Want to know how social media can revolutionise your business? Look no further!

Social media marketing has taken the business world by storm. In the past decade, sites such as Facebook and Twitter have exploded onto the business scene, with a staggering 47 million users of the two sites combined (White, 2015). According to MarketingTechBlog.com, 46% of customers use social media when making a purchase (Karr, 2014), and yet, some business owners are still reluctant to engage with social media due to personal opinions that that the use of social media will down-grade the appeal of a ‘classy’ company, or through fears that it will be too complicated to manage; or cost too much. And indeed, if you are not someone wholly confident with social media sites, it can be difficult not to get lost in the vast expanse of technology: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Vine, Instagram – Where would you even start?

First of all, let’s remove those fears. Social media often gets slapped with the ‘it’s only for teenagers’ tag, or brandished with comments like ‘my daughter spends her life on there!’ and ‘no-one cares what Kim Kardashian is doing today!’. But this isn’t the essence of social media at all, in fact, this is a very small snippet of negativity that, more often than not, stems from people who have never used social media before, and don’t really understand how broad the network is, or what benefits it offers.

In truth, almost all successful business engage with social media sites, regardless of the industry, target market, or size of the company. For example, John Lewis has 833,000 followers on Facebook (http://on.fb.me/1w3ICgB), Nike have 4.6 Million followers on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Nike), and Starbucks launched their entire ‘white cup’ marketing campaign on Instagram (http://bit.ly/12zeOuI) which gained mass-media attention. Even smaller business, such as Choccywoccydoodah (http://bit.ly/1gbf986) and Franco’s Barbers (http://bit.ly/1JeN0fh), based in Brighton, use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest to boost their publicity. Social media is all about communication: between your business and its customers, and other businesses. It’s an instantaneous interface that allows engagement with your business environment above and beyond simply selling products and answering queries on your main sales site. And, according to Schroeder, 2013, this level of interactivity is a highly powerful tool that you can use to revolutionise your digital marketing campaign!

And if you still don’t believe in the power of the web, check out this short YouTube clip about the sleepy town of Obermutten:

Social media doesn’t have to be a barrier holding back your business success. There are plenty of ways to utilise the web that are simple to implement, efficient in both time and money, and effective in securing new customers; improving publicity; and increasing your brand loyalty. So, how can your business benefit from social media? Here are my three key pieces of advice for businesses entering the social media mainstream:

1. Think about what type of social media site will best benefit your business – This is crucial because social media platforms are not generic, and different audiences will be better accessible on different sites (Duncan, 2014). You have to select the correct platform to maximise for the potential of your business, and connect with your target market (Levy, 2013), so think about which site suits your business best. For example, if your business is centred around innovative kitchen appliances, YouTube will allow you to upload video demonstrations, as well as receive customer feedback in the comments chain below. Equally, if you are in the fashion industry, Instagram will allow you to upload pics of your latest ‘must have’ item, not only drawing in attention to the items you retail, but also keeping your ‘followers’ up to date with all of your latest offers and promotions.

2. First impressions mean everything! So your social media profile needs to be ENGAGING: Sklar, 2013, states that effective customer engagement is the main driver of company and brand messaging, so whatever profile you create, ensure that it reflects the company vibe! If you run a day-car nursery, make you profile colourful and child-friendly, if you are a free-lance solicitor, keep it smart and functional. And, particularly if your are engaging with Facebook, always ask customers to ‘Like’ your page – more Likes means more publicity, more publicity means more sales, and more sales means your company makes more money, whilst further increasing your customer base and brand loyalty.

3. Stay active: (and I don’t mean by taking up tennis or wrestling!). According to Go-Gulf Web Designers, one of the five main reasons why customers ‘follow’ retailers on social media sites is to get instantaneous info Promotions and discounts… So give your customers what they want! Regularly post information on offers and promotions, and always make sure to post the correct link to that offer on your website to drum up sales.

And remember, there’s no need to spend hours a day managing several social media sites. Allocate a small amount of time, each day or each week, in which to keep up with posts, promote products, and answer customer feedback (Lohana, 2014). Though do keep in mind social media may not be right for every business. Think about your client base, are you customers currently engaging with social media sites? If not, getting involved in the social media market may not be an immediate priority for your business. That said, in the words of social media enthusiast David Fernando, ‘always keep in mind that, while your customers of today may not be social media enthusiasts, your customers of tomorrow almost certainly will be’ (Fernando, 2014).

Thanks for reading! Are you currently using social media sites? Has this impacted your business?

Article by Kayleigh McChambell.

Want to read more practical advice for your business? Follow me on Twitter: @KayleighDigiLaw

Sources:

Choccywoccydoodah landing page: http://bit.ly/1gbf986

David Fernando, How Can Social Media Help Your Business?, 2014: http://www.terrafermamedia.com/how-can-social-media-help-your-business/;

Duncan, Mark, (2014), How to Find Your Target Audience on Social Media, Linked-In Pulse, available at: http://linkd.in/1AJrtYy;

Franco’s Barbers landing page: http://bit.ly/1JeN0fh

Go-Gulf Web Designers: http://bit.ly/1CdwWIA;

Jules Whittle, The Demographics of UK Social Media Members, The Last Hurdle: http://bit.ly/1a9XaSc;

John Lewis Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/1w3ICgB

Karr, Douglas, (2014), 24 Statistics and Trends for Businesses on Social Media, MarketingTechBlog.com: http://bit.ly/1vDa9PR;

Levy, Scott, (2013), How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business, Entrepreneur, available at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230020;

Lohana, Pooja, (2014), 5 Top Social Media Dashboard Tools to Manage you Social Account, Digital Kit Bag, available at: http://bit.ly/1DwVAVb;

Nike Twitter page: https://twitter.com/Nike

Obermutten on YouTube: http://bit.ly/1g3iDyf

Schroeder, Harold, (2013),  The Art of Business Relationships Through Social Media, Ivey Business Journal, available at: http://bit.ly/17glqAo;

Sklar, Corinne, (2013), How to Use Social Media to Understand and Engage Your Customers, The Guardian, Media and Tech Network, available at: http://bit.ly/1Hgz8Sy;

Starbucks ‘White Cup Challenge Campaign’ on Instagram: http://bit.ly/12zeOuI

White, Jules, (2015), The Demographics of Social Media Users, The Last Hurdle, available at: http://bit.ly/1a9XaSc;