5 Social Media Hacks For Entrepreneurs & Business Owners

Social media has changed the way we live and interact with customers.

You might hate or love social media as an entrepreneur or business owner, but you surely can’t afford to ignore it.

According to Statistica, the number of worldwide users on social media is projected to hit a whopping 3.02 billion active users per month by 2021. That's one-third of the world’s entire population! So, it’s obvious that social media, more and more, is engaging the majority of the world's citizenry.

That means if you own a business and you’re not focused on building a strong brand presence on social media this year, your customers already are or soon will be choosing your competitors.

I’ve always been really curious about using social media to grow as an entrepreneur but, the information overload kind of sucked all of my energy most of the time.

With the help of advanced features that most social media platforms provide like Facebook messenger to nurture your prospects, LinkedIn to collect leads and many more. Being focused and using these FREE tools to grow as a business or entrepreneur is what one should aim for.

I’ve come across some incredible ways one can use social media with proven success, here are 5 social media hacks to grow your business. 

1. Drive Traffic to your Website and E-Commerce with Targeted Advertising

While having a conversation with my co-founder Gaurav Madaan who is an affiliate marketing expert and owns a highly engaged Facebook group Digital marketing VIPs, he shared how important role social media has played in his career as a digital marketer.

Social media are so effective sources of traffic because of the huge audience there and the best thing is how frequently they visit social media and spend hours there.

Facebook goes ahead one more step and gives you the ability to track your users with the help of Facebook Pixel which means after driving traffic you can re-engage those people who’ve shown any interest in your product or service.

There are certainly benefits from using a Facebook Ads agency when it comes to marketing your business to customers. When it comes to target advertising, social media is certainly reigning supreme and is certainly going to continue to thrive in the years to come. It’s worth looking at how much you have to spend when it comes to your advertising budget and making full use of agencies when needed. Outsourcing can be a great way to ensure your content and website is being seen by anyone and everyone that will be interested in your business.

Takeaway: If you too have an eCommerce business, scale your business quickly by using targeted Facebook advertising to drive more traffic to your store. With over 1.4 billion active Facebook users every day, the problem isn’t whether or not your customers are scrolling. 

2. Engage your Audience with Compelling Videos

Open your favorite social media platform; you’ll notice your feed is replete with video content instead of text and images. In fact, algorithms have changed, evolving to prefer video content over other content formats. And that's something the leading brands have noticed: A whopping 86 percent of businesses already use video on their website, and 77 percent use video on social media, according to Vidyard statistics.

As Tai Lopez, investor and advisor to multimillion-dollar businesses, told Entrepreneur, “Follow one simple formula for social media success: live a fascinating, authentic, adventurous life and share it through vlogging [video blogging]." Added Lopez: "I’ve made more money with my iPhone than most people have made in their lives with high-tech equipment.”

Takeaway: There are dozens of ways you can use videos to keep your audience engaged and growing. Consider sharing an authentic behind-the-scenes look at your life. Document your company’s next product launch. Show your followers what it’s like to work for your company, etc. The bottom line: If you’re not using videos on social media, your customers are becoming unengaged -- fast.

3. Build More Brand Awareness with the Help of Influencers

In an interview, Josh Forti, a social media influencer marketing expert, explained how he’s used social media to organically grow over five million followers online for both his clients and himself.“I’ve primarily used social media to build online audiences that serve as assets to brands," Forti said. "If you can get your product or service publicly vouched [for] by a trusted authority in your niche, your sales can skyrocket overnight.”

What he was talking about, of course, was the growing use of influencer marketing: One study showed that 22 percent of marketers surveyed already considered influencer marketing the most cost-effective way of obtaining new customers.

Takeaway: Partnering with influencers on social media can be one of the most profitable decisions you make for your business this year. Influencers are now widely considered more relatable than celebrities. That's why consumers turn to their favorite models and gurus for advice on what to buy. Software development companies like Grin, Upfluence, and Humanz have various features and filters that help businesses to locate the right influencer for their business in no time. The latter even enables its users to manage influencer programs on its database by generating and saving all the necessary data.

4. Provide More Value than Your Competitors

Never forget that customers hate being "sold" to, but love to buy.

One surefire way to have your customers line up to do that is to provide a massive amount of free value before asking for a sale. Arguably the leading expert of the value-first concept is Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, in which he explained how to provide free valuable content to your audience on social media to build trust and entice visitors to buy.

His audience was once stunned when he said: “It’s always early to monetize your audience”.

Takeaway: This concept is even more critical today when customers are being bombarded with ads on their social feeds. If you want to build engaged brand followers on social media who love you and love buying from you, provide content that solves their problems and shows that you care about them before asking for a sale. You’ll quickly build a pool of loyal fans who buy from you over and over again. 

5. Share Your Story To Build Trust with Your Customers

Everyone -- including your customers -- loves a good story. Lauren Gordon, storytelling and content marketing specialist, explained in an interview that she uses social media to strategically differentiate herself from the competition. “Don’t ever forget that every single human being makes decisions based on emotion and justifies with logic," Gordon said. 

"This means, if you want your brand to stand the test of time, you need to be telling your brand’s story across social media to differentiate yourself from competitors, build deep connections and trust with customers and earn your customers’ loyalty.”

Notice how entrepreneurs like Grant Cardone, Tom Bilyeu, and Mark Cuban never step away from sharing their stories with their audience. It’s the impact of stories that make them share even their darkest moments with the people whom they haven’t met.

Takeaway: In this context, brand storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to differentiate yourself, connect with your customers, increase brand loyalty and sell your vision.

Conclusion

By implementing these tips, you can use social media to grow personally and professionally in your career.