We know you have heard this before, but we’ll tell you again: Having a strong social media presence in business is no longer a plus – it’s a requirement. The days are gone when a business organization could advertise solely via the media, such as radio, TV, billboards and newspapers.
These days, by the time the prospect tries to contact you by phone or email, he may already know a great deal about your firm. And much of that knowledge comes from social media. But why is that important? Because studies show that marketing companies who use social media for six hours or more each week realize a 52% increase in leads than companies that didn’t use social media.
Also, companies that use Twitter get twice the number of leads each month. And, remember that ⅔ of Internet users in the US use a social network every day, such as Facebook or Twitter. Overall, the top social media platforms for businesses are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging and Youtube.
Note that businesses are not the only entities for which social media is vital. Business groups, such as the US Chamber’s of Commerce who are soley supported by member organizations, also are getting a lot of mileage out of a strong social media profile as reported by MBA Social Community site, Onlinembapage.com titled, Top 100 Most Social Media Friendly Chambers of Commerce.
Other vital reasons that all types of business organizations need to connect with prospects on social media include:
#1 You Personally Connect With Your Customers
The really great thing about social media from a marketing perspective is that it allows you to build a personal, emotion-based relationship with your prospects or customers. Getting an emotional connection with your prospects makes them more likely to go to your company for what they need. When you connect to people’s emotions, you connect to THEM. This is far better than regular advertisements to the masses on TV or in the mail. With your social media presence, you connect one-on-one with your prospects.
For example, this Grey Poupon social media campaign does a marvelous job of connecting with its customers and prospects. By making them feel part of an ‘exclusive’ club, the company personally connects to our vanity and desire to belong. Great job, Grey Poupon!
#2 Answer Customer Questions Quickly
Prospects are more likely to become customers if you can address their specific questions and concerns quickly and personally. Social media allows you to do just that. You become a trusted source of information by personally interacting with them on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and so forth.
Social media also allows you company to ask questions of your customers and prospects. This technique can help you to gather a tremendous amount of useful and free marketing research. You can use social media to answer questions that people are asking in your niche. Your firm can then become known as a good resource for information, which can help you to make more sales.
#3 Showcase Your Brand
With a strong social media presence, you can build your company’s reputation and showcase the business in a positive way. By providing good information by Facebook or Twitter in your industry, prospects will subconsciously view your firm as an authority. Over time, this means that your brand name will build in stature, and you are going to be more likely to reap more rewards in terms of sales.
One of the best social media campaigns in 2012 was the Honda Pintermission. Honda created a campaign to encourage its customers to go out and live life, which tied brilliantly into the Honda CR-V brand. Honda created a very positive brand image with this campaign as it encouraged its customers to get outside and do things they enjoy.
#4 Massive Numbers of Users
MBA Social Community, Onlinembapage.com, recently showed Social media is growing bigger by the hour. Today, there are more than one billion people around the world using social media. There are:
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800 million Facebook users
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800 million unique Youtube users per month
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400 million unique Twitter users per month
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150 million Linkedin users
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10 million Pinterest users
You can market to these people far cheaper and effectively through a strong social media operation than you ever could hope to with traditional advertising. Whatever demographic you are targeting, there are millions of prospects waiting to be contacted. So get on it!