Why use Social Media for your business?

Ok so you`re on Facebook, you`ve done a few Tweets and now suddenly all of us `experts` are throwing weird and wonderful names such as Instagram & Pinterest at you and telling you that your business needs to be on there!

Is that true?

And why exactly do we need to be using Social Media?

Do I need to be on all of these Social Media platforms?

No…not all of them otherwise you would never have time to do what you are good at and the very reason you set up your own business in the first place. All I would say is that you need to do a bit of research and find out where your potential and existing customers are and have a business presence on there. For example if an `expert` is telling you need to be on Facebook because there are over 1 billion users on there, what is the point if your target audience mainly use Twitter?

Spend a little time looking into where your clients and potential customer base are, it could save you a lot of time, energy and heartache in the long run.

image of a cube for Social MediaWhy do we need to be using Social Media?

So you are being told by people like me that Social Media is the way to go…but why?

Here are my reasons why every business needs to be using Social Media as part of their marketing mix…

Social Proof

Customers these days are far more switched on when looking for products and services and are researching online to make an educated decision before buying. By having a good Social Media presence that is helpful, interesting and educational it helps build up the trust and goes a long way to reassuring potential customers that your business is a reliable and trustworthy business and one to do business with.

Your target audience are using it

Picture Facebook, Twitter and the others as the High Street or a shopping mall and there are all those millions of potential shoppers walking through that `Facebook High Street` every single day, now would you want your business to have a presence in that High Street?

Here are a few interesting stats on Social Media:

  1. 27% of time online is spent on a social network
  2. Facebook now has over 1.11 billion monthly active users
  3. Twitter now has over 500 million users
  4. Pinterest now has around 50 million users

(Source – https://www.activecommunities.com/blog/top-10-social-media-stats-to-watch-2013/)

Your competitors are using it

Whatever your industry, whatever your niche or market, I can guarantee that it is represented by at least one of your competitors on Social Media.

Try this little tip to see who of your competitors are using Facebook or Twitter…go to Google and type in “your industry + Facebook” or “your industry + Twitter” for example put in “builders + Facebook”.

People are using Social Media to search for businesses and if your competitors are on there and you are not you could be losing out on potential clients and potential revenue!

Be an influence and an authority in your industry

Social Media allows you to engage on a one-to-one basis and with those that you interact with you have the opportunity to put yourself in a position as an authority within your industry. Also look for the influencers within your industry on Social Media, watch how they engage with others, start to engage with them and you too will soon be seen as an influence and authorative figure within your industry.

Google will love you!

The way Google looks at web pages these days has changed dramatically, gone are the days of buying back-links and spammy keywords as Google looks for relevancy and influence and guess where it is looking?An image of a nice clock with time for social media

Yes, that`s right…Social Media, especially Google+…surprise, surprise!

Google still loves links, but natural links. So every time somebody links via Social Media to your website Google will take notice. The more engagement you receive through Social Media the more it is now helping your SEO. The way Google looks at it is if people refer to your content or share your links it is because they like it or found it useful. Let`s face it we are hardly likely to share or like rubbish information are we?

That`s it for Part 1, I hope you`ve found it useful and if you have look out for Part 2 tomorrow, I will be talking about humanising your brand, word of mouth marketing, Page Rank, Customer Service and how you can save time putting all of this into practice.

Let me know what you think in the comments box below and of course please Share on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ using the buttons below as I want Google to love me too!

Martin

You can follow me on Google+, Twitter and Facebook

I now offer an hourly 1-2-1 consultancy service to any business, so if you want to spend just 1 hour with me going through your Social Media profiles and getting to grips with any platform please get in touch with me on 01603 263206 or by e-mailing me here