As a Certified Golf Teaching Professional® – Is a Social Media Presence Important?

By: Kenneth Weaver

I’ll cut straight to the point by stating one simple fact: Your business needs a “healthy” social media presence.

Having a social media presence has reached the level where it is “expected”. If people search for you or your business and you don’t have a “healthy” presence on social media they often move on to the next business that does. A healthy and viable social media presence should be an essential element of your marketing strategy.

There is never a “wrong time” to start building a social media presence. With that being said it is vital that your presence reflects yourself and your business in a professional manner. This is especially important in the golf industry (I’ll address this specific topic in an upcoming article).

A consistent and viable Social Media Strategy can drive credibility and growth for yourself and your business by building relationships with your customers and prospects.

Five ways a Social Media Presence can benefit your Golf Business

Increased visibility and awareness of your brand

Through a consistent and relevant social media presence targeting your “niche” and region will ultimately increase awareness of your “brand” of services and/or products!

Build engagement with customers and prospects while taking customer service to a higher level

Social Media provides an effective platform to engage with your customers and prospects by offering online support.

Be quick to respond to any concerns or questions.

Be helpful and portray a positive image.

Be a good listener and make your customers/followers feel heard.

Be quick to like/thank/compliment customers/followers when they engage with your posts.

Know when to resolve certain conversations in private messages or with a phone call.

Truly listen to what your customers/followers are saying. They can provide you with invaluable insight.

Build authority for yourself & your business within the Golf community

Today’s customers have become more discerning when making the decision as to which businesses they choose to patronize and support. More often than not they will look for you and/or your business online. They will have an expectation of finding a professional, functional and up to date website. In addition they will be looking for your Facebook Business Page as well as other social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. This provides you with the perfect opportunity to establish yourself as an “authority” in your niche. Be it as a golf teacher, golf coach or in the golf merchandise business. This is your opportunity to outshine your competition.

Social Media Marketing is less expensive than traditional advertising

Let’s face it, conventional marketing (TV, Radio, Print Ads, direct mailing…) can be very expensive and not every business (especially small businesses) can afford huge campaigns. With social media advertising you can get a lot of value for your dollar. This provides an excellent and affordable opportunity to grow your audience. Using social media advertising platforms such as Facebook and/or Instagram you have the ability to reach out to a very specific and targeted market. If you make use of no other social media platform I highly recommend that you at the very least have a viable/active Facebook “business page” presence. I must emphasize that the “business page” presence is not the same as having your own personal Facebook. All posts/content on the business page need to be relative to your business or industry. This is not the place to be posting photos of you and your buddies Saturday night venture to the brew pub (I will address post content in an upcoming article).

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms among adults in the United States. According to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2018 around two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) actively use Facebook. By using the Facebook marketing platform you can target your advertising by region, sex, age, profession and interests. This is one of several means in which you can reach out to a large targeted audience within your geographic region.

Although it isn’t necessary to used paid social advertising to build your brand and find new customers it is by far the fastest means to do so. You always have the option of making full use of the appropriate platforms without the use of paid ads. This can work well if you happen to be someone that already has a personal social presence with a significant following. You can simple invite your current friends/followers to follow your new platforms and start building from there. This is a great approach to use to get started even if you plan to develop a paid advertising campaign.

Note: This is the first in a series of Social Media Marketing articles. Be sure and click on one or more of the Social Media Icons at the top right of the page to follow us on your favorite social platform. I monitor all of the USGTF social platforms and will be posting additional articles through those channels. If you have any questions in regard to social media marketing feel free to contact me either through USGTF social channels or directly via my email: weaverentp@gmail.com

If you’ve found this information to be helpful please take a moment and click on one of the Social Share buttons below.