Ignore social media at your peril!
Is your business involved in social media? If you have a personal blog, FaceBook account, or Twitter page, those don't count. If we search for your company throughout the social media network, will we find anything? If not, you need to seriously reevaluate your internet strategy.
As casual as many social media applications seem, they have a lot of relevance in the business world -- a relevance that's growing every day. Skeptical? Check out the stats below, gathered from a survey of active online users:
- 73% have read a blog
- 47% say social media influences their purchasing decisions
- 26% changed their mind on a purchase decision based on social media
- 91% say consumer reviews are the number one influence in making purchase decisions
- 87% trust a friend's recommendation over a critic's review
The numbers are there. But how -- and more importantly, why -- should you use social media in your online marketing?
Let's tackle the "why" first. Here are just a few reasons why social media is a must in your promotional bag of tricks.
Why Social Media?
- Generate Additional Exposure: This one's obvious, but important. Having a website and nothing else limits your online audience; in a post-Web 2.0 world, many online users prefer to get their information in other ways, such as through Twitter or Facebook. If you're not there, you're missing out on potential prospects -- period.
- Build New Business Partnerships: Networking is one of the oldest business tricks in the book, but in the 21st century, you don't have to go to a workshop or pick up the phone to make new connections. Using business-friendly social media enables you to expand your contact list larger and faster than ever before.
- Increase Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Although the inner-workings of Google and other popular search engines remain a closely-guarded secret, we do know that as links to your website increase, so does its search engine rank. Imagine a few key social media mentions moving your website up a few slots on Google's first page, and you can really see the power of getting people talking about you online.
- Decrease Overall Marketing Expenses: No, you're probably not going to be able to cancel all of your existing campaigns in favor of a Twitter feed. That being said, done right, social media has the potential to replace some tactics in your marketing mix, and it won't cost you anything but time.
- Control The Message: People are going to talk about your company online, whether you're there or not. If you're there to respond and interact with them, it could mean the difference between a public relations nightmare and an opportunity to make some truly personal connections.
By now, you should be fired up and ready to start 20 different accounts for your business. (Alternatively, you could be scratching your head and thinking, "They lost me at 'Twitter'.) But before you go too crazy, keep a few simple things in mind, and you'll be on your way to beginning your own social media strategy without going off the rails.
How To Get Started:
- Learn The Ropes: As with many other things in life, observing the social media triumphs and failures of others before throwing your hat in the ring can save you a lot of amateur mistakes. Follow a few companies that you like and see how they use social media.
- Set Limits And Preserve Your Sanity: There are a lot of social media outlets out there (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Biznik, MerchantCircle, blogs...and the list goes on). To get a good bang for your buck, you'll need to spend about an hour per day on each one (more on that in the next tip). You don't have to be a mathematician to see how quickly that time adds up if you're creating a profile on every social website you see. To start, just pick one or two, then reevaluate in a few months.
- Get What You Give: When people are connected 24/7, their demand for new content and information is going to be high. If you update your Facebook once every few days, people are going to fill the rest of their time with something else, and potentially ignore you even when you do update. You should be posting interesting, thoughtful content to each of your online outlets on at least a daily basis -- ideally, several times a day.
- Save The Sales/Promotional Stuff For Elsewhere: Unless you're a major retail chain, your Twitter is not going to be very interesting for your followers if it's filled with updates like "Everything on sale, 50% off!" Generally, people are not going to react well to hard sales efforts in their personal spaces, and that's probably not why they're following your business to begin with. Instead, provide your fans with helpful information about your industry, promoting your company only when you have something to say that's interesting to people beyond your staff and shareholders (for example: "Our new product is being used by the President!" versus "Our new product just sold 100 more units!").
Take A Deep Breath!
No doubt about it: social media can be extremely confusing and time-consuming, particularly if you're not involved in it at all yet. But as time goes on, ignoring it will be harder and harder to do, with bigger and bigger consequences for your business. If you need help getting on board now, let us know right away.
