WHY DO SMALL BUSINESS IN DUBAI NEED TO INVEST IN SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
It’s hard to believe that, only a decade ago, Social media was considered to be just one of those things that “the young kids” were going crazy over in Dubai and seen as a passing trend. As time passed by, social media platforms like Facebook & Instagram have now become a marketing gold mine with over 9 million active social media users in UAE spreading the word about your small business has never been faster or easier.
It doesn’t matter if you run a small local restaurant in Deira or launching a new eCommerce website. Social media marketing can completely revolutionize your business.
1. Glow up your brand awareness
Gaining brand recognition is one of the business’ most important marketing goals. Thankfully, social media allows for easy and effective brand building. It gets your audience looking at your brand even when they aren’t thinking about your brand or product.
Social media offers a place for your current customers to recommend your brand to their friends and family. Through leaving you positive reviews, tagging your business or sharing your posts on their feeds, your customers’ circle of friends and followers will eventually hear about your brand – and more likely to be interested in trying out your services, too.
2. Helps you understand your audience
Social media actually gives you the chance to interact with your audience and learn more about them. You can use these platforms to learn the wants and needs of your potential customers. You can establish yourself as an authority, as a powerful resource, users turn to because they trust you.
Having a strong presence online allows you to connect with customers on a more personal level.
3. Key to customer service
Creating a voice for your company is important in improving the overall brand image. Customers appreciate the fact that when they post comments on your page, they receive a modified reply rather than a computerized message. A brand that values its customers, takes the time to compose a personal message reflecting the brand positively.
You can answer questions and handle complaints quickly and efficiently. There’s nothing worse than a disgruntled customer posting about a bad experience. Through proper communication, you can rectify the problem and avoid damage to your brand image. And you’ll probably also learn some valuable lessons on how to avoid similar problems in the future.
Customers now expect companies to handle their requests through social media.
4. Builds brand loyalty
Customers follow and interact with the brands they enjoy. But what’s interesting is that 53% of customers who follow your business online are likely to be loyal to your business and choose you versus your competition
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with your audience online using fun contests and discounts to develop brand loyalty!
5. Keep an eye on the competition
Having a strong social media marketing strategy is no longer a suggestion- it’s a requirement. With social media marketing, the playing field is much more level for SMEs. While you might not have the budget of large corporations in your industry, you have the personal touch and authenticity that your customers crave.
Social monitoring is a GREAT way to gauge your industry and see how you stand up to your competition. In other words, you can see what your competition is doing and do it too, and even improve it.
6. Increase website traffic
By sharing your content on social media, you are giving users a reason to click-through to your website. On your social account, the more quality content you share, the more inbound traffic you will generate while making conversion opportunities.
Traffic to your small business’ website would be extremely limited without the execution of a strong social media marketing campaign. Think about it- who would find your business? The answer is: only the people who are looking for it, which usually means people who are already loyal customers. By being active on social media, you are exposing your brand to a wider range of potential customers, resulting in, exposing your website to more traffic.
7. Keep Your Customers Up-To-Date
Social media is one of the best and easiest ways of keeping your customers updated with your new products or upcoming events. If your business makes a huge announcement about a new product or an exciting event, it’ll catch on and get people excited.