Make a Social Push for Mobile Payments
In a day and age when the small business owner must provide his or her customers with what they want yesterday and not today, it makes sense to offer them a wide range of products, services, and payment options.
With that being said, where do mobile payments rank on your list as far as important options for your customers?
For anyone who has been following the mobile payments market, it is wise to take note of many of the reports that show the industry growing, with expect growth to soar over the next few years.
According to a report from Yankee Group, mobile transactions are forecast to top $1 trillion by 2015, a significant increase from the approximately $241 billion completed just back in 2011.
One of the means of spreading the word about mobile payments has been social media, as small business owners can use social networks to tout the fact they offer mobile payments for their customers.
Among the ways they go about this:
* Constant presence – Social media is not for the weak and timid. You need to make sure that your presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. is real and often. Keep in mind that there is still a significant presence of consumers out there who know little to nothing about mobile payments, With that being the case, educate them on how mobile payments can make their shopping experience more pleasant. Above all else, make sure your social networking pages are updated regularly, meaning no major gaps in time spent on there;
* Specials and rewards work – What customer doesn’t like a special? Use your social media pages to offer customers specials when they opt for mobile payments. Whether it is 10 percent or 20 percent off here and there, discounts towards gift cards, or allowing them to accrue points towards future purchases by using mobile payments, anything you can do to reward them will increase the chances of them buying from you;
* Engage the customer – Inevitably your customers who opt for mobile payments will have questions about the process. Provide them with answers, including educational on how to use mobile payments, why they are safe (stress the security of the transactions to them), and how they can end up making the buying process so much easier over time. When a customer comes to your Facebook or Twitter page with questions and/or issues, don’t take your good old time to respond to them. Failure to act means that the competition can be waiting there for them to move in and take your customer away from you;
* Don’t shove a sale down their throat – Finally, keep in mind that social media is not suppose to be used to jam a sale down a consumer’s throat. If you make the mistake of trying to force mobile payments on a customer via social media, you could lose them. Your social media presence as noted above should be to answer questions, educate, and solve problems regarding mobile payments. Another words, save the sales pitch for someplace else.
If mobile payments figure into your plans for 2013, becoming more social about them certainly can’t hurt, that is if you do it the correct way.
About the Author: With 23 years of experience as a writer, Dave Thomas covers a wide array of business topics, including how to accept credit cards online.
Image Credit: 1.
Posted in Social Networking. Tags: mobile phone, mobile transactions, social media networking
No Replies
Feel free to leave a reply using the form below!
