Have you ever found yourself stuck on what to post on social media? It happens all the time. Finding good ideas to post can be tricky sometimes.
At first, Launching your company’s social media profiles seems like an easy task. Then comes the hard part when you are supposed to be consistently posting engaging content. That is when you realize social media marketing is not easy work at all.
I have worked (and still working) in social media marketing for a couple of small-to-medium companies and organizations in Tanzania for over three years now. I have experienced these challenges myself.
Some days your creative mind will be on vacation. You will procrastinate or will not post at all. And your boss will fire you (let that not happen).
If you want to go beyond the self promotional approach, these post ideas will boost engagement on your social platforms and give value to your followers.
1. Question-based Post: This is a powerful way to start a conversation with your followers. Ask an engaging question that relates to what your business does. You can also conduct market research from this type of posts.
2. Post statistics or industry news: What are the current findings or news in your industry? Be sure to share them with your audience. It will make you part of the industry and not someone who is just there to sell. Statistics are also the best way to support your claim or message.
3. Share your opinion about a trending topic: There’s always something in your industry trending online. You find what it is, share it, and give your two cents on the topic. Again, it is about being part of the online conversations that your audience cares about.
4. Share Tips and How-To post: Educational posts are effective to introduce you as a thought leader in your niche. People always want to know how things are done. Tell them and build trust in return.
5. Thank you Post; Every time you hit a certain number of followers, be sure to thank your followers for helping you grow.
6. Behind the scenes posts: If you were (or still) a Game of Thrones fan, I am sure you have watched a couple of behind the scene videos of the show. And they probably helped you build a human connection with the actors. Sometimes you can post a photo or go live and showcase your office, or store. It helps to show your audience a human side of you and fosters a deeper trust than that of a traditional post.
7. Run Contests and Giveaways: Contests and giveaways can be an instant way to grow your engagement on social media. They can give you new followers and result in increased sales.
8. Post a Meme: Well, sometimes it is not a bad idea to light up things a little. Just because you are a bank, or a pharmacy doesn’t mean you have to be serious and full of jargon every day. But be careful with memes!
9. Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC): Chances are people are already talking about whatever your business is in to. The best way to join these conversations is to share/repost/retweet someone’s post about the topic. It will affirm you and make you part of the conversation.
10. Post Infographics: Don’t let your blog articles rot in your website, try to repurpose them in a visually appealing way. Infographics are ideal ways to summarize a lengthy amount of information in short form.
11. Re-introduce yourself: Once in a while, reminding your followers of who you are and what you do is not a bad idea. Warning: don’t use this repeatedly, you will become a boring brand.
12. Share PDF and White Papers: sometimes a social media post can not say it all. If you have got a lot to say such as case studies, give it to your followers in the form of downloadable formats. Besides, everyone loves takeaways.
Conclusion
Social media can be a waste of time if done without a plan. As a serious business, you don’t want to add up to the social media noise and become a bore to your loyal fans. You need a strategy.
If you need a digital strategy that can bring results to your business, contact us HERE.
Hakuna mtu ambaye anaweza kufanikisha jambo bila msaada wa mtu au watu wengine. Tunaishi kwa kutegemeana. Unachokitafuta wewe kipo kwa mtu mwingine.
Katika dunia yetu ya kidigitali, ni rahisi kuwa sehemu ya msaada mkubwa kwa wajasiriamali wanaotafuta kukuza biashara zao mtandaoni. Unaweza kufanya hivyo bila hata ya kutumia pesa.
Jinsi ya kusaidia kukuza biashara ya mjasiriamali mtandaoni
Follow page yake ya biashara. Inaweza kuwa ni instagram, twitter au facebook – popote unapoona unaweza kumfolllow fanya hivyo. Hii haigarimu pesa yoyote.
Toa Comment , Like au Share post za bidhaa zake ili zipate kuonekana kwa wengi. Kumbuka wewe binafsi una followers ambao nao wana followers, hivyo ukishare au kucomment kweny post ya mjasiriamali huyu, unaipa nafasi post yake kufika mbali zaidi. Hii nayo haikugarimu hela.
Toa maoni, reviews auratings kuhusu huduma yake kwenye page yake Google My Business, kwenye App yake playstore, au kwenye listing directories zingine.
Weka picha ya eneo au bidhaa yake na shiriki kuhakiki (verify) taarifa zake kwenye ramani za google.
Pia wajuze marafiki zako juu ya bidhaa zake.
Cha mwisho, acha kuponda biashara ya mtu mtandaoni. Kama kuna kitu unaona anakosea ni busara kumtumia ujumbe inbox na kumweleza.
Ukifanya yote haya, utakuwa umetumia kiasi cha shilingi SIFURI!
Lakini utakua umemwezesha mtu kufikisha bidhaa yake kwa walengwa hivyo kujipatia kipato cha kuendesha maisha yake. Si lazima uwe na pesa kusaidia, japo ni vizuri zaidi kutoa ukiwa na uwezo huo.
Kama somo limeeleweka, naomba follow page za Tanzlite Digital kwenye mtandao wa LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter na Instagram. Pia nenda kafanye hivo kwenye biashara ya mjasiriamali unayemjua.
Kugusa maisha ya watu wengine si lazima uwe Bill Gates. Kusaidia kukuza online visibility ya biashara ya mtu ni aina nyingine ya philanthropy!. Tuendelee kuinuana. Usisahau kushare post hii 🙂
Idadi ya Watanzania wanaotumia internet imefikia milioni 27. Katika mamilioni haya ya watu, kuna wateja wengi sana kwa ajili ya biashara yako. Lakini UNAWAPATAJE? Au wanakupataje? 🤔
Kabla hujaanza kutumia njia yoyote ya kidigitali kupata wateja mtandaoni, ni vyema ukafahamu makundi matatu ya wateja wanaopatikana mtandaoni. Itakusaidia kuandaa mpango (digital strategy) utakaoleta matokeo mazuri.
Makundi Matatu ya Wateja Mtandaoni
1.Wateja wanao kufahamu: hawa ni wale ambao tayari wanajua biashara yako. Wanaweza kuwa ni followers kwenye account zako za mitandao ya kijamii, au una email list yao au wame-subacribe kupata huduma yako.
Hawa ni rahisi kuwauzia bidhaa yako. Watu wakikufollow ujue tayari wamevutiwa na unachokifanya.
Kazi yako ni kuwapa huduma bora ili wakakutangaze kwa wenzao. Fanya kila uwezalo kuhakikisha hili kundi haliondoki (Customer Retention)
2. Kundi la pili ni wateja wanaohitaji bidhaa yako lakini hawakujui. Hawa wanaweza kuwa wanapata bidhaa hiyo kutoka kwa mtu mwingine au hawajui wapi pa kuipata.
Kama wanaipata bidhaa hiyo kutoka kwa mtu mwingine maana yake tayari una mshindani. Hapa unakuwa na kazi ya ziada ya kumchunguza mshindani wako. Anatumia mbinu gani kupata wateja na bidhaa yake ni bora kiasi gani kulinganisha na yakwako.
Je anatumia influencers? Maudhui yake ni bora kiasi gani? Ni mtandao gani wa kijamii amejikita zaidi? Ukifahamu haya na mengine utaweza kuja na mkakati (digital strategy) imara wa kukuza biashara yako.
Kwa kuwa kundi hili ni la watu wenye UELEWA juu ya wanachohitaji, wengi hutumia search engines kutafuta bidhaa hiyo (they are actively searching online). Hivyo njia nyingine ya kuwapata ni kuwa na mpango imara wa SEO (Search Engine Optimization) au kutumia matangazo ya Google Ads.
3.Kundi la tatu ni la wale ambao wangependa kutumia bidhaa yako lakini hawajui kama wanahitaji (they don’t know if they need it). Hapa sasa inabidi uwe vizuri kwenye kitu tunaita Content Marketing. Kundi hili la wateja wanahitaji kuelimishwa sana kabla hawajafanya maamuzi ya kutoa hela yao kununua huduma yako. Wanahitaji elimu juu ya tatizo walilo nalo na kwamba kuna suluhu ya tatizo hilo ambayo ni hiyo bidhaa yako.
Mara nyingi ukiwa umegundua solution mpya juu ya tatizo fulani, tuseme ni software, tiba lishe au kitu chochote —watumiaji wa solution yako mara nyingi wanakuwa kwenye hili kundi la tatu. Wanahitaji maudhui ya kutosha kuwafundisha tatizo lililopo, madhara ya tatizo hilo na faida za kutumia bidhaa yako.
Hitimisho
Kumbuka biashara ni watu. Kufahamu makundi ya wateja na tabia zao mtandaoni itakusaidia kuandaa mpango wa digitali wenye kuleta mafanikio katika biashara yako. Hasa upande wa maudhui kwani makundi haya matatu yanahitaji aina tofauti ya maudhui.
Ukiwapa huduma bora wateja waliopo kwenye kundi la kwanza hapo juu, wanaweza kuwa mabalozi wazuri kwa wateja wa kundi la pili na la tatu.
Natumaini makala hii imekusaidia. Naitwa Shukuru, ni mwandishi na mtaalamu wa Digital Marketing. Nipate kupitia mtandao wa WhatsApp hapa. Au jiunge na group letu la Wafanyabiashara wadogo mtandaoni kwa Tsh 7500.
A website is one of the best ways to take your business online. But most people don’t get desired results out of their websites because of obvious mistakes or failure to adapt to new changes.
The sobering reality is that static websites are dead! Today’s websites are not like static brochures filled with company information. The typical pages of Home, About, Service, and Contact — doesn’t help anymore.
These types of websites don’t even rank on google. People can’t land on your site from a search query just to read your Values and Mission statement. There must be something more valuable than that.
In fact, you don’t need a website just for pride. It has to bring results.
So what do modern websites really need?
Any website needs to perform either of the following three functions:
To sell a product
To promote a product or service
To build a mailing list
To accomplish either of the above, a website needs to generate traffic. This, unfortunately, cannot be achieved with a static website filled with Mission, Vision, and Values statements.
The following are the things modern websites need to bring results. Whether it is a personal blog, a corporate website, or a portfolio, these things are proven to bring desired results.
1. Copywriting is just as important as the design
You may have the killer visual design with the right colors, font, animations and so, but if the content sounds like a Ph.D. thesis, you are only going to scare potential customers away.
From attention-grabbing headlines to convincing benefit-based descriptions, and clear calls to action —you need to cut the corporate crap and write stuff that speaks to people and persuades them to take action.
The language on your website should be easily understood and make the visitor feel welcome, not to make you look smart. It is more about understanding your customer and writes something that speaks to them.
You are reading this article because I wrote it in a language that doesn’t make you wish you had been more serious at school.
Without traffic to your website, you are just as good as being offline. Unless you are paying for traffic, which will cost you a lot of money, you need to start writing articles on the blog section of your website.
With some content marketing skills such as keyword research, content writing, and SEO, you can be able to promote your website on search engines and stand a chance of appearing to customers who are actively looking for your service.
Are you a nonprofit that claims to have impacted thousands of people? Well, it is time to write those stories on your blog. After all, your good cause deserves to be shout out from rooftops, right?
Do you have happy customers using your product? Time to share their experience on your corporate website. These are the things a modern website needs.
3. Modern websites need to convert
After you have done great copywriting and content marketing, you need to make sure people coming to visit your digital home are either converting into buying customers or fans of your brand.
Having people to visit your site is an opportunity to sell or gain supporters for your good cause. You can’t afford to have them and leave without performing a desired action. Which is why it is important to set conversion goals.
Things like signup forms, testimonials, live charts, landing pages, and sales funnels are proven to bring high conversion.
After you have the above things in place: (1) Copywriting (2) Content Marketing (3) Conversion Goals, you can now rest assured that your investment in a website is actually going to pay off. You can now confidently try out PPC advertising and see a return on your ad spend.
Key Takeaways for Web Designers
Web designing is such a creative and fun process. Nothing brings joy than having your own website out there on the web.
But the online space is changing. We need to keep up.
Most of our clients don’t know much about these things. It is therefore our job as web designers and developers to step up the game and bring the best to our clients.
Here is a list of things that work on modern websites every web designer needs to be familiar with right now.
Learn Copywriting or ask your clients to write the content themselves.
Learn to create membership websites.
Learn to create e-commerce websites.
Create a combination of a static website with a blog. It is usually there by default, it just needs some settings and design.
Help your clients to set Analytics so they can see what exactly is happening on their site and make data-driven adjustments
To Business Owners…
There are many ways to take your business online. But if you want to give your brand some serious attention, having your own business website is highly recommended.
At Tanzlite, we always try our best to create websites that actually bring leads. If you still don’t have a website in 2020, we can help you get one at the price you can manage. Check our website service page and get in touch.
If you believe and have a passion for what you do, life will reward you. That’s what Annastazia Stansilous Temu, a Tanzanian based in London stands for. She is the founder of Views4D — an award-winning multimedia digital marketing company that incorporates technology and innovation as a tool to create marketing solutions across many industries, specialising in travel and hospitality.
She has just won a 2020 WTM Africa Awards in the Technology and Innovation category. This is just one of many awards she has received since starting her company in 2017.
Speaking on a Q&A, Anastazia shares her journey to starting Views4D and all the motivation behind it.
You recently got an award for your VR company, can you tell us what Views4D is about and how many other awards related to your project have you received?
We are so honored and humbled to be WTM Africa Awards 2020 winners. This just shows that if you believe and have a passion for what you do, life will reward you.
Though we were founded in London, our story truly began in Tanzania when I took my children to visit their beautiful motherland for the very first time. It was one trip that they still talk about three years on. For children who are well-traveled, this was high praise.
During our visit to Arusha, I took them to visit the Cultural Heritage Art Gallery, situated on the outskirts of Arusha near the Arusha airport. The children were delighted by the collections of art in the gallery. My oldest daughter later mentioned to me that back at school in the UK they were never taught about African art and how beautiful and culturally-rich it was. This very sentence sparked my determination to showcase this art gallery to the rest of the world, to spread the stories of the artists and the abundant culture it held.
I approached the owner and he gave the go-ahead to capture the Cultural Heritage Art Gallery and Centre.
Owner of the Gallery, Saifudin Khanbhai seeing his Gallery in VR for the first time
We were contacted by a few colleges in the USA asking us if they could use our content to teach about African art. Cultural Heritage holds the largest number of art collections in East Africa and has been visited by prominent figures such as former US presidents and celebrities. Sadly, however, the location is barely known — not only internationally but locally too. This disturbed me but also sparked my interest in Tanzania tourism.
The following year, we started attending shows and persuading lodge owners to present their establishments through 3D virtual tours. While capturing some of the luxury lodges it surprised me how low occupancies these beautiful lodges had. This raised further questions as to why this could be. I figured that – both for the Cultural Heritage and these lodges – marketing was the big issue. As my background was in engineering, business, and technology, I figured I needed to find out more about marketing in the digital age.
You have a strong background in STEM, what would you say to young women interested in building a career in technology?
Thankfully, at this point in time, it is easier than ever to break into the digital marketing industry, especially for women. All over the world, women in technology is a very hot topic. I have had ties to technology all my life and I know how hard it used to be to get into the sector.
This is speaking from experience; when I was studying my Bachelors in Engineering, I was one of only 2 girls in a class of 35 men. It is fascinating seeing how the industry has evolved,though there are still clearly not enough women in the sector. Recently, I attended a Google Street Views summit at their London headquarters where there were only a handful of us in the room of 250 of the world’s top Street View photographers.
I want to raise my girls knowing that whatever their field of study, they can follow their dreams with enough hard work and determination, and I strive to be a role model to them in this way.
What interested you in Virtual Reality and why do you think it should be part of a marketing tool in the tourism industry in Tanzania?
I took up a Masters studying Digital Marketing at Kings College Business School. My research study was Virtual Reality in Destination Marketing. The content of the Pre and Post-Study was of cultural sites, beaches and safari lodges in Tanzania.
The findings were incredibly positive. They showed that, during pre-test, those who were not aware of Tanzania as a tourism destination did not consider it on their must-visit list. Their perception positively changed after viewing VR Tours of Tanzania and Tanzania became a destination they would like to visit.
Tourism contributes profoundly to countries’ economies. According to statistics (WTTC, 2019), over the past decade the tourism market has been experiencing exponential growth and continues to be one of the fastest-growing economic industries, surpassing the oil and food industries’ global GDPs.
Tanzania as a tourist destination has a lot to offer but it wouldn’t normally resonate in most consumer’s minds except for a select few seeking specific things (e.g mountain hiking or safari). The use of virtual reality to showcase what destinations have to offer to its consumers should be part of a marketing tool in the tourism industry to increase awareness of Tanzania as a tourist destination and thus boost the country’s economy.
Virtual reality is a computer-aided graphic design that simulates elements of the real world, giving a feeling of presence and the immersive experience of “being there”. Its ability to simulate multiple senses through the use of visual, kinaesthetic, and audio cues and, therefore, teleport you to a different environment increases travel experience satisfaction. Hence virtual reality and its application in travel and tourism would be incredibly useful in terms of its functional features.
Of course, it would be ignorant to say virtual reality solves it all. During the above study, I discovered many aspects of marketing. In order for a company to be able to compete in the current digital age, they need to take several things to account when developing their marketing strategies (for example their brand positioning, communication tools, etc.)
So at Views4D, we have partnered with several other experts to acquire more skills in order to provide our clients with complete 360-degree marketing solutions.
Anastazia (Left) at Google Street View Summit in London
Where do you see Tanzania in the world of technology?
Tanzania has a long way to go in the world of technology especially when it comes to improving internet connection and speed. It’s very frustrating when trying to load data files which should take seconds to load that in Tanzania can take several hours. This is obviously drawn from my own personal experience as I work with large data. This could also factor into Tanzania’s struggle to break the glass ceiling in terms of tourism and digital marketing.
For companies like us, the current social climate has been somewhat of a blessing in disguise. We no longer have to explain the benefits of going digital – people can see it for themselves. Virtual reality has become reality – virtual conferences, meetings, and interviews have all suddenly become commonplace.
For digital marketing and innovation, we are at the beginning of a new era. Many companies are wanting to evolve and adapt to this increasingly computerized environment. Views4D is here to help them take their first step.
The COVID 19 pandemic has brought a new awakening to big and small businesses in Tanzania. It has been obvious now that undergoing digital transformation is the only way to keep your business going.
In fact, businesses that did not have a digital presence of any kind are the ones losing the most during this pandemic.
And the reality is that things are not going to get back to normal! In fact, things were already beginning to change even before the pandemic.
Before Covid19, the digital landscape in Tanzania was already taking significant growth (over 26 million Tanzanians were using the internet by the end of 2019). So it is fair to say COVID 19 has brought the future early.
It was only a matter of time before businesses were forced to undergo digital transformations.
Welcome to the new digital Darwinism: If you don’t adapt, you are left behind and forgotten.
There is a big need for businesses to rethink how they operate in the world that is increasingly becoming digital. Not to mention recurring uncertainties.
Undergoing significant digital transformations can help you stay relevant and connected with your customers.
By saying digital transformations for businesses we mean, among other things, having infrastructures such as being able to collaborate online (remote work), knowing the best tools to use, leveraging online platforms such as websites, and social channels to grow brand awareness, as well as staying abreast with current trends in the digital world.
The way forward here is to adapt – so that you won’t risk being run over by your competitor in the disruptive digital communication’s race.
So, what are we doing to help?
Knowing the challenges small businesses and entrepreneurs go through on the journey of taking their business online, we have decided to be part of the help. Here is what we are doing to offer help during this pandemic.
Providing resources such as content calendars, social media posting ideas, and other resources. This includes changing the focus of our blog articles into helping readers on how to grow their businesses in the digital world.
Creating websites at affordable prices everyone can manage (we know these are hard times financially) plus a dedicated SEO strategy to help startups get noticed on the web just like we did on our business.
AND HERE’S A GIFT FOR YOU: Download our list of social media posting ideas that can help you to increase engagement on your social channels. We use these exact ideas for our clients and they have proved to boost engagement especially on Instagram and Facebook.
And the best part of all, we are open to giving a dedicated Digital Marketing consultation to small business owners. This includes giving our best secrets that helped put us on top of Google in less than six months.
Wouldn’t you want to jump in front of your customers right at the moment when they are looking for you? Feel free to contact us HERE.
