Diana Smith, Negosentro | By now, everyone knows that social media is huge. However, many entrepreneurs have yet to awake from their slumber and realize that this channel is no longer optional, but the name of the business game. Part of the reason that many small businesses struggle to get on top of the social game is a lack of resources, knowledge, or dedicated employees to manage the channels.
Well, there are no excuses for those who really mean business. It’s high time to step up and rise above these limitations. Social presence empowers brands to reach prospects, customers, influencers, as well as partners. It puts you in the position to reap a variety of amazing benefits and get ahead of the herd.
A brave new marketing world
The rapid evolution of social media followed the upward tendencies in social media usage and a shift in customer behavior. It has not always been so, but today, customers expect brands to be easily accessible and responsive via social networks. Moreover, they tend to trust the information they find on official profiles. Finally, many people flock to the booming social frontier to ask questions, seek problem solutions, and provide their feedback.
Hence, branded social media profiles have evolved into powerful customer service tools. Your company has a chance to clarify things, soak in a high volume of opinions, add value to people’s lives, manage bad experiences, and turn disadvantageous situations around. In other words, social media channels can be used to deliver real value, weave your brand messages into people’s daily lives, and do so in a way that is not intrusive and is highly organic.
In this regard, social media marketing blows traditional advertising out of the water.
Handling interaction and gaining traction
Brand interaction is increasing across digital touch points and social media is put right at the center of these developments. Nowadays, it represents an incredible platform for enhancing the visibility of your brand, building credibility, and fostering long-term customer loyalty. To make all of this happen, businesses must uncover their unique persona, speak with a distinctive voice, and communicate messages that resonate with their target audience.
A strong social media presence creates a ripple effect as more and more people come in contact with your brand, either directly or via word of mouth. Namely, 71% of consumers who have a positive social experience recommend a brand to their peers. A similar portion of social media users actively search for recommendations on products and services from other customers, their friends, and industry influencers.
And you can rest assured that a positive testimonial shared via Facebook or Twitter holds much more power than an annoying pop-up that occupies screen space.
Keeping tabs on data
To harness the full power of social media, one must dive into an ocean of customer and demographic information. Only this kind of analytical, data-backed approach can lead to optimal campaign targeting and allocation of resources. Note that many businesses decide to outsource social media analytics in order to acquire qualitative and quantitative insight, as well as actionable information. This helps them grasp the full picture and figure out how they measure up against their competition.
Furthermore, these facts and figures can be used to create and fine-tune social media strategies. They are also building material for specific, tangible, and measurable goals that guide your efforts. So, put a tracking system in place and use relevant data to gain a sense of direction and mission. As you start finding out more about your customers, the positive effects will spill over into other departments: you will be supplied with knowledge to tweak your products and services and really hit the consumer mark.
The next level
Bear in mind that social signals, although they are not an official ranking factor, do contribute to your position in search engine results pages (SERPs). Namely, Google uses these signals to determine the trustworthiness and authority of your online brand presence. Moreover, these signals can contain valuable links. This is to say that you have an opportunity not only to capture social media audiences, but also to drive a great amount of organic traffic your way.
There are even some benefits we have not covered and the beauty of it is that social media marketing comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. It doesn’t take a whole lot of money to set up profiles and engage the audience. However, launching stellar campaigns is not something you can expect to do for free. After all, you have to come up with quality content and publish it on a regular basis.
This takes time to master and money to bring to life. But, small businesses and startups should not hesitate to commit resources to this. The benefits may not kick in right away, but when they do, the impact propels the whole organization forward, setting it on the track to reaching set goals. So, make no mistake, there is hardly a better way to reinforce your relationship with your customer base, increase your brand recognition, and spread the word far and wide.
Emitting social excellence
There is little doubt about the pivotal role social networks play in the digital business age. If you are not on social media, you are missing amazing opportunities to serve and delight your customers. A little love and care on social hubs can go a long way. It has a profound impact on the buyer’s experience and ultimately improves your sales and bottom line.
Just remember that you cannot expect to be hit by an avalanche of social signals just because you created profiles on major networks. Your efforts should revolve around creating and executing a social media strategy. Always plan, measure, and deliver in a timely manner.
Prove that you care about your customers, are able to deliver on your promises, and hold the key to solving the problems of people who count on you. Generate a whole army of prospects and turn them into devoted, paying customers.
