Growth and scaling is an issue for every company, no matter how large or small they may be. Even the young entrepreneurs that run the humble lemonade stand at the end of your street know better than to go lemon picking in California every time they have to make a new cup. Growing a business has a lot to do with providing quality goods or services. As Emerson stated, “If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell… you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house.” But in today’s digital age, building a better mousetrap will do you no good if there is no channel for people to find out about it. That is why your company must determine its engine of growth. Luckily for your marketing department, the social media marketing growth facilitates growth to all engines.
There are three main engines of growth. One, or a combination of these engines will set the stage for how your company will generate revenue, and outplay the competition. Let’s take a look at how your can include multiple methods for growth.
You’ve heard it before; viral videos can create a conversation on every news, entertainment, and social media platform out there, all within a matter of hours. Viral growth uses the If every tweet is retweeted by 10 followers, then your latest 140 characters will shoot through the internet like… grass through a goose. The compounding effect of retweets and sharing facebook posts facilitates the widespread traction of your business’s offering; be it a product, idea, or just a thought. Viral growth will get your message to a more qualified audience. After all, consumers that are particularly interested in what you have to say will share your message with like-minded peers, and that can cause for more social credibility and inbound links.
Paid growth is a way to trade dollars for customers. The customers will keep coming as long as you have your wallet open, but unless you combine this engine of growth with one of the other two, the patronage will stop when your marketing investment does. Paid growth can only be successful if your customer value is less than your cost of acquisition, so this engine of growth is not for everyone. But doing to facilitate paid growth? In February of 2012, Facebook started using noticeable ads and advertising inside of its news feed. Promoted tweets, accounts, or trends on twitter can help you reach your audience when it comes to twitter, and display ads and highly targeted text ads on LinkedIn can be leveraged to reach the professional crowd of your choice. These advertisements can take your social media marketing to the next level if you have crunched your numbers and determined that paid growth is something that your company can profit from.
Sticky growth is a game of percentages. Imagine that you can sustain an optimal profit margin if you constantly have 10 clients. If you know that you lose 10% of your clients every month, then you can do one of three things: focus on how to decrease your 10% attrition rate, plan on trying to acquire a new client every month, or burn your office to the ground and retire early with the insurance money. Now the last method is obviously a joke (I legally have to tell you this), the second method is not always realistic, especially because acquiring a new customer is almost always more expensive than maintaining an existing customer. The first method is the essence of sticky growth: focus on decreasing your attrition rate. Like the other two engines of growth, sticky growth is a numbers game, but this method focuses more on optimization and marginal improvements. Social media can help to uncover customer complaints, as well as provide other customer insights that may help to maintain your customer base. In addition to nurturing your existing relationships.
Regardless of the engine of growth that you determine is best for your company, you will need a way to implement your social media efforts in a manner that is consistent with the rest of your company’s positioning. Strong SEO, site speed, and well created funnels will help your company excel, and are a great supplement to your marketing efforts. To find out exactly where your marketing stands, and acquire actionable insights that can help your company grow, contact for a free assessment today!