Social media is a non-negotiable when it comes to marketing. If you are not yet focusing on acquiring new customers with social media, your business is missing out on the attention from billions of people. 81% of the U.S. population is using social media. Your ideal customers are part of that statistic, I promise you.
Why is acquiring your ideal consumer incredibly important?
For starters, your overarching goal as a business is to generate revenue. You want to keep acquisition costs low, while gaining the highest profit from the new customer. This would be your LTV (life time value) to CAC (customer acquisition cost) ratio.
You do not want to waste your money trying to market to people that are not going to purchase from you!
So, how can YOU acquire your ideal customers with social media?
To start, research the demographic breakdown of social media platforms as a baseline. Then, look at each social media platform closely be researching the most popular hashtags, search terms, etc. You will find that certain niche subgroups are more prevalent on one platform than others. For example, consumers interested in fitness and health tend to be on Instagram, while bloggers are predominantly on Pinterest. Once you pinpoint where your ideal consumers are giving their attention to, you can then delve in strategies for acquiring them.
Before diving into social media marketing strategies, it’s important to note that these are not necessarily evergreen. They may not work forever because technology is constantly changing, consumer attention is a moving target, and new features are constantly being added to social platforms.
Remember to adapt your strategy for acquiring new customers, but keep in mind that the basics of consumer psychology will always remain the same. People will purchase products or services that benefit them, add value to their lives, and are consistent with how they identify themselves.
RELATED: Behind the Scenes of How We Get 1 Million Pinterest Views a Month
Snapchat
Snapchat will soon release the Snapchat Stories Search feature, which allows users to search through over one million stories. Users can simply search key terms, locations, and events to find Stories and ultimately discover endless content. To categorize the stories, Snapchat uses machine learning, analyzing the visual elements, caption text, and time.
Users can keep their stories private, but Snapchatters that have larger followings and more social influence will most likely keep them public. This would allow them to expand their reach and further build their own personal brands.
How can this help you acquire new customers?
This feature levels up influencer marketing on Snapchat. Now, you can search for, and partner with micro-influencers that are keeping their stories public. Have them create a Snapchat Story featuring your product, checking in at your local business, or giving your business a shoutout. Since the story would be available to ANYONE (instead of solely their followers), your business will be able to reach a larger audience.
This feature could also be insanely useful for local businesses. Since users can search by location, you can create localized stories that showcase your shop, product, or service.
Instagram isn’t just for posting aesthetic photos to your business account. The platform uses multiple search functions, including hashtags and geo locations, making it easy for you to search through millions of users and find your ideal consumers.
How can this help you acquire new customers?
Search with relevant hashtags that your ideal consumers may be using. So for instance, if you own a wedding photography business, you may want to search for hashtags such as “#engaged, #gettingmarried, #shesaidyes”. Now, you are able to find tons of Instagram users that are probably going to need a photographer for their wedding.
To get them to actually become a new customer, simply engage with them. Like their photos, leave a comment, follow them, and most importantly… DM them! Reach out to them and ask them to check out your business. Show how your service could benefit them, versus just asking for a sale.
BONUS TIP: Reach out to people that have large social followings. Chances are, they will post photos showcasing your service or product, while also tagging your Instagram account. Which means MORE potential customers for you!
If you are not marketing your business on Facebook in some capacity, you are missing out. Facebook is the largest social network site with over 1.7 BILLION daily active users, and a chunk of those users are most definitely some of your ideal customers.
For paid advertising, Facebook is the best in the game. Given its colossal user base, Facebook has an enormous amount of data on people, allowing you to create highly targeted advertisements. By serving ads to users that fit the profile of your “ideal consumer”, you will see higher conversions and a much better ROI. You do not want to waste ad dollars on people that are not going to become new customers!
How can this help you acquire new customers?
You can run Facebook ads against people who have already visited your site, or interacted with your business on Facebook. This allows you to target people who are “marketing qualified leads”, or people that have shown interest in your product or service. It is typically easier to convert these users because they moved further down the sales funnel.
You can also run Facebook ads to a “lookalike” audience, people who fit the same demographic characteristics and interests of people who have already engaged with your business (i.e. visited your website, liked your business page, etc.). You are essentially targeting a population of people who are unaware that you exist, but likely to be interested in your business. This saves you money from targeting cold audiences that would potentially have no interest in what you offer.
The general CPA (cost-per-action) of Facebook ads are insanely cheap (at least for now), and you can spend as little as 50 cents a day (minimum budgets are different for each type of ad). But if you literally have zero dollars to spend on marketing, or if you are looking to acquire new customers for absolutely no cost, you can easily do so with Facebook groups.
Facebook groups allow you to find communities of people that all share a similar interest. Many groups allow members to promote their products or services (typically on select days).
How can this help you acquire new customers?
Join Facebook groups with members who are your ideal customers. Provide value by answering questions, commenting on other people’s posts, and nurturing quality relationships. If the group allows it, you can promote your business within the group, which helps you gain visibility from potential customers. You can also DM people, but do not be overly promotional or coming off as though you just want a sale. Give VALUE.
Starting your own Facebook group to create a community of your ideal consumers is an effective marketing strategy. People LOVE to feel like they are part of a community, and the point of social media is to connect with others. But remember, your Facebook group is not meant to be a place where you just promo your business all of the time. Always keep the audience in mind, and think about how THEY can benefit from becoming a member.
Acquisition strategies will always change
Like I had mentioned earlier, these strategies are not evergreen and they will not work forever. New features are constantly being rolled out, changes are always being made to the product, and these social media platforms are not guaranteed to last forever.
This is why remaining adaptable with how you find and acquire new customers through social media is incredibly important.
Regardless of changes, certain aspects of these strategies will always remain effective. People will always prefer to purchase from businesses that are consistent with their own identities. People will always serve as “word of mouth advertisers”, telling their friends and family about products or services that they love. People will always want to feel part of a community, and will always value human connection.
As long as you always keep the needs, wants, and desires of your ideal customer in mind, and you will win.
