Why Social Media is Important for Business

Social Media can seem overwhelming for anyone, let alone business owners. Full-time jobs revolve around the growth, data collection, and handling of social media accounts, so give yourself some credit. However, that is no reason to avoid it. It’s far too important to your business’ success especially as Covid-19 changes the way businesses and customers interact. Here are some reminders and motivation to get your social moving and get you posting more often.

Establishing Brand Awareness

To get started, let’s define what “brand awareness” means so we’re on the same page.

brand a·ware·ness

/brand əˈwernəs/
noun

  1. the extent to which consumers are familiar with the distinctive qualities or image of a particular brand of goods or services.
    a. “a campaign to increase brand awareness”

 

Large companies

Brands like McDonald’s, Nike, and Coca-Cola are known worldwide for their products. When the McRib is available for purchase, Mcdonald’s has to do very little outreach to get lovers of their food to buy their sandwich. Same goes for Nike when they release a new line of athletic shoes. Companies like these are older and more established, but they used older methods to get there? Before the world of social media, there was TV, Radio, and print ads in every home. Social media wasn’t a thing, however, these brands quickly took to social media to establish awareness in countries and markets they weren’t in before.

 

Small companies

Large companies don’t need social media the same way that smaller companies do. Large well-known companies use social media to build brand loyalty. It isn’t how they are breaking through into audiences. However, smaller businesses depend on social media to get their name out there. You may have a friend that just started a business and is struggling to build awareness so they use social media as a tool. Those posts in your feed and how you interact with them (or don’t interact with them) give them feedback on how best to get their message across. More importantly, it makes you aware that they exist and may have a service or product that you need.

An example of a small business calling for Social Media:

image from SAChamber.org

 

Making an Impression

Social media is meant to work over longer periods of time. The idea is to get your brand or company seen multiple times. Eventually, someone will get curious and bite. Even better, they might have a friend or family member with a problem or need for a product and your company will come to mind. Making yourself known as a solution to something is the whole point of social media.

 

Gaining Topical Authority with Search Engines

Again, let’s just make sure we’re all on the same page with a quick definition.

top·i·cal au·thor·i·ty

/ˈtäpək(ə)l/ /əˈTHôrədē/
noun

  1. The perceived authority or command over a subject or topic.

 

Out with the Old and in with the New

As technology changes, so do the resources, products, and services around us. The best example of this is how we consume our entertainment. Back in the day, when search engines were just getting started and the internet was still a new tool, cable companies ruled the results for shows, entertainment, and paid content. As time went on, companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Youtube eventually all found their start-up days.

Netflix killing cable
Image from www.thelantern.com

These new start-ups offered a new solution, inexpensive entertainment on the go with unlimited selection. All of them hit the same wall back then as to how they would overcome the well-known cable companies. ALL of them took to Facebook and Reddit, oddly enough, it worked much faster than expected. The three companies that used social media to gain authority in something Cable TV hadn’t; streaming media on the user’s terms. It took only a few years for Netflix, Hulu, and most significantly, YouTube to become a topical authority around shows, entertainment, and paid content. Through social media, they overthrew the established corporate brands and rang in a new era of user experiences.

 

Learn, Grow, and Inform Your Audience

Basics of Social Media Data

Social media allows for some pretty interesting ways to gain information on who your consumer is. Also, it can teach you how you should interact with them. In the startup days of a company, this is crucial data to building a brand. Certain Social Media platforms even allow you to see some of the information about other companies and their audience. Knowing your competition, who their consumers are, and how to best interact with those users can help a small business thrive.

How marketers can use social media

Scaling with Social Media

Most companies tend to build a foundation around doing or creating one thing really well. Eventually, they realize that they can branch out a bit and offer supplementary options. What better way to inform your audience than posting on social media? You can gain feedback in real-time, validate products and their demand, and make better decisions about company direction.

As a business scales, it also needs talent to fill the needed positions. You can post jobs, praise current employees, and chat about anniversaries of products and people. This is a great way to highlight your company and success to help build trust and gain the eyes of potential employees.

 

Social Media Reviews Matter

The last time you weren’t sure about a product, you likely did one of two things; asked a friend about their experience or read reviews. Reviews offer a form of proof for someone not sure about your company or products. While not everyone will read them, they help sway the ones who do into contacting or buying from you. Consider them your own influencer that your customers have created.

For many website builders and platforms, there are options to feed your social media reviews into your website. This way your users don’t have to go searching for comments or experiences with your company or products. They are in plain sight while someone is shopping or considering. Again, this helps with conversions.

Not to mention, reviews help your SEO (search engine optimization):

social media can help SEO

 

Increasing Conversions

Reviews are just a part of the conversion-increasing method. Mainly, social media can be used to let your followers and potential buyers be aware of what’s up and coming or even on sale. If no one knows about you, how can they buy or talk to you? Social Media allows for you to interact with people who you otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to. You can create targeted ads around your demographics and data as well. Targeted ads on social and on Google are great ways to get new users to learn about you.

For those that are already loyal to your brand, you’re even more likely to gain conversions by simply showing up in their content feed. Therefore, regularly scheduled posting and consistency help to ensure you are hitting as many potential clients and conversions as possible.

 

Increasing Website Traffic

When you are posting about your events, products, or services, the number one place to find out more about your company is your website. For most companies, the point of social media is to inform first and get them to visit the site second. Again, this goes back to the idea of brand awareness. You need people to hear about you to know you have a website and offer something they might want or need. Keep in mind to get people to visit your website, it will take an average of 7 interactions with their newsfeed. From there, the goal is to get them to visit a few times. Typically, you are not going to buy from a company the first time you visit their website. Most users will interact 3-4 times before converting.

By increasing website traffic, you are increasing the odds of conversions.

 

Real-Time Customer Service and Support

Social Media allows for real-time customer service and support via their inboxes and messengers. Bots can be set up to answer the commonly asked questions while more in-depth questions can be sent directly via your phone. Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Twitter are usually commonplace. Once you have interacted with a client to handle a problem or answer a question, it’s a chance to ask them to review the company and your service. The more you get other people to praise you, the better your image will look.

Social media messengers help businesses reach customers
Image from techcrunch.com

 

Needing Help?

If you are needing help with your Social Media and getting things moving in the right direction, reach out to us. You can schedule a consultation or send us a message on our contact page.