Welcome to the 21st century, where technology is at the front of pretty much every business. The main piece of technology news over the past decade is the emergence of social media and all of its different forms. The main platforms are of course, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So how do businesses today make the most of the current social media climate and why would they bother.
Well to put it simply, if your business is not on any form of social media then you are hiding in the shadows and potential customers are passing you by and opting for a business that is being put into the social media limelight. I think it’s safe to say that social media in the past was used for not much more than watching funny cat videos and keeping up with celebrity gossip. The social media of today is much more than that. From a user point of view, you can read reviews of businesses before using them, you can register your interest in a service by filling out an online form, you can interact with the business itself (or at least the person controlling the account) to troubleshoot issues and leave complaints. All of this while STILL being able to watch those cat videos.
Now, from a business perspective it gets even better.
Social media accounts are completely free to set up and it is relatively easy to do so. Once you have typed up your profile and added your company logo to the profile picture you are good to go and invite all of your existing friends, or send invites to people in private groups relevant to the business. This could get you your first few hundred likes all without spending a thing.
Without social media how would your business engage with customers? Cold calls? Unanswered email campaigns? With the help of social media channels engaging with customers is as easy as it’s ever been, all it takes is a few key strokes and you have gotten your message across to all of your followers. That message can be something simple like a link to an amazing blog post(!) or full on promotion of a new product or special offer, either way once you post it can be seen by all of your followers. That could be hundreds or even thousands of people reached in one post.
If you are on social media then so is your competitor. A quick search of your competitor’s name can lead to you finding ways to preempt errors they have made so you don’t make the same ones.
So far, we have only listed the FREE benefits of social media. Other benefits such as paid ads can drive traffic to your website in droves for a small budget. The business pages on all of the platforms have their own analytical tools, these tools can tell you instantly who has looked on your page, what they looked at and for how long, where they’re from and what time of day they logged on. It can tell you pretty much every piece of information you will ever need to really zone in on a target audience.
50% of the world’s population uses social media. That is roughly 3.6 BILLION people waiting to see your business and what you have to offer so why wouldn’t you take that chance? You could chance it and leave all your advertising to Google, but who is to say you wouldn’t be lurking in the gloomy depths of the results pages.
Even after reading this you need a hand with the social side of your business, then get in touch. We’re here to help.
