The Everest Blog

Throughout the last decade or so, social media has drastically changed the way people interact with each other. While one could argue either way about whether this has been a good change, it’s been an overall net positive for businesses.

Before social media, there wasn’t a great way for companies to communicate with new and past customers. While they communicated through advertisements, nothing back then was as direct as social media is now. This makes most marketing efforts easier than ever.

While this type of interaction is typically most beneficial for larger companies, there are plenty of ways to use social media to grow something as small as your local ice vending machine business. In this post, we’ll cover these techniques and show you how to use them to their full potential.

The Best Social Media Strategies

Before you start growing your business, you need to set up a social media strategy. It will be difficult to achieve your goals without a plan in place. These strategies are a good place to start if you haven’t dipped your toes into social media marketing before.

Create a Company Page

Before you do anything else, you first need to create a company page on your chosen social media sites. This page will be the hub for all your social media activities. Plus, it will help make your business look more legitimate.

On this page, you’ll have your locations listed, a phone number for contact purposes, and any other information you deem necessary for your customers. Without this page, people won’t be sure if your business is real and won’t know how to learn more about you.

Join Local Groups

Once your company page is set up, it’s time to start joining local group pages. Platforms like Facebook and Reddit have tons of groups dedicated to informing people of the services that exist in their area.

You can take advantage of this to inform nearby consumers that they might have an ice vending machine closer to them than they might think. On these pages, you can post about your ice machines or simply respond to people looking for a place that sells high-quality ice.

Utilize Local Tags

Of course, you should also make posts outside of these groups since not everyone uses them. To make sure you only target people who live in your area, though, you’ll need to use local tags. Obviously, Twitter is most well-known for implementing hashtags, but many other platforms use them to help organize posts.

Regardless of what site you use, you can likely tag your posts with location-based tags that will help you target nearby customers. Be sure to also use tags that identify what your business offers. That way, you don’t get too many people who aren’t interested in ice. Attracting people who don’t interact with your posts can hurt your results within certain social media algorithms.

Partner With Other Businesses

A great way to boost visibility on social media platforms is to partner with companies that have already established themselves on these sites. By partnering with them, you will gain interest from their built-in audiences. Just make sure you choose businesses that complement your product.

For example, a cold drink company would be perfect for someone like you. Cold beverages need ice to stay cold, so find a local company that sells them and set something up. You can also try partnering with the business that houses your machine. That way, people who already go to that establishment will know they can find ice for sale there.

Create Targeted Ads

If you have the money to spend on them, targeted ads are a great way to build awareness. Normal social media posts can get lost or never show up on people’s feeds in the first place. A targeted ad is guaranteed to show up. Plus, they’ll make finding people who might need ice easier.

Improve Your Business

Of course, not all benefits have to be directed at your customers. Being on social media can also benefit your company directly. While on these platforms, you can investigate your competitors to see their strategies, allowing you to improve upon them and outshine the competition.

You can also use them and others as a resource to learn more about your business. Social media can be a great place for knowledge and to find bagged ice vending machines for sale in case you decide to expand your business in the future.

How Social Media Can Help Grow Your Business

So, now that you know how to set up your marketing campaign on these platforms, it’s important to know how social media can help grow your ice vending business. Fortunately, there are a few ways in which you can use these sites to expand your business.

Bring In New Customers

The most obvious way social media will assist you is through customer acquisition. Ice is a product that many people need but aren’t always sure where to find. By making yourself known on these platforms, you’re giving potential customers the knowledge they seek.

You’re letting them know that you exist, your ice quality is great, and that your machines are nearby. Even if they don’t rush out to purchase your ice right away, they now know that you’re an option if the day comes when they need you.

Build Brand Loyalty

On the other side of things, social media is great for building brand loyalty for people who have already purchased from you. As previously mentioned, social media has made communication between companies and their customers much easier than ever before.

By posting important updates and responding promptly to customer complaints, you show your customers that your brand is one they can trust. If you achieve that, they will continue to return to one of your machines every time they need ice in the future.

Remind Users About Your Ice

The fact that social media helps remind new and old customers about your business is the final way it can help you grow. While ice is important, it’s not something that people think about constantly. That means some customers might forget about your vending machines the next time they need ice.

Remaining active on these sites acts as a good reminder to all your customers that your ice is ready and waiting for them nearby. That way, the next time they need ice, they’ll be more likely to remember you and head straight to your nearest machine.