Why use Social Media for your business?
This is a common question that I get asked over and over again…”why do I need to use Social Media for my business?”
Yesterday I put across some of my reasons why every business needs to be not only using Social Media but embracing it! So let`s follow on from yesterday`s Blog and look at some more reasons and show you a few tools that you can use to save yourself some time.
The Human Element
Using all the technical jargon or “Geek Speak” as I like to call it is okay on your website and in your marketing literature but when it comes to Social Media it just does not work. Basically you have less space and less time to get your message across and to me this is a real positive for any business.
Why?
Because it gives you the chance to show the personal side of your business, by connecting with your audience as though you are talking to them face-to-face in a normal everyday conversation. Forget the specifications of your latest widget or the power of your latest tool, users on Social Media want to know what your products or services can do for them! They want that personal interaction, build that relationship, be educated and find someone who is going to help them.
Today`s `Word of Mouth`
As humans we generally tend to buy on recommendations from friends or family so what better way to engage with potential and existing clients than through those that have already experienced your service or products? As you start to engage and receive more `Shares`, `Likes` or `Retweets` it is similar to a vote of confidence for your business. Each time someone likes or shares your content your business is exposed to their circle of friends and is generally seen as a strong recommendation. Let`s face it if you see your best friend or family member liking a business then you will generally think that the business must be ok, would you not?
Page Rank
Google looks at Page Rank as part of their way of measuring the authority of a site or web page and as you can imagine Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the likes all carry a very good Page Rank. Therefore any link back to your web pages from these sites all carry some weight and the more the links the better from these type of highly ranked sites.
The good thing with having a well optimised profile on these Social Media results will help you command a good search engine presence and with all the latest Google updates Social Media is now playing an even bigger part in how your website is ranked.
Customer Service
How many times have you been asked the same question by customer after customer? How many times have you repeated yourself answering an enquiry?
Use Social Media to answer those questions as more and more people are turning to it for answers rather than picking up the phone these days. You will also highlight to your community and following that you are listening and talking to your 
customers but you will also find after time that many of your customers will answer any enquiry for you. I had one young lady on one of my training courses who ran a local restaurant, she received a negative comment and before she had time to answer at least 5 regular customers had responded that they had never had a problem and that the service at her restaurant was first class!
Saving Time
So now you know just how important Social Media is for your business but just where do you fit all of this in to your daily or weekly routine?
You will be pleased to know that there are platforms out there where you can run most of it from one dashboard, and some are free!
Take a look at Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, these are free systems where you can integrate your Facebook profiles, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages, schedule posts, monitor comments and messages and respond to these from the dashboard. The one I personally like and use is Sprout Social, this is a paid version but you can sign up for a free trial to test it out. I find this invaluable as I am able to monitor all of my clients Social Media profiles and produce downloadable reports to monitor their progress.
I hope all of this has been some help to you and can help you see the real value of having a good optimised Social Media profile and regular and consistent content that others will engage with.
If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch.
Until next time
Martin
Can I help you? – From 1 hour to whatever your budget allows…
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
