Whatever the size of your business, and however old it is, marketing can be a minefield. With no one-size-fits-all approach, knowing exactly what you should be doing to get your brand out there can be difficult. But one thing that every business owner should know about is social media.
With over 3.5 billion users in the world, it’s a fantastic way to get your business seen and heard while creating an empire of customers. That’s not all though. Here, we explore the benefits of having a social media presence for your brand.
- Awareness
Perhaps the biggest reason that social media is a good choice for your brand is because of the number of people that use it. No matter what platform you use, you’re just a click away from millions of people and potential customers.
In fact, there’s no other marketing tactic that will provide you with the opportunity to speak to as many people like this at once. This makes social media marketing great for raising brand awareness and getting your business name out there.
- Reputation
Success in business isn’t just a result of increasing your brand awareness, though. The information that is being shared about your business needs to be positive too. Social media is a fantastic way for customers to post their experiences and reviews of your business. Plus, if you do receive any bad reviews, these can be dealt with quickly via social media – highlighting your brand’s personality and values, as well as your levels of customer service.
Top review websites will also share testimonials, which can then be reposted on your social media platforms.
- Story
Social media makes it easy for you to build your brand out. You know that people are going to see your posts so why not share your brand’s story, values, motto, vision, and team members. Show off your business’s personality, explain the process behind key decisions, and showcase behind-the-scenes pictures to really let your customers in.
If you can show that your brand is different, and create personable connections with your followers, you are taking steps to stand out against the competition.
- All-inclusive
If your business has just started out, you might be wondering how you’re going to compete with the top dogs. The answer, social media! While bigger businesses may have more money and time to dedicate to social media ads, anyone and everyone can go viral.
On average, social media marketing is cost-effective too and if you really understand your target audience, and get savvy with the internal analytics, you might not have to spend any money at all.
Social media really does level the playing field so make sure you’re going out of the way to be unique and show off your business’s biggest assets for everyone to see.
- Engagement
Technology has changed the way businesses are able to engage with their customers, both existing and potential, and social media has only heightened this. Whether using Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or more, social media allows you to speak to customers directly, and quickly.
This not only helps to build relationships with them and solve any issues but can humanize your brand and, once again, support your brand reputation.
- Evaluation
You love your brand, every one of your team loves your brand, but what about your customers? Social media makes it easy for you to see what’s working and what isn’t. Insights allow you to find out how many people are seeing your posts but not engaging, as well as how many shares, comments, and likes they’re getting.
It goes further though. You can also see how your direct competitors are performing and take some crucial lessons from their page. Keeping a steady eye on what other businesses are doing is a great way to ensure that your brand is always on top.
How can my business use this information?
With this in mind, social media is an essential tool that can be used by businesses all over the world, and of all sizes. So, if you’re serious about your brand and really want to make this year count, we recommend that you spend some time on your social media strategy today.
Begin by looking at what you want to achieve, research your target audience to determine how they use social media, and create a plan that includes rich and varied content. Reviews can be very effective when shared on social media, and help consumers to make purchase decisions, increase your brand awareness and highlight your brand reputation.
In fact, businesses that combine social media and the sharing of good reviews really have no limits when it comes to success. Word-of-mouth is one of the most effective methods to gain new customers, and today it just happens to be done online.