Social Media Can Do Your Work

When used correctly, social media can be an amazing tool for all types of businesses; but still, there are those ‘old-fashioned’ entrepreneurs out there who can’t trust Facebook, Twitter and the likes to grow their existing customer base.

 

According to the Pew Internet Study, the number of Facebook users in the US over 65 has reached 35% while in 2013, 43% of Americans of 65 years or older were using at least one social networking site like Istagram, Pinterest, Twitter or Tumblr, compared to 26% in 2010 or a mere 1% in 2008.

On Twitter, the 55-64 year age bracket has grown by 79% since year-end 2012, being its fastest growing demographic, while the corresponding numbers for Facebook and Google+ for the 45-54 year age group have leaped over 46 and 56%, respectively.

So why are there still businesses that insist to ignore those fast growing demographics? And why do they fail to target them when they know that these are actually the ones that have money to spend on their products?

Social media is not that complicated!

Here are a few more reasons which might convince you that using social media for business might actually not be such a bad idea:

Brand and Positioning
Strong online presence can only make your product stronger! By knowing your customer base, you’ll definitely be able to build a loyal following base on social media networks. And by doing this, you can only grow bigger and bigger day by day, strengthening your online and offline market presence.

Brand and WOM
Use word of mouth to pave your way into the digital world. When you know your product, you also know your marketing; and when you do your marketing right, people will be happy to talk about it on social media. Getting and monitoring feedback is key; it can actually help you improve your product and the way you do business.

Be Brave, Communicate!
Open communication on social media can be an invaluable business tool, if used correctly! Just think of the amount of information exchanged publicly between you and your current or potential customers! If your communication is genuine, you should only expect the same from your audience.

Dummy Run
You don’t have to be an expert to check upon your metrics or website analytics; don’t be afraid to start using Facebook Insights, which can help you measure your Facebook marketing and engagement efforts, or Google Analytics, which can give you significant information on your site traffic and where that comes from. See for yourself what is driving your ‘Likes’, check which status updates worked and which didn’t, and how your followers responded to that important update!

Bespoke Content
When you own a small local business, or your product ‘works only’ on a specific area, wouldn’t you prefer to be able to offer your services only to those that might actually be interested in or be able to use them? Twitter and Facebook provide the option to localise content and geotarget your posts – why offering an active ‘walk-in’ promotion to your followers outside your area? Just keep it local and relevant, and it will work!

Managing social media for your business definitely requires an integrated approach, and calls for a significant amount of time and effort in building brand awareness through pins and boards, posts, groups, podcasts, tweets and so on. Success of your social media strategy is solely based on your unique presence and your charming and engaging manner.

What do you think? Are you willing to give social media another chance?

Is social media really a revolution?

5 years ago Google dismissed the starting of Facebook as a fad that would eventually pass; however, unlike its competitors, such as Bebo and Myspace, Facebook has thrived and gone from strength to strength, with Twitter quickly following it, as well. However, this is far from starting a revolution at this point, or is it? Many people are sceptical on whether social media does work – or even – which is the best way to use it.

But the social platform goes a lot further than just Facebook and Twitter, you have Google+, YouTube and Pinterest being the latest social platform to get the public fuelling their online addiction. Pinterest is a social bookmarking site where users collect and share pictures of their favourite hobbies, interests and events and at the moment is the faster growing social site.

YouTube is also the second most used search engine on the internet, even though in essence it’s just a massive online video library. So what kind of things will the public be searching for on YouTube, you may ask. Well, everything and anything, there is nearly an answer for everything on there. I use YouTube for recipes when cooking, walkthroughs when I’m stuck on video games and, as of yesterday, YouTube taught me how to tie a tie. Research also shows that a consumer is more likely to trust another consumer’s recommendation over advertising. So this is where blogging and consumer reviews have started to play a big part in major brands sales revenue.

You must have seen the Google adverts that have been on recently; mainly, the advert about the Cambridge Bag Company.

In essence is showing how brands are now beginning to use social media as a major marketing tool. As the lady in the advert only uses her original idea, she is able to transform her dreams into reality. Just with the help of some useful social platforms.

So is every brand using social media to connect with its customers? Research suggests that 95% B2C brands are using different social platforms as a marketing tool but perhaps they are not all using them effectively. The 3 biggest social sites in the UK, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin suggesting that social media is effective in B2B markets as well. But for the moment I will stick to B2C markets and come back to B2B in a later blog.

Coca-Cola is the most popular online brand on Facebook with over 41 million likes, and for the first time in history the iconic Christmas Coca-Cola advert was released on Facebook and Youtube before being televised, suggesting Coca-Cola know where they will reach a larger audience. However, other brands are taking this step further; fashion labels H&M and ASOS now allow people to buy clothes via their Facebook page, which allows them to reach a further audience once you’ve purchased an item. An automatic feed will come up on your wall notifying all your friends what have you purchased so they can discuss it.

Network marketing is another trend which has been largely used as well, with companies such as Arbonne benefitting solely on self-employed people’s word of mouth. Basically how it works is a consumer will buy stock from their agent at a discounted rate and then tell their friends about it and hopefully sell them some of their stock, and this cycle is then repeated and repeated, reaching a larger and larger audience each time, with word of mouth creating a snowball effect. This also shows the increase in consumers not trusting advertising and trusting a friend’s word about it. So networking goes hand in hand with social media as consumers will be contacting other consumers not just face to face but online as well, whether it will be on Facebook or Skype, the word gets out there.

So still thinking there is no revolution, social media is the most effective way to connect with your customer, but it can also make or break you, as well. For example, many businesses that provide a service find keeping their customers updated about offers and progress of their business is a good way to stay in touch as well as receive feedback on how they can improve a customer’s experience. However, social media can have a major negative impact on your business, as well. For example, when a customer had a bad experience in your store with customer service or when they purchased a product they don’t feel is up to their standards, this is going to be broadcasted over lots of different social platforms and you could end up with a disaster, with customers boycotting your store or your product.

Don’t think that what happens in reality cannot impact your business; different social campaigns have also ended in disaster. The most recent example would be Starbucks #spreadthecheer campaign which ran on Twitter. The aim of the campaign was to get Starbucks Twitter peeps to suggest how they would spread the festive cheer this Christmas. They were so positive this campaign was going to be a huge success, they even hired a giant screen and put it the natural history museum so the public could see people’s different views. Sadly Starbucks recent tax evasion scandal diminished any festive cheer they were to achieve as many people used this as a chance to tweet their frustration and anger towards the recent saga.

So don’t let these horror stories put you off, you have to respect social media and the consumer as well, and not take anything for granted. Social media is a great marketing tool to have, but only if you know how to effectively use it and connect with your customer. 74% marketers believe that just putting in 6 hours a week on social platforms has seen a huge increase in traffic on their sites. So many businesses may see the social horror stories and think that it is a huge risk but there have been many successful social, with Domino’s Pizza and Mazda UK effectively using different platforms to increase sales. Social media is a revolution and you don’t want to be left behind.

What do you think?