Should My Business Get Involved With Social Media?
A very good question. In 9 out of 10 cases the answer has got to be "yes" Nearly all businesses can benefit from one type of social media platform or other. Over the past few years we have seen a massive shift in the way we communicate. Life is faster, we have information at our fingertips and we can find answers to all our questions with the click of the mouse. So whether you are a small or large business, we recommend that some sort of social media connection is essential. There are so many different platforms for social media and it is important to understand how to use them and which ones are best for the type of business you run. Social Media Marketing is the Word-of-Mouth Marketing for the 21st century and as a business owner you need to be involved and be keeping up to date with the trends in your business sector. Using social media is just that......SOCIAL. It is a way to connect with your existing customers and grow your relationships. It is a way to find new customers and build new relationships.
When you're marketing a business, in today's world it should include social media marketing. Marketing is the basis for the growth of any good business. Social Media, Facebook inparticular, is the newest, shiniest tool in the list of other forms of marketing. Used properly, businesses can reap the rewards.
Marketing has been around forever and in today’s marketing world, learning how to use social media has to be part of your plan. People are always looking for the next exciting marketing device. Facebook and other tools such as Twitter are merely newer methods to get people into your business. The end goal is to get people all the way into a lead and then into a sale. When you look at it that way, you have to always be on the alert for what people are listening to and responding to. Five years from now, it may not be Facebook. If you focus all your energies in just one type of marketing or social media marketing, you won’t be keeping up with and reaching your target audiences. There’s a big uproar of the “quit Facebook day.” “Social media experts” say Facebook’s going down because there are privacy issues. It’s not likely that 10,000 people or more will quit because of the privacy issues. But people thought the same way about MySpace five years ago. Who knows who’s going be the next big thing. You just need to really understand the core of marketing and then just adapt your style for the sites or through the methods that work for you.
Social Media has a lot of benefits and a lot of advantages. The tools work now but they’re just tools. They’re not all of it. You don’t just do Social media marketing, you do marketing. And using Social Media is one of the components of your marketing piece. Facebook provides a great marketing advantage with an Official Facebook Business Page, where you can post all sorts of content and engage in meaningful conversations. Twitter gets the conversation going too. If you have something interesting to say, people will follow you so they can learn more about you. LinkedIn is a very powerful and social networking site for professional services. It is mainly B2B and it is more acceptable to market directly to your connections. Therefore business can be quicker than on the more social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Four Squared has exploded in the United States and more than likely will do here in the UK. If your are a location based business, then Four Squared could be a great marketing tool to attract more customers. QUICK TIP: Let your existing customers know that you use these sites, put a sign up in the business or on your website and offer them a gift or discount for "telling their friends". It is human nature to find out things and with the new social networking sites, it has become a whole lot easier. Your customers will go and look you up, so, the more personable and friendly you are, the more likely they are to buy from you.
With social media, you must have a plan, like any other marketing tool, follow the plan with good content and then be sure to use good social media etiquette. Your plan should include researching your market and finding a niche, providing good content the people want to follow, decide upon a way to capture your leads, and then developing relationships with those people who become followers. Develop a social media content marketing plan that will turn followers into real customers. To find out more about this new and robust form of marketing, why not give your local social media buddies a call and we will be happy to help.