It’s not secret that social media has made its way into every aspect of the business world – from big to small. So how much are small businesses spending on social media? Have a look at this infographic and find out.
There are plenty of reasons one can point to that would justify using social media strategies to help grow a brand or business online. Believe it or not, increasing sales is not the only reason why a collection of social media strategies might help a business. Of course, this is the end goal for any tactic in business, including a social media program, but what are some other reasons why social media strategies might benefit a company? Be low are the top 5 reasons why the implementation of social media strategies is important for any business.
Social media listening and monitoring offers certain benefits to increasing a competitive advantage that other strategies might not. With social media, the goings-on of your competition is made much more public than ever before, and this is an important edge when building your brand or business in a competitive market. Listen to what is being said by your competition and develop strategies that put you ahead in the market.
Using certain tactics in social media, such as involving yourself in the conversation and establishing yourself as an expert, will help you grow your brand faster than ever before. Lead generation and conversion is always easiest when you are the industry leader, and there is no better place to cement yourself as such than on social networks.
For any business, large or small, there will always be something to learn, and there will always be new avenues to explore. Social media offers an opportunity to connect with other leaders in your industry to both learn from them and grow with their help. Is that to say that your competitors will be rushing to increase your market share? No. But connecting with influencers will help you grow faster, and there is no better place yo showcase that than on social media.
When is the best time for you to be offering promotions? In which demographic do you stand to grow the most? These questions can all be answered using effective social media strategies for listening and engaging in markets you would have otherwise overlooked.
And of course, the most important goal is to increase your business and your revenue. Social media networks offer an untapped and vast, international pool of potential clients. With thoughtful social media strategies in place, you can benefit from these untapped markets in ways that had previously not been possible.
What other reasons do you think are important for employing social media strategies? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!
One of the biggest mistakes many businesses make when starting a social media campaign is doing so without any viable social media strategies in place. There is much more to social media than simply sending out tweets and posting to Facebook every now and then. Social media is an investment of both time and money (that’s right – social media isn’t free). Below are a few social media strategies businesses should be taking advantage of or at least considering when deciding to expand into social media.
As we noted above, using social media is not free. Of course, signing up for a social network such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn is free of charge, but managing these networks and driving business as a result of this activity will take investments of both manpower and capital. This is why the implementation of thoughtful social media strategies is an integral part to their success. You are going to need to know what your goals are, the appropriate channels to take advantage of, appropriate amounts of investment (e.g. activities such as Facebook Ads) and what metrics you wil be looking at in order to generate the highest return from your social media efforts. So while jumping onto a network might be free, getting the most out of it, like anything in business, is going to take a serious investment and commitment.
Social media is about one thing and one thing only: being social. So, what will be the result of endless self-promotion on social networks? You’ll find your accounts on the island of abandoned brands. This is the last place a business wants to be, because it means that all of that investment we mentioned in 1 will be wasted. So how do you avoid this? Focus on others. Social media is about engaging with an audience. Tout yourself as an expert not by simply stating it in a tweet or post, but by helping others with their questions or issues. Do you know everything there is to know about web design? Well, instead of simply repeating that throughout the day hoping someone will call you, give tips, lessons, webinars or answer questions for people when they come up. This is a surefire way to generate business from the leads you find all over the social web.
The customer experience now includes the entire network on which that experience took place. So when a customer announces that they hate your brand and product and will never buy from you again, use it as an opportunity. What? That’s right. Over 70% of customers who leave a brand do so because of poor customer service. However, a positive experience with a brand will result in that customer telling an average of 42 other people about it. On social networks, that number can be much higher. Don’t focus only on the good and try to hide the bad. The bad is what can help build your customer loyalty. Social offers an entirely new means of retaining clients, and the best way to do that is to take on poor customer experiences head on.
It’s a lot of fun to see your follower count grow, and it may be a point of pride to tell your friends that your brand has 2 million ‘Likes’ on Facebook, but how many of those followers or fans convert into sales? While a fan-base is a metric that should be looked at and evaluated over the course of a program, it is certainly not the most important metric one should focus on. After all, what good is having ten thousand guests at your party if you’re sitting alone in the corner because you don’t know anyone? A focal point for growing your fan-base should be specificity. Follow people who would be interested in what you have to say. Garner ‘Likes’ from people who are interested in your message. At the end of the day, you may not have as many Twitter followers as Lady Gaga, but you’re followers will be more likely to open a dialogue with you and possibly be converted into clients than millions of nameless faces.
Building up a social media program can take time, money and tremendous efforts, but if done correctly, it can easily be the most successful pillar of your business in terms of customer service and driving sales. What other strategies do you think would be helpful for a business? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
For some, this may not seem like a puzzling issue. Early adopters of social media strategies would argue that any business, large or small, needs social media strategies in place in order to be competitive. But early adopters are still a minority, and there are plenty of small businesses that are still looking at social media as an added cost that may be difficult to measure. The majority of people still think that social media is confined to Twitter and Facebook, and may have little value for a business, again, large or small. So where exactly does the value of social media strategies lie for small business? Below are three areas in which social media gives small businesses an edge that their competition might not have.
Social media provides a previously unexplored avenue for individuals and businesses that allows them to establish themselves as experts at a much faster rate and across a much wider audience. Take, for example, a local mechanic who specializes in European cars. Sure, people in town may know he the best when it comes to their import, and word of mouth helps his business, but there is a ceiling to how much business he can produce with a finite clientele. Enter social media, or, word of mouse. If the mechanic can establish himself as one of the foremost experts when it comes to repairing imported cars in the social world, previously unexplored avenues open up to him that would have otherwise been ignored.
One common concern when it comes to implementing social media strategies, particularly for small businesses, is the perceived difficulty with measuring the return from a program. While there are a number of ways to measure social media success, none is easier than creating promotions and offers exclusive to your social clientele. this both incentivizes your followers and friends on social networks to become active clients, and allows you to see how successful your social media strategies are by measuring the return on a campaign.
One issue customers must deal with when it comes to purchasing a product or service is the impersonal touch that comes with big brand customer service. Social media for small business allows one to engage on a one-on-one level and make any lead or customer feel like they are the most important facet of the company. (After all, customers are what make a company successful.) Social engagement changes the concept of customer service. No longer must a customer type a dozen numbers into a keypad before speaking to a call center representative. Using social media, small business can address client issues immediately and, more importantly, show the world their high-quality customer care, which in turn will translate into more customers.
These three points are essential when it comes to developing social media strategies for small businesses, and they show just how important social media is for any business – big, small, local or international. What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below or tell us on Twitter!
Like most companies, you’ve probably wondered how social media strategies might produce revenues and a noticeable return on your investment. This infographic from EventBrite details, in dollars, what social media is worth for your business:
