At one time, many business owners believed that social media was just another fad. Today, social media is one of the top activities on the Web. In fact, the average social user spends more than 30 minutes a day on a social media site. It is no longer up for debate – social media is very important for business. If you’re still not convinced, here’s what social media can do for your business:
- Increases traffic if targeted to the right audience.
- Captures the attention of new customers and improves brand visibility.
- Cost-effective when compared to traditional forms of advertising (i.e. print ads, direct mail, billboard ads, cable television, etc.).
- Gives you the opportunity to build a review profile from satisfied customers.
- Allows you to improve customer service and offers real-time feedback. You can utilize this feedback to make improvements to your business.
- Increases customer loyalty, according to a study conducted by Texas Tech University. The study concluded that businesses should take advantage of social media tools when connecting with their target audience – this will help increase engagement.
- Gives you the opportunity to convert potential leads into customers.
- Builds stronger customer relationships. Social media allows you to instantly interact with your customer. For instance, let’s say that a customer posts a complaint about your product or service on Facebook, you can respond and resolve the issue right away. By doing this, you’re showing customers that you’re prompt when it comes to responding to their needs. Responding promptly to feedback (whether negative or positive) shows that you genuinely care about your customers.
- Offers a great way to distribute content. According to AOL and Nielsen, people spend over 50% of their time on the Internet reading or watching video content. Approximately, 30% of this time is spent on social media sites where people share the content they like the most.
- Provides good search engine rankings. It is said that when you maintain a solid social media presence, it lets the search engines know that you have a credible brand. As a result, you’re more than likely to experience an increase in traffic to your website.
The above are just a handful of benefits of using social media for your business. It is important to know that in order for social media to work well, it must be done the right way. Hiring a professional social media consultant who can think strategically, when it comes to creating a social media campaign, will ensure you experience successful results.
Just like SEO and other forms of Internet marketing, social media takes time before you begin to reap the benefits from your efforts. However, if you can invest at least 45 minutes to 1 hour a day in social media ‘consistently’ you will begin to notice results.
