What are the different advantages of social media for student businesses?

1. Customer service
2. Content marketing
3. Audience engagement
4. Paid advertisements

Students at entrepreneurship schools in the Philippines dream of starting their own businesses even while they are still studying. If you really want to be an entrepreneur, don’t let age stop you. In fact, it is arguably best to start while you are still young and in school since there are no major adult responsibilities to answer to.

Yet, many of them hesitate because of fears. Understandably so. Without a job, they may find it hard to finance their operations, market their business and so on. If, like them, you are afraid, do not give up. Instead, find cheaper ways to make your business grow. Social media is one of those ways.

If you are good with social media, these are the advantages it can offer to your student business:

Customer Service

As vexing as it might be, teachers in your entrepreneurship school will constantly remind you to take care of your customers. After all, their money is the lifeblood of your business. It’s only right that you listen to their concerns and meet their needs, and customer service allows you to do both.

Customer service (CS) is essential for every student business because the experiences you provide your target audience can build or break your brand reputation. With social media, the expectations for good CS are higher than ever. People expect that brands can quickly answer their concerns and efficiently solve all their issues with the products they paid for. All this, under 60 minutes.

To optimize social media for your business’s CS:

• Ask customers to share their honest reviews
• Set rules on what concerns customers can publicly post on your social media profile
• Create a set of pre-written replies to common consumer concerns
• Acknowledge all social media feedback, questions, and comments
• Never forget to show empathy in your responses to all of your consumers’ questions

Content Marketing

As a management course student, the last thing you want is to invest a lot of money in content marketing. But content marketing is the best way to attract attention from potential customers and expose your brand to wider audiences. Your student businesses may have good quality products, but no one will buy them if they have never heard of your brand.

With social media, you won’t need to spend on content marketing. You can use Facebook to bring awareness to your business. Create a group page, gain followers, and start advertising. Your followers will also become your fellow marketers as they share what you post with their friends and, gradually, your brand reaches a wider audience.

Audience Engagement

Twitter has become a fun environment for brands to engage with their audiences. You see big brands like Wendy’s reply to the comments of their customers and post funny statements that go viral. How can anyone forget the snarky answers Wendy’s gave to their followers’ questions in 2017? While all of their online shenanigans came off as random, the fast food brand had taken calculated actions to engage with their audience. And the strategy paid off. Their 2017 profit was 49.7% higher than their earnings from the previous year.

The reason Wendy’s social media strategy succeeded is that it successfully built a loyal following out of Twitter users. These users not only shared online what the brand posted but actually became more interested in buying their food over other competitors because no restaurant talked liked Wendy.

Audience engagement will benefit your student business by making it seem more human and unique. It’s what touches people’s emotions; it makes them see you as more than some lackluster company. And most importantly, it’s what makes them care for your business. The reason they care for your business is that it appeals to them. Engaging with your audience on social media, including some humor or empathy in your statements. You will surely grab everyone’s attention.

Paid Advertisements

Advertising is an important expense, even for starting businesses of management course students. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a lot on huge posters and billboard signs, thanks to social media. Whenever you go to Facebook, there seem to be new business ads popping up in your feed every day.  What online ads have over offline ads like posters, is that you have the choice to target your ads to a specific market.

How does Facebook make your ads reach the right audience? They have a tool for that called “Create a Custom Audience” which allows you to create an audience for your ads through 6 different options. For example, you can choose the “customer file” option. Here, you will upload a file which contains data about your ideal customer and FB will target your followers and friends who seem to match that profile.

Besides sharing ad posts and videos, you can also take a subtler approach by partnering with influencers in social media. They can advertise your products for you by posting their review or talking about them to their followers through live stream.

Key Takeaway

Social media is the answer to students who are scared to start their own businesses. With these platforms, you can cut down on so many business expenses, without sacrificing efficiency. With social media, you have multiple advantages. You can respond to customers quickly, share content, engage with different people, and target your ads directly at your market.