Your business needs a social media presence not mater if you run a small local shop or a big national company. Social media is more than just a trend. It is an essential piece of your business marketing strategy.
But by itself, social media is not enough to drive business growth. Social platforms can help you connect with your customers, increase awareness about your brand, and boost your leads and sales. But you need to start with an always-on mindset and a solid content marketing strategy.
Here are some reasons why:
- Social media is an effective way to reach new audiences with engaging content
- Social engagement helps you build trust, authority and also to show your brand personality
- You need a solid plan for engaging content to distribute via social media
Social media provides immense potential for businesses because consumers habitually log on to it daily and are exposed to companies. It also presents huge challenges for businesses, however, because it’s an ever-changing space that is extremely noisy and crowded.
It can be difficult to keep up with evolving trends on social media, so we have provided you with the most engaging content to share, common challenges, and what social media resources businesses are investing in.
- 52 percent of social media marketers believe social media positively influences their company’s revenue and sales.
- The five most valuable social media platforms:
- Facebook (89 percent)
- LinkedIn (83 percent)
- YouTube (81 percent)
- Twitter (80 percent)
- Instagram (56 percent)
- Nearly 80 percent of companies share mostly original content on social media.
- The most important metrics for companies are engagement (36 percent) and conversion rates (35 percent).
- Social media is more valuable to B2C (58 percent) than B2B companies (46 percent).
- The biggest challenges with social media are:
- Not having enough human and financial resources (26 percent)
- Lacking a formal strategy (24 percent)
- Building a community of followers and influencers (24 percent)
Get Attention and Build Awareness
If people don’t know about your business, they can’t become your customers. Social media boosts your visibility among potential customers, letting you reach a wide audience by using a large amount of time and effort. And it’s free to create a business profile on all the major social networks, so you have nothing to lose.
However, it’s really easy for a consumer to become overwhelmed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms filled with noise from companies trying to promote their brands.
Show Authenticity
Customers aren’t interested in businesses that publish dry, corporate-style social media posts.
Instead, let your brand’s personality shine through in everything you share on social media. What does your brand voice sound like? How does it represent who you are? While brands need to be polite and empathetic to their audiences, it is more important to find a voice and take a stand.
Encourage Engagement
Sometimes, a seemingly simple social media post, such as one promoting a pair of shoes, can receive several likes, comments, and shares. People can even ask strangers in the feed if they have received their shoes, how long the shipping took, if they liked them, and other questions.
Social media opens the conversation for instant interaction, relationship building, and customer loyalty. It’s really important that companies have the right organizational structure to support social media. A customer support team and a product development team tends to be extremely effective.
Social channels evolve, constantly releasing new features, and this rapidly changing environment can be intimidating for some business owners.
Provide Support
Social platforms have successfully broken down barriers between companies and their customers. Now, instead of calling a customer service line, many people turn to Facebook or Twitter to solve problems or find information.
Develop your reputation as a responsive, caring brand by offering support through social channels:
- Create a system for tracking customer comments, questions, and complaints on social media.
- Respond as quickly as possible to questions and concerns.
- Go out of your way to be positive and helpful.
- Listen to criticism and make customers feel heard.
- Know when to resolve public conversations in private messages.
