Why your business needs social media

A robust social media presence is vital for any modern business. The contemporary consumer has migrated from official sites and physical stores onto the public forums, and companies have to follow. Here’s how you benefit from being active on various platforms.

Staying in the loop

Before you start strategising, you have to know the wider trends. Being active on social media is a great way to stay up to date on industry developments, as well as to monitor your competition. Regardless of your industry, fresh news is likely to appear on social platforms first.

Previews, announcements, key notes, and the like will get posted to Twitter, Instagram, and blogs. Choose a few relevant accounts to follow and check their posts regularly. It will go a long way in keeping you on top of developments up to the minute.

Regarding competitors, you can guiltlessly keep tabs on their own strategies. Check out what ad campaigns they run, what they post, how their audience responds to their content, and how you can utilise all that.

You might want to emulate some of their marketing practices if they’re good, or make a note to avoid doing the same thing if they achieve poor results. Either way it saves you loads of effort and resources.

Direct audience insight

Social media dramatically opens up the lanes of communication between your business and your customers. Consider that you are participating in a public forum. Every time you respond to feedback, either positive or negative, it’s effectively a press release. Ignoring things also sends a message.

This might sound daunting, but it offers a unique form of return on your investment: deep insight. People tend to be careless on public platforms, so you will inevitably learn a lot about them. You get insight into your audience’s personalities, passions, and quirks, all in real-time. If you establish a sense of community and connection they will open up even further.

This is a powerful tool for your business strategies. It enables you to tailor your social media adverts and overall marketing campaign to your target demographic’s specific preferences. It will also supply you with useful pointers for evolving your business practices to meet your customers’ expectations.

Generating leads

Your social media posts are great for redirecting people onto your official website or directly into your sales funnel. Include calls to action and make the most out of share buttons. Go for a mix of industry credibility and everyday humour. You can recruit a specialised SEO company to write your social media ads, or come up with your own stuff.

Whichever approach you choose, be patient with these leads. Someone might follow you and engage on social media while not yet being ready to buy. That’s alright; use that as a foundation. Build a sense of closeness by posting engaging content and being available to chat.

Brand reputation and awareness

A social media account makes your business more available for direct interaction. Customers can reach out to you the same way they would to a fellow individual. That kind of connection makes your brand more trustworthy and relatable. When you invest the time and effort in humanising your brand, it shows in improved audience relations, awareness, and favour.

To begin with, being on social media at all increases your reach. With so many people using the platforms, it’s inevitable that a wider group will become aware of your business. In fact, among the teenage and early- to mid-twenties demographic, social media is the primary tool for brand research.

There are a few strategies for humanising your brand via social media, including:

• humorous posts
• personalised emails or witty newsletters
• publicly engaging with commenters
• sharing behind-the-scenes content

The point is to make your customer base feel like they know you on a more personal level. If they can connect with you as a person, they’re likely to be loyal to your brand and spread good word about it.

It’s a content goldmine

If you ever run out of ideas for what to share with your audience, you can take advantage of their own posts. Look at what they publish on social media, what they comment, like, dislike, and generally react to. Harvest their opinions for topics to talk about.

Monitoring these things gives you direct insight into the types of content that appeals to your target demographic, so you can tailor your own strategy to that. You can also utilise “crowdsourcing”. This method entails asking a direct question to your audience. You can then use their answers in a few different ways:

• incorporate them in your content (with credit)
• use the as feedback on your business practices
• draw inspiration for future marketing campaigns

To sum up, a strong social media presence lets you keep a finger on the pulse of consumer opinion and spread awareness of your brand. If you utilise social media ads well, you can generate new leads and improve your business’ reputation. Most importantly, you can stay on top of industry news, keep an eye on your competitors, and mine their content for your own strategic success.

Written by Derek Lotts