A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, social media wasn’t on any business owner’s mind. It wasn’t a tool for enterprise. It was a way for kids to watch cat memes and for adults to keep in touch with their friends and families.
While cat memes are still hilarious, social media has transformed.It’s no longer an entertainment-only platform.Now, it’s also a key business tool.
Not convinced? Consider these compelling reasons why social media is important to any company’ssuccess.
1. It Helps You Build Brand Awareness
For small and mid-size businesses in particular, this is one of the top reasons why social media is important. Brand awareness is critical when you’re in the early stages of building your company. How can you get new customers to buy from you if they don’t even know you exist? On the flip side, traditional marketing and advertising methods like billboard ads and TV commercials are way too expensive for small brands.
Social media helps get your brand in front of your audiences. And you can do it for free! How awesome is that?
2. It Helps You Offer Better Customer Service
Customer service is vital to the success of your business. No matter how awesome your products are, if your customer service sucks, you won’t gain repeat customers. You’ll probably garner bad reviews, and you won’t benefit from word-of-mouth marketing.
You might be thinking, “But I have a toll-free phone number and that’s good enough.” Nothing could be further from the truth. People don’t want to call you. They don’t want to be put on hold. They want to connect with you on the channel they prefer—and that’s often social media. Customers often use Twitter to ask pre- or post-sale questions, for example. It allows for real-time communication, which customers always appreciate.
Delivering better customer service via social media will help you build a brand your audience can love. And isn’t that what business is all about?
3. It Allows You to Manage Your Reputation
Nothing will tank your sales faster than bad press. Social media helps you manage your online reputation in an efficient way. You can address every negative comment or complaint about your brand right away. You can fix the problem and appease concerns before the bad press gets out of control.
Not only will you be able to improve your reputation, but you’ll also show your customers you care.
4. It Helps You Humanize Your Brand
People want to buy from people—not from corporations. They don’t want to interact with robots. They don’t want to be treated like numbers. They want to build relationships with the brands they buy from. For a small business in particular, humanizing your brand is incredibly important. What sets you apart from large conglomerates is your ability to offer personalized services. Humanizing your brand can help you showcase this unique feature.
On social media, you can talk to your prospects and customers, person to person. You can show your humour and your quirks. You can help people connect with your brand in an emotional way. And guess what—this added level of engagement can help you increase sales.
5. It Enables You to Gain Customer Insights
You shape your strategic decisions based on what your buyers want, need, and like. You shouldn’t be guessing. Social monitoring can enable you to hear exactly what people are saying about your brand—what they love, what they hate, what they think you can do better.
With this real feedback from your customers, you can make more informed business decisions.
Although not an exhaustive list by any means, these five compelling reasons we’ve listed above should help you understand exactly why social media is important.
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