Why should you invest in social media?
Here are few reasons why social media marketing is beneficial for small businesses:
Social media profiles enhance your brand image: – Business image is vitally important. It makes your audience have opinion about you the moment they meet you (within first few seconds), that is going to last for years to come. A social media page with professional look, logo, a URL to the website, and active status and posts tells your audience that you are serious about your business.
Help you establish yourself as an industry authority: – Social media is not just about publishing your remarkable content. It is also about “being human,” giving your unique perspectives on things, connecting with other people interested in your offerings, and giving them interesting information that will help solve their problems, and show them how to use your products and services and enhance your life.
Social media is cost-effective tool to reach your audience: – You can post engaging photo and text messages on Facebook, take part in a industry TweetChat, or upload a video on YouTube, and basically be around where your target market is and increase your engagement as well as conversions for your business. Do not try to be on every single network out there; just stick with 2-3 social networks that will give you the most returns of your bucks.
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But if you have not been receiving all these benefits, that means you are probably doing one of these mistakes on your social media marketing.
Here are 10 signs you should invest in social media:
1. Your last update was over a year ago: – Inactivity on your social media profiles seems to translate to a sense of mistrust in your business. Social media is a great way to find and communicate with your audience as well as a great way for potential customers to discover you.
2. Your customers are on social media: – Social media is going nowhere. It is going to stay here. Although it will change and evolve over time, but it is definitely going to be around here even after 100 years. Why? Well, because people absolutely LOVE it. And what drives your sales? Customers! Who are they? People. Where do they hand around most of their time? On Social media sites. Why you need to be on social media? Well, there is where your potential customers are.
3. You are not where you customers are hanging out: – Your customers are actively engaged on a platform, but you are not. Being on the same social media as your potential customers are is a great way to participate and keep track of conversations that are already happening about your brand, products, and/or services.
4. Your customers are engaged with your competitors: – Your customers are talking with your competitors on the same platform. If they are talking with your competitors, and not you, your are giving the opportunity to build relationships with your customers to your competitors. Social media, when used efficiently, is another area to start, build, and strengthen business and client relationship, thereby, creating and maintaining, not mentioning, brand loyalty.
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5. You do not “update” your offerings (products and services): – Out of date product listings are not only disappointing to your customers as well as your potential customers, but also can reflect negatively on your brand. Featuring products and services you do not offer, or no longer offer, makes you misrepresent yourself and set yourself up for unrealistic expectations from your visitors. Moreover, if you do not even take time to update a social media listing, why should your visitors think you should be able to take care of them? A lack of attention to detail can translate into a lack of attention to your customers, at least in their minds.
6. You use popular hashtags without even knowing anything about them: – Participating in a conversation using popular/trending hashtags may get you a lot of exposure, but if you have to be pay attention. Do your research first to learn what the trending hashtags is all about to figure out whether your post actually belongs there. All you have to do is click on the hashtags, and within seconds, you will be able to tell whether it’s a topic you should cover and how to handle it.
7. You do not have a plan to handle negative responses, errors, damaging posts: – Social media is very fast – once your post a content, it is immediately available for everyone to consume, and your audience will let you know how they feel about it, which can sometimes result in backslash for your company. Having a plan of action on how to handle those negative responses (potential disasters) is the “wisest” thing you could for your brand’s social strategy and reputation.
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8. Your profile list dates should be changing, but they never do: – If you mention on your profiles that you have been helping your clients for over 7 years but that number has not changed for over 7 years, that’s a sign that you must be active on social media. As described above, it signifies a lack of attention to details, creates a bad impression in front of your potential customers, and means you are missing out the opportunity to showcase your experiences that will help your potential clients to trust you more.
9. You do not have any idea what the previous two items even meant: – If you or anyone in your office is unfamiliar with popular/ trending social media terms, it is definitely a sign that you must be engage in social media and start learning about it, or hire someone who knows how to use social media.
10. You think social media has no value: – When done ineffectively (haphazardly), social media will probably not give you much of an ROI for you. But when done with purpose, it can offer you great returns on investment and each of your profiles can become a solid web presence for your brand that you have total control over.
Conclusion
Being active on social media does not mean you have to create dozen profiles, or otherwise your business will fail. Just find 2-3 popular social media network and create a nice profiles there by regularly posting content that you and your customers find interesting, and over time, you will have already created a strong online social media presence that will drive traffic to your site and generate sales for your efforts.
Related article: How to Create Your Own Website and Make Money
Over to you: why do you think you need to be engaged in social media? Please share your ideas in the comment box below.
