5 business benefits of social media
For small businesses, social media is an easy way of getting your name out there for little or no money. Here are 5 big reasons to get your social media accounts up and running.
1. More customers
For many people, social websites are now the primary way they communicate with their wider circle of friends, family and business contacts. Using these social media tools will put your business a click away from a larger potential customer base and therefore the ability to expand and grow.
2. Awareness
If you are using social media there are plenty of options to advertise your business. For example, through Facebook you can get help with who you should target, control who sees your adverts, monitor your spend, measure your success and build campaigns.
3. The person behind the brand
Brands are more appealing when customers can see the story and the people behind it. You can engage customers in conversations to hear their feedback.
4. Customer service
This is not only a cost effective customer service option but more importantly it allows you to interact with your customers in a way that they are comfortable with. If someone has a problem they know they can contact your business easily online and make you aware of the problem.
5. Build your reputation
This will ensure they keep coming back and recommend your business to their friends. It will also entice new customers. This could provide a steady flow of business.
Social media is simply a set of internet tools used to maintain and build new relationships. In a way it’s no different to older internet tools such as email and chat rooms, except these new tools like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are built around relationships. For a small business, social media can be a reasonably cheap way to manage relationships with existing and potential customers.
Experience tells us that even if you are not on Facebook and Twitter, the chances are your company has been mentioned online somewhere. And it is important to know about these mentions. If it is on a review site, you’ll want to be aware of any negative posts on your business. People also search for companies online to have peace of mind that they are genuine. Ignoring the benefits of social media may mean you miss out of opportunities for your business.
If you were on LinkedIn or Facebook for example, using a personal account to create a business ‘page’ shows the person behind your brand and lets you talk about what you do and how well you do it.
Online complaints are visible to everyone on social media as customers can make complaints for all to see. On the other hand, they can also be dealt with quickly and easily through Twitter and Facebook for example.
Not only can you see and keep track of your competitors, but you can build relationships with your customers. Opening and participating in group discussions on your Facebook page makes customers feel valued whereas starting or contributing to a discussion on a LinkedIn group could build your customer base.
