How You Can Use Social Media to Benefit Your Business
No matter how much you might want to ignore the proliferation of social media, you cannot. Social media has become a part of everyday life, and it is time for you to get involved.
Social media (SM) is an umbrella term, referring to a collection of online tools and practices that enable online users to share a variety of information. Social media participants usually discuss anything from ideas and opinions to interests and experiences. They also communicate information about themselves, their businesses and their expertise.
The social media audience is massive and diverse. It is not restricted to savvy marketers or new media gurus, and it is not exclusively comprised of Generation Y. According to a 2007 study*, almost half of all Facebook® users were over the age of 25, and the majority of that portion was age 35 and over. Some of these participants had personal accounts. Some had business accounts. Some had both.
To better understand how social media can help your business, you will need to recognize the practical uses for social media.
Practical Uses for Social Media
1. Brand building
In today's online environment there are a wide variety of ways in which you can leverage, monitor, and promote your brand. With the surge in applications like TwitterTM, Digg®, Facebook, and the popularity of blogs, conversation and the flow of real-time information has exploded. The key to unlocking these tools and leveraging their power to build your brand is, fundamentally, to "listen and engage."
Go where your audience is talking about your company (or relevant issues to your business) and engage them. Use many of the listening tools that are available like Google® Alerts, Twitter search, and other social monitoring tools to help keep a pulse on the areas your brand pops up on the web. These type of active "listening techniques" will not only help you make connections with customers and prospects, but it will give you the opportunity to reinforce the proper usage of your brand and ensure consistency of your message.
2. Enhancing visibility
It doesn't matter whether you are a newer business just starting out or are an established company, social media, done correctly, can enhance your online visibility to your customers and new audiences. Instead of relying solely on your website and search engines for your online presence, consider investing some time in cultivating a presence using social media.
The benefit of creating a presence on a site like Twitter or Facebook is that you are going where your customers and prospects "hang out." You have the opportunity to interact, get your name out there, talk about your services and help others with questions, all in a place where they feel comfortable and regularly visit.
3. Showcasing your expertise
One of the best ways to convince a prospect to becoming a customer or client is by showing your expertise in your field of business. If you are able to demonstrate that you have the knowledge and experience to handle their needs, and then would be customers are more likely to become clients and trust your company to provide competent service.
Social media channels enable you to engage with an audience who is looking for help, questions, and assistance with issues that are related to your company's offerings. Utilizing these SM channels will help you find conversations and dialogue in which your company could provide assistance and guidance. This could be in the form of answering questions, troubleshooting, offering tips and tricks, and potentially even customer service. Not only are you becoming more accessible to a relevant audience, but you are helping them with their needs.
4. Building you network.
Outside of using social media to connect with a unique audience of potential customers, you can also build a network of people who may help you grow your business. You can connect with other industry experts, suppliers, potential partners, and find new business contacts that may help you with an aspect of your business.
Often times your network can be a tremendous tool for disseminating information about your company, but also being an advocate for your business. There are several theories and methods to take to build your network, but the most important thing to consider is the reason in which you connect with someone. Do I know this person? Are they in a similar or relevant industry? Etc. By putting some forethought into building your network, you can end up with a very powerful mechanism that will help distribute information about your company.
Is Social Media Right for your Business?
While there are many reasons a business can benefit from utilizing social media tools, not every business is cut out for it. There are some things to consider and evaluate about your own company, prior to jumping into a social media campaign.
First, you need to have the time and resources to be able to drive your SM efforts effectively. Managing a social media presence takes time and investment because it does require social interaction to be truly effective. Automated responses and lackluster efforts will not produce the type of results your company may be expecting.
Secondly, your company culture and values have to back up your social presence. Even the most effective promotional campaign could kill your business if you cannot back up what you're selling. Don't try to sell personalized service when you don't have the ability to truly offer it. Your social media identity should not be drastically different from how you present yourself to your customers face to face, on your web site, or through your service. Keep it consistent and "walk the walk."
Lastly, don't jump in head first without a strategy. Creating a social media campaign requires just as much thought, strategy, and planning as any other promotional effort. Be sure to understand your market and how your business can align itself with the proper social media channels. Determine what your business goals are for social media, who you want to engage and where, how you want to measure the results and so forth. Without this type of planning and consideration, you could be setting yourself up for failure.
Gonzalez, N. (2007). Facebook Users Up 89% Over Last Year; Demographic Shift. Retrieved April 9, 2009, from http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/06/facebook-users-up-89-over-last-year-demographic-shift/
Leitch, Danielle. (2008). Practical Users of Social Media in Business. Retrieved April 9, 2009, from http://www.morevisibility.com/news_item/practical-uses-of-social-media-in-business.html