It can seem like a jungle out there and the list of social media platforms available to use is endless, everyone seems to keep harping on about just how great it is. But is it?
Erm, yes! Yes it is, and to prove it, here are ten reasons why you should definitely take your social media strategy seriously...
1. Competition
Chances are, that your competition are already facebooking, tweeting, blogging etc... which means that they're one step ahead. Make sure you're on a level playing field with your competitors and at least participate on the same social media platforms as they do. But not only that, social media gives you the opportunity to spy on the competition and see exactly what their strategy is, sneaky.
2. Engagement
How long would it take you to gather the data necessary in order to give your business a general view of who your customers actually are? Why not just ask them yourself? Post a question to facebook or twitter and engage with your audience. Social media is a two way conversation and gives you the unique opportunity to speak directly to your customers, and potential customers, in real time, whilst discovering their wants and needs.
3. Build Awareness
Social media allows you to build awareness for your business whilst reaching a variety of demographics that you may not have otherwise been able to easily reach. Touch.
4. SEO
Social media is a great tool to use to help boost your Google page ranking. Through social networking, sharing great content, quality links and using social media platforms, you can increase where your businesses website currently ranks on Google. However I must stress, only ever produce good quality content and make sure that you are always adding value to your customers, don't use social media purely to climb the rankings of Google, it's just not cool.
5. Resource of Information
You have your entire customer base at your finger tips, you can ask them anything at anytime and get a response in real time. Awesome.
6. Recommendation
Social media is the modern day word of mouth. Can you remember the last time you bought a specific product because someone that you knew recommended it to you? This is how social media works. Sharing on facebook and retweeting on twitter are all ways to recommend a certain little nugget of information. It's saying 'hey, I've just read this and I though that you might like it too', and your customers will be more likely to buy from you than from a competitor.
7. Promotion
If you're looking to run a promotion or event, social media offers a free platform for you to do this instantly. Not only can it do it straightaway, but you can also track and analyse how well it's going. With so many free tools for you to use, you can monitor link clicks, set up great landing pages, track page views and see exactly where your traffic is coming from.
8. Share
What a great way to share the knowledge that you already have. If you're passionate about a particular subject and have an abundance of experience in it, then share it. People love to hear great tips from real people who know what they're talking about, and when they feel like they know you and realise that you are in fact human, they're more likely to keep coming back and recommend you to others.
9. Lead Generation
Build an email marketing list through a multitude of social media platforms. You can direct potential customers to forms and landing pages via facebook, twitter, linkedin, tumblr etc. for them to sign up to and with no admin involved! Collect data at 2'o clock in the morning while your asleep in your bed from an American sat at their kitchen table, could you do that without social media?
10. Digitalisation
Absolutely everything can be digitalised; from your latest catalogue to your business card. Save money and make the information that you already have available instantly. We are so used to acquiring the knowledge that we search for almost instantly, that waiting a few days for a brochure to arrive in the post, could mean that you lose out on a new customer to an online competitor.
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