Incorporating social media into your company’s marketing strategy is more about facilitating your buyers’ process than it is about how you sell your products and promote your company.
With the Internet, people can be anonymous and conduct extensive research without having to talk to a salesperson or step into a store. In fact, 89% of consumers use search engines to begin their purchasing process.
Trust becomes a big factor in the consumers’ buying decision. If they don’t trust a company, they will not utilize their services or buy their products. One of the worst things that can happen when conducting their search is that they will find poor or negative reviews about a company. The second worst things is to find no online presence at all. The third worst thing is a badly constructed website and limited or no social presence.
Utilizing social media and having a strong online presence is one of the most important steps towards earning trust in our online based society. On social media sites, real-time conversations are occurring every day that define your market and brand, whether you choose to participate or not.
These real-time conversations can be harnessed, monitored, and measured. In turn, they can become highly relevant conversations and engagement opportunities with potential buyers and current customers, resulting in increased sales and customer satisfaction.
8 Reasons Why Businesses Should be Using Social Media
1. Provide Social Proof
Having a presence on social media sites provides potential customers with social proof that your company exists, and enables them to see what others’ experiences have been with your company, products and services. It also enables them to become more informed about your company which, in turn, increases their level of trust in your company.
2. Extend Your Brand
Social media can help create a recognizable identity for your company, products and services. When potential customers become familiar with a business because of its identifiable messaging and visuals, they create positive associations with that business and can remember it more easily.
3. Grow Your Company’s Network
Networked companies perform better in sales than those that are less networked. Amassing a large base of fans, followers, and connections enables you to communicate directly with consumers who are interested in your products and services.
4. Build Thought Leadership
Social media provides a platform and personal branding opportunity for your business and business leaders to build thought leadership and position themselves and the company as experts in their field.
5. Provide Customer Service
Social media is being used more and more as a customer service tool. By being readily available to prospects and customers and offering support on sites such as Twitter and Facebook, companies are able to show prospects how responsive they are and keep their existing customers satisfied.
6. Reputation Management
Social media tools let you keep track of what people are saying about your company or brand online. Responding to positive and negative reviews or comments quickly in a professional and authentic way will earn your company respect and help to develop and maintain an excellent reputation online.
7. Exponential Reach
Creating “buzz” about your products and services using social media is a great way to exponentially grow your marketing message’s reach in a way that is much less expensive than traditional marketing and advertising and much more effective as well.
8. Improved Search Engine Rankings & Website Traffic
Actively participating on social media sites provides signals to the major search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo!) and can increase your company’s visibility and website’s rankings. Links posted on social media sites back to your website can also help to drive more traffic to your site.
