What Zambian Start-ups Need To Do with Social Media
If you’re one of the Zambian start-ups out there and you’re not on social media these days, you don’t exist, So as a start-up make a presence on this platform and you will go further than you think. How, you may ask. Let me tell you.
- Depending on what platform you choose, learn the tools of that particular site or app and that it will help you in pushing your business and improve your exposure. Look out for advertising/promotional buttons that help you promote your product/service. They may ask you to make small payments to do that for you but it helps in getting you noticed not just regionally but internationally.
- Follow or connect with similar business/individuals that you know have something they may help you with or ones you can help with something. Get linked to people you know will understand your business ideas.
- Be innovative with your pages. Don’t just push your product/service in people’s faces or mess up their timeline or news feed with the same thing. Switch things up. Be engaging. Offer giveaways on Q&As about your product or services.
- Most business do not count their online presence as part of their costs but you need to. Account for every bit of money you spend on anything you have to pay for on a social media platform over a period of time. IT will help you account for all your money and you can decide whether you’re spending too little or too much on social media. By the way, this includes the amount you spend on internet bundles or general internet connectivity. You can then decide what specific amount you will allocate to it and make it a tab under your marketing/advertising costs.
- Seek out your most active consumers. Reward with them with gifts or offers. The more appreciated they feel, they more word they spread about you, and hopefully the higher your demand too. You could also ask them politely to share your pages on their personal ones for you to get more likes or followers from their circles.
- Use the ‘Buy’ call-to -action buttons. A lot of social platforms are now allowing users to buy directly from the site and all the user need is a bank account. In Zambia a lot of such payments are being done even over mobile money so make use of all that. You may even attract impulse buyers, which means more profit for you. You’re welcome.
- Look at your page analytics closely. For example, Facebook has an ‘Insights’ tab for its pages that allows you to view how your page is performing and how interactive it is. You can even see your new followers or likers.
- Pay attention to feedback on your pages. Read and respond to almost all comments in the initial stages of your product/service rollout. Those comments will be your initial virtual focus group. Yes, some may be haters just calling you brand useless but go in and ask them, POLITELY, what the matter is. If they do respond and give you a legit reason, it may be well worth putting under consideration and help your brand grow. If their problem is a waste of your time, move on.
According to Crayfish Media this is what social media is used for, and we agree with them:
Those are just some quick tips so as one of what should be Zambia’s start-ups-turned-global-enterprises, get signing up on all the social media platforms you know right now!
P.S Social media marketing is waaaay much cheaper than advertising on TV or radio or printing flyers that end up in the trash anyway…
Image Credits: Visualistan
