The Covid-19 pandemic caused many businesses to close down. While there are signs that the economy is slowly but surely picking up, many will never be able to fully compensate for the lost revenue caused by the pandemic.

Even before the pandemic, many businesses were struggling to find a balance between growing their business and keeping up with marketing costs. Although the number of active users on social media platforms has increased, the cost-per-acquisition has continued to rise, making it more challenging for businesses to find that perfect balance.

Luckily, the cost of acquiring a customer using online marketing tools has decreased significantly. With the right approach, local businesses can leverage social media to effectively market their products and services to potential customers in their local area.

Why Online Marketing?

Even though many businesses have closed down, the need for marketing has never been greater. People are increasingly turning to the internet for their daily needs and as a source of reliable and up-to-date information.

Businesses that ignore digital marketing are effectively losing out on a potentially huge audience. With more people turning to the internet to get the information they need, it’s crucial that businesses engage with them where they are rather than forcing them to come back later to visit the business’ website or to find them on social media.

How Social Media Can Help A Business

The rise of the internet and social media has made it possible for businesses to stay in touch with their customers regardless of geography. With many businesses operating remotely due to the pandemic, social media has become even more important. It’s now possible for customers to post reviews, talk about their experience, and connect with other businesses.

This being said, social media alone won’t bring in the revenue a business needs. A business needs to have a robust strategy in place, using several tactics, to effectively use social media for marketing.

Customer Segmentation

The first step to effective online marketing is customer segmentation. This involves identifying who your target audience is and creating separate marketing campaigns for different groups of people.

To get started, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is my target audience?
• What do they need (what are their pain points) to feel motivated to purchase my product?
• What do I know about them (their demographics, psychographics, and behavior)?
• How can I reach them (digital marketing channels such as email, website, and social media)?

Testing

The second step to effective online marketing is testing. This involves measuring the results of your different marketing channels to determine which ones work and which ones don’t. Marketing is an iterative process, and you’ll be adjusting your strategy as you go along.

You can’t just go with the first idea that comes to your mind. Instead, you need to test different approaches, track the results, and adjust your strategy according to what works and what doesn’t. Testing ensures that you’re always putting your best foot forward and that you’re constantly evolving your strategy in order to produce the best results.

Performance

The third step to effective online marketing is performance. This involves focusing on the metrics that can be tracked rather than the metric that you’re trying to achieve. For example, if you’re aiming for a certain number of website leads, you might end up focusing too much on that and ignoring other important information such as the number of conversions (i.e. purchases) or the average order value.

Measuring performance in a consistent and reliable way is crucial. Otherwise, you risk presenting partial or inaccurate information to your boss, your investors, or your customers. This can damage your relationships and make it harder for you to get things done.

To track website performance, you need to focus on things such as the number of page views, the average time spent on the site, and the number of transactions (i.e. purchases). The same applies to social media performance. You can’t just look at the number of followers or the amount of engagement (i.e. likes, retweets, and comments)

Cost-Effective

The last but most important step to effective online marketing is cost-effectiveness. This involves determining how much it costs to acquire a customer and identifying the most efficient ways to do so. Costs include anything from the price of the product or service to salaries for marketers, content creators, and engineers.

Reducing your marketing costs is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner. The last thing you need is to be spending lots of money just to get a few customers. Unfortunately, this is often the case for new businesses that don’t have much of a track record or for those that haven’t optimized their marketing strategy yet.

While it’s important to get customers, it’s also important for businesses to consider their cost-per-acquisition (CPA). The lower the cost-per-acquisition, the more you’ll be able to invest in your business without risking financial failure. This tends to be the case for digital marketing strategies that use free platforms like Google Adwords or Facebook Ads.

The bottom line is this: if you want to grow your business, it’s important to consider the cost of the different approaches you’re using. Are you paying enough for online marketing? Are you putting in the necessary effort? Are you sure that what you’re doing is effective?