There was a point in time when Social Media was something you used to connect with distant relatives or the kids used it as a way of talking after school. Now the time has passed, and Social Media is now an essential part of any business as it allows a different level of communication between business and customer.
Got you wondering what these benefits are? Look no further, below I have pointed out what I think is the 8 benefits of using Social Media for your business.
1. Customer Insights
Social Media gathers an enormous amount of data about your potential customers in real time, and Social Media is constantly buzzing, in just a day;
- 500 Million Tweets are sent
- 4.5 billion likes on given on Facebook
- 95 million photo’s and videos are uploaded to Instagram
Behind these facts are buckets loads of analytics, which give valuable information to your business, with this information you can make smarter advertising and business decisions.
2. Build Brand Awareness
Being on Social Media opens the doorway for customers to find and connect with your business, and by engaging with your customers on Social Media, you are more likely to build customer loyalty and turn them into brand advocates, which in turn gives you a stronger advertising influence and increases your conversions.
3. Targeted Ads
Social Media also offers the facility of advertising your business; this is where you can distribute your content to people relevant to your business. For example, if you run an ad campaign on Facebook, you can specify who your ads are displayed to based on location, gender, age, interests, and more! Running this style of paid advertising allows you to target people that are interested in what your business has to offer but have been unable to find you yet, which allows you to expand your market.
4. Customer Experience
If you are not using Social Media for your business then you are missing a trick as these days customers expect you to be.
78% of people will take to Twitter for a customer service related issue, why do they do this? Because it’s easier! It is important to be accessible and deal with customer experiences effectively.
5. Increase your position
One of the biggest benefits of being on Social Media is using it to enhance your web traffic, not only does Social Media help you direct people to your website, but the more Social Media shares you receive, the higher your search ranking will be. For example, if every person who follows Kim Kardashian retweeted a post it’s more likely to rank higher in Google’s search results.
6. Competition
Social Media is also a great tool to watch what you competitors are doing; this type of insight will allow you to make smarter business decisions to stay ahead, For example, if they launch a product on their Social Media in a particular style, and it didn’t work then you can make adjustments to learn from their mistakes.
7. Share, Share, Share
Back in the day, advertisers would be faced the challenge of making sure the content is seen by the most people in the shortest time possible. But not anymore! With the arrival of Social Media, it is now possible to share content in mass volume in seconds, all you need to do is make sure it is engaging.
8. Relationship
Social Media is not a sales pitch! It’s a platform that allows 2-way communication; this is a gold mine for businesses because this allows a free flowing relationship before, during and after the buying process. This is something traditional advertising could never give you.
