We asked our social media expert partner, Amanda Brown of Alterra to address the question, and here are her top ten reasons why social media should be part of your business life. We hope this helps you to consider the role of social media in your own business. If, however, you wish to go further and learn how to build and implement a social media strategy for your own business then either email amanda on [email protected] or book on her September course.
10 reasons for using Social Media for marketing your business
1. Social Proof
The first reason for being involved in social media is that customers and consumers are using social media platforms to endorse or complain about the products and services they buy. It's very easy to post a positive or negative comment on Twitter for instance. The concept of social proof is demonstrated clearly on websites such as Amazon where customer reviews are placed right alongside the description of the book software or other product you are considering purchasing.
2. Brand personality
Given the widespread use of social media and the very personal nature of each platform, the people behind the brand become vitally important. Although most websites will have short profiles of each of key person in the business, there is usually very little personality evident. To use Ecademy's expression 'Know, Like and Trust', it is the people behind the company name or brand which is most important to new customers.
3. Building a sphere of influence
We are all very well aware that recommendations and testimonials play a big part in gaining new clients. It's important that your wider audience are aware of your expertise in your particular field. Companies can build a sphere of influence around them by directly connecting with key influencers on social media. For example, financial journalists use Twitter as a way of finding news items. If you have a newsworthy announcement to make obviously the traditional PR route is one way of publicising it, but you could use Twitter to flag up to the journalist that your press release is about to go live.
4. Keeping up with the competition
Before you embark on your social media strategy, we would advise that you take some time to look at the social media influence of your competitors. If your competitors are using social media to their advantage then you may well be missing out on internet exposure. Social media users, particularly those in the 20s and 30s, will have the expectation (rightly or wrongly) that all companies have a social media presence.
5. Your target audience is using it
Over half the UK population is involved in one or more social media platforms. Whereas 15 years ago not all professional service firms had a website, it is highly unlikely that any business does not have a website. If your target audience is on a particular platform then shouldn't you claim that piece of internet real estate?
6. Google measures social sharing when ranking
If you take a look at your Google analytics, not only can you see the traffic to your website from search referrals or as a result of someone putting your website address into their browser, but you can also see traffic from LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Facebook and Pinterest. Google are increasingly weighting social sharing when ranking your website.
7. The next generation of word-of-mouth marketing
This is somewhat akin to social proof. Social proof comes from the consumer themselves whereas we can use social media marketing to showcase our particular specialty. If this is then shared by others on social media our offering is validated, creating an online 'word-of-mouth endorsement.
8. Brand exposure
The greater level of social media activity more likely it is that your brand will be memorable. This is not just about promoting your own services but also providing valuable content to your potential audience. Social is where people go to be sociable. There are exceptions to this: LinkedIn is all about business but we don't want to see just ads wrapped up in posts. A rounded personality interested in wider business issues is much more attractive than somebody who is a self-publicist.
9. Opens up conversations
I don't know about you but I'm not a great fan of cold calling. Whilst we all have to do it some time in our careers, it's not the easiest of tasks. Many companies have efficient systems for fielding telephone calls which make it extremely difficult to, firstly, find the person you need to talk to and secondly, get through.
Starting a relationship online helps take the cold out of cold calling.
10. Improves customer service
The rise in the use of social media means that companies are open to complaints 24/7. Those companies who can handle complaints effectively will certainly mitigate the risks of bad comment.
