Social media is more than just cute cat videos and pictures of what you had for lunch. It’s also a powerful tool for your business.
If you are running a business of any size, one of the prerequisites for success is having a strong presence on social media. This goes whether you are trying to operate a brick-and-mortar shop or an e-commerce store. Social media isn’t going to stop anytime soon, and the main reason why you need to maintain an active profile on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, for instance, is this: your target audience is there.
Not only that, but according to research, 74% of consumers have said that they have relied on social media when making a purchase. With that in mind, let’s a take a quick look at all the different ways in which social media can influence your business.
It Helps You Spread Word about Your Business
People love to share their opinions on social media, which can be of great advantage to you if you have a great product or service to offer, because all that positive buzz surrounding your brand can act as a word-of-mouth marketing. Seeing as 79% of U.S. adults are social media users, being on social media is an absolute must.
It Allows You to Provide Better Customer Service
Research indicates that 71% of customers who have had a positive service experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend that brand to others. Due to its immediate nature, social media allows you to connect with your customers instantly and provide a more personal customer experience. By responding to customer feedback, reviews, and comments, you are boosting the image of your brand.
It Enables You to Assume Greater Control over Your Online Presence
Valuable content and SEO will only take you so far, because you have no insight into how Google will rank your website. By having a strong social media following, you can at least make sure that your social media profiles will be shown inside the search engine results before third-party websites when people look for your brand online.
It Boosts Your Inbound Traffic
Inbound marketing methods, such as guest posting, allow you to drive highly-targeted traffic to your blog or website, and that’s great, but without social media, you are only going to reach people who are following specialized blogs and authority websites. Social media has a much wider reach, and by sharing links to your blog posts on Facebook, for example, you can increase your inbound traffic tenfold. On top of that, you will make it easier for people to share your content.
It Helps You Find Your Audience
Finding your target audience on social media is relatively easy, since everyone is already there. The only thing you really need to do is find relevant conversation about your brand or product in order to determine which social media platform(s) you should choose. For instance, B2B companies should probably cultivate a presence on LinkedIn rather than Instagram. You should only focus on those social media platforms which your target audience uses.
As you can see, social media can help your business in several different aspects, ranging from traffic to customer service. If you are not on social media, you are going to struggle, regardless of all the quality products you have to offer. So, start developing your social media presence today and reaping the benefits. Good luck!
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