overnight flip switch for him?
For the world, it was just one video that made Salt Bae popular overnight, but he has been regularly sharing creative videos on his Instagram.
Was he Lucky? Absolutely Not. In fact, he was Smart about it.
He knew exactly where his target audiences were Instagram. He knew exactly what type of content his audience would like to watch.
Most importantly, once he became popular – he knew that he had to triple down his Social Media efforts. Also to strategize Business over Social Media to make a profit out of it.
The most important part about this was, getting in front of his relevant audience at the right place. In 2017, social media has been that place for few years (It still is that place). And in his case specifically, it was Instagram.
Getting out in front of people was the smartest decision he made.
No Image, No Video and No one can go viral on purpose, as a Marketing Legend ‘Seth Godin’ says.
Even Salt Bae can not do it again on purpose. The only thing anyone can control, is producing valuable content and sharing it out in front of the right people.
There are basically two ways you to reach right people over social media:
- Paid Content
- Organic Content
Paid Content are highly targeted and gets your business in front of the right people, which in return generates cash for your business.
But you should not count the Organic Content out. For Organic Content, “Consistency” is the Key.
For this to happen, you have to get your business out there in front of people. It could be your face, it could be someone from your business, it could be just plain written content. But for people to see, your business have to be present over Social Media.
It was only a little more than 2 years ago when this video went viral over the Internet. And because of that – and because he kept in touch with his people consistently with his audience, hence maintaining the popularity – his business could be worth $ 1 Billion.
Thanks to the Internet and Social Media.
TO CONCLUDE
Simply put, you can’t go Viral on purpose, but you can choose to be out there in front of your audience on purpose. You can be consistent with this, on purpose. Hence, making profits for your Business, on purpose.
But why social media is a perfect place to come out in front of your people?
The answer is – It is a perfect place, because that’s where your audience is. Everybody is on Social Media.
Not everybody has Television (Thanks to Laptop-Smartphone Age), not everybody reads the Newspaper. But today, everybody, EVERYBODY has a mobile phone in their hand. Including your audience.
That’s what makes Social Media best place to showcase your business.
Based on your Product / Service, you can choose your primary social media platform. (LinkedIn and Twitter for B2B, Facebook and Instagram for B2C).
But if you do not have an Online Strategy for your Business, you are straight out leaving out tons of money on the table. And if this strategy includes Promoting Paid Content, it’s much more targeted and is even better.
So, do you have an Online Strategy in place for Your Business?