Photo cred: Damien do Toit
How can social media benefit my business? I'm sure that you asked yourself this question at least once since you've first heard of social media.
Before going into details, I'd like to make it clear that a
business who should use social media is not necessary a large or
well established company. Everyone can benefit from using it. Even
we, here at Marketing Affairs are going to use social media
channels to reach out to you. There are a couple of points that I'd
like to cover up in this post regarding the subject.
Why use social media in the first place?
Well, that's pretty easy to guess, since you are already have
at least 1 account on the social networks. But, for a business this
might be a good incentive:
- the costs are smaller comparing them to the traditional advertising methods;
- due to sharing specific words, pictures, videos or audio files your company gets a lot more VISIBILITY;
- you're not the only one that talks about your brand - social media is about INTERACTIONS between people, not to mention the speed to which these interactions take place.
- you can benefit from the snowball effect that can be created around your company. Remember that every user has Facebook friends or Twitter followers which can multiply your targeted audience.
Adding the online channels to your company's marketing strategy as a way to create awareness around your brands/products, has become mandatory. Overlook using social media marketing at your own peril, or better yet, treat this exactly like the # 1 rule in any business: If we don't take care of our customers, somebody else will.
Depending on your audience you may try a combination of
different channels in order to get the most out of your online
marketing efforts.
Going into figures I can say that social media is growing to
be faster, stronger and more dependable than ever. Facebook alone
has over 500 million active users worldwide with 50 % of them login
on in any given day. An average user has 130 friends, so by having
one satisfied customer talking about your product, you get to
multiply your awareness 130 times. (source: Facebook )
A recent study showed that 92 % of Facebook fans say that
since becoming a fan of a given brand, they are most likely to
recommend it to their friends. Also, 36 % of them say that since
becoming a fan of a given brand their desire to buy it has
increased.
Still not convinced ?
Then you can use Twitter. They have over 100 million active
users worldwide. Statistics showed that in 2010 there were 750
tweets sent each second, out of which over 20 % were related to
brands or products. This year the number has increased to about
1.650 tweets per second. Is that telling you something ?
There are also other social media channels you can use for
your business such as LinkedIn which recently surpassed 100 million
users according to Mashable.
I've recently attended a webinar about how marketers should be
using social media to succeed. The speakers were Mike Volpe - VP of
Marketing for HubSpot and Victoria Ransom - Founder & CEO of
Wildfire. Among a lot of interesting things they shared, one got
stuck into my head - "Content makes you interesting".
That's right, this is what social media is all about. People
generating and sharing valuable content with other people.
Of course this can be and most definitely will be a 2 way trip
for you. Not all the things written about your brand will be
praises, you'll also have your share critics. Don't get me wrong,
this is a good thing for at least two reasons:
1. it shows you the things that need improvement;
2. you can use the opportunity to convert the critics into
fans of your brand.
We are in a world were a brand is whatever people say it
is. This leads to another idea that I encountered in that
webinar: Grow your brand by cultivation, not control !
People are more likely to be receptive to other user's suggestions.
As funny as this sounds, they indeed trust their Facebook friend's
opinion long before they trust your word as a company.
As I said in a previous post you need to create, share and
interact with you audience. Engage them in the comments they give,
offer feedback, answer to questions, in other words give them a
reason to come back or share your story with others.
How you should be using social media for your business will be
the subject of a later post. I do hope you find this info useful
and you'll see it as a good incentive to check out the
opportunities that are out there for your company. Use it wisely
and it will grow your sales, don't use it and you may be leaving
the door open for others to steal your clients.
As always, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Leave us a
comment, rate us or just like us and subscribe to our feed.
