These days, social media is everywhere. It’s hard to think of a brand or a business that doesn’t have a presence on social media that they’re using to their advantage.
We all understand the dangers of using social media as part of your marketing plan – bad reviews, tasteless tweeting, and of course, the trolls – but what about all the positive impact it can bring?
Communicate directly with your customers
Have you just received a new shipment of a highly sought after product? Or are you having a huge sale? Social media is the fastest way to ensure this information reaches your customer base. With instant posting, you can let all your followers know about your new opening hours, without spending advertising budget on a TV/print campaign.
As we move into the later stages of 2016, it’s becoming clearer that our internet users want information that’s delivered fast and in an easily accessible manner. Your social media pages, be that Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, serve as a direct line to your customers.
Reviews – good and bad
Customer reviews, good or bad, are another way that social media can improve your business. If you receive a good review on your social page, you can thank the customer for their feedback, and gain satisfaction that potential customers who search for your product or service will see a happy client taking the time to review your offering.
Bad reviews might seem as though they’ll have a negative effect on your business, especially when they’re posted in public view, and you may be tempted to delete them. This is definitely the wrong reaction. When you receive a bad review, not only can you learn how to strengthen a product or a service, you can also speak directly to the customer. You can apologise for their bad experience, showing other customers you value all kinds of feedback, and you can offer them something to compensate for their bad experience, whether that’s a new product or a potential discount on something you offer.
On social media, you’re able to control any negative feedback, and show potential customers your professional and helpful responses.
Collaboration with like-minded brands
Social media is also a great tool to allow you to find, connect and collaborate with likeminded businesses. Instead of focusing on competition, you can use social media to create new relationships that might lead to you gaining a larger customer base, or even a brand new product/service.
You can create specific social streams that allow you to follow and interact with tweets about specific subjects and topics that are relevant to your industry.
Become an expert in your industry
Now you’ve set up your social media channel, what do you post? It might seem tempting to flood your followers with business promotions or offers, but your real aim should be to promote yourself as an expert in your industry.
By commenting on issues relevant to your sector, not only are you educating your followers, showing them the extensive knowledge your business has on the subject, but you’re also letting the media know that your company is a valuable source of information. If a national newspaper, or a leading trade publication should ever need a comment on a particular issue, they’ll know to come to your company for insight.
So as you can see, there are many benefits, alongside potential dangers, to having a business social media account. It’s definitely worth setting up a social profile, if you haven’t already.
