Most business owners in Uganda still don’t understand the power of social media marketing. They believe that by just positioning their businesses in the right environment ie in a rental store or office would guarantee them continuous sales. But I tell you, today social media is not just an option but a priority to all businesses.
The truth is the offline market in Uganda is dwindling as competition is now shifting to the online space. Today, millions of Ugandans now spend their days and nights online. They go online to do everything from reading to gossiping, chatting to checking out latest trends, and in the process they find out what their favorite brands are up to.
According to a report by Jumia detailing mobile trends in Uganda by the end of 2019, Uganda internet penetration rate is at 42% with over 19 million Ugandans now connected to the internet out of the total estimated population of country that now stands at 44.5 million people.
Of the 19 million internet users in Uganda, 2.5 million of them use social media. The social media market and taking it on can be hard for an inexperienced business owner who probably has no professional knowledge about social media marketing.
Also read; How To Start An Online Store In Uganda
Reasons every small business in Uganda should hire a social media manager
From wanting to get more customers, growing your sales, building credibility around your brand, hiring employees, and more, here I outline top 8 reasons every business in Uganda, whether big or small, should hire a social media manager:
- More time to grow other critical parts of your business
- Boost your brand image
- Find you more customers
- Communicate better with your customers
- Grow your sales
- Monitor your business’s performance
- Social media enhances Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Kill the competition
Also read; How to start an online business in Uganda
1. More time to grow other critical parts of your business
Doing social media management will eat up your time and will leave you with little or no time to concentrate on other parts of your business.
While you want to give your business a strong online presence, you should also ensure that the current way you build relationships with customers remains unchanged.
To achieve this, the best route to take is hiring an experienced social media manager. One that will prepare a clever social media strategy for your business and execute it as stated in the plan, and bring much more value to your business than you presumed while you concentrate on other parts of your business.
2. Boost your brand image
Reputable companies like MTN Uganda and Jumia have built a strong reputation online using social media. Many people have to know and trust these companies more because of their social media influence.
By hiring an experience social media manager to manage your company’s social media handles, your brand would be promoted to millions of people. And depending on how experienced the social media manager is, your brand’s image could be boosted and may someday become a household name.
3. Find you more customers
As you promote your business online, prospective customers will come in contact with your brand, and the perception your promotions carry will determine whether these people can convert into paying customers or not.
Converting people who encounter your brand online is no walk in the park, and for this, you will need to hire services of a professional social media manager to help you through it.
4. Communicate better with your customers
Social media gives you the power to talk to your customers in their comfort zones. It direct messaging via messenger or whatsapp with customers who have inquiries or complaints about your services.
Customers don’t just want to be listened to, but they also want to know their opinions matter. When you talk to your customers and make them feel heard or important, you would slowly build an emotional connection with them and your brand, and you eventually turn them into loyal customers. You need a social media expert to handle all this.
5. Grow your sales
In the hands of the right social media manager, your online sales record could amazingly shoot up. Proper social media management is a great tool for business owners to use to grow their revenues without spending much on advertisement. Handing this task to a brilliant social media manager is the key to hitting your targets and transforming your business.
6. Monitor your business’s performance
You cannot know whether your social media campaign is serving its purpose if you do not understand the metrics and data that reveal this information.
A social media expert is specifically trained to track and monitor metrics that matter and then adjust social media strategy as required.
Without hiring a social media to hand this, you could end up wasting time and money focusing on ineffective strategies.
7. Social media enhances Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Social media is an important factor in calculating SEO rankings. Sharing content on your social media sends a signal to search engines that your business is valid, consistent and trusted. When your social media pages are well optimized, you could general leads from search engines that would turn into paying customers.
8. Kill the competition
If your social media strategy is executed well, it can kill the sleeping competition. With so many Ugandan business owners having lackadaisical attitude towards taking their businesses online, you go far ahead of them by using a professional social media expert to steal customers from them. Before the competition realizes the need for a social media manager, they would have fallen behind the market already.
Also read; 18 reasons ecommerce businesses in Uganda are failing
Convinced?
Let a social media specialist handle your business’ social media presence. Choose a professional who is dedicated to improving and maintaining your brand’s reputation on social media and at the same time increase your sales.
What are your thoughts on these 8 reasons every business in Uganda should hire a social media manager? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
