We hear some variation of this all the time. “I’m not on social media. No one cares what we did for lunch or that one of us got a flat tire on our way to work.” Some people don’t want to share their daily happenings with the world; and that makes sense. But if you’re a business owner and you don’t get why social media is important, you should keep on reading.
It’s not enough just to have a great product or service anymore. You need to know how to have conversations with your customers. That’s right – conversations. Where traditional advertising methods like radio and newspaper ads moved in one direction – you talking to your customers – today’s tactics are interactive.
To give you more of a granular example, if you post something on Facebook, a customer can give their feedback seconds later. Sure, that may seem a little bit scary for business owners who didn’t grow up using social media, but the implications of not being present on social media can be just as chilling. The reasons being:
A lot of people say, “I don’t want to use social media. My customers don’t even use social media.” While that MAY be true, depending on the specific platform you are referring to, according to industry experts, “72% of all internet users are now active on social media.” This includes 89% of 18-29-year-olds, 72% of 30-49-year-olds, and 60% of 50-60-year-olds. How about 65+? 43% are using social media! Technology no longer belongs to just one generation.
Whenever I am speaking to a new prospect about social media management, I usually start out by saying, “Let’s see if anyone is talking about you on social media already.” And usually, they are. You don’t need to be present in order for someone to mention you on social media – but wouldn’t you like to be there to respond to their comment, whether it’s good or bad? Social media is a great platform for customer service, AND a great place to collect positive testimonials from happy customers.
Social media allows you to ask questions of your customers and get answers right away. If you aren’t sure if a product or service you’re thinking of adding would be a good idea – ask! If you would like customers to fill out a survey – ask! Social media helps you reach a large amount of people, quickly.
Social media is a great place to drive traffic to your website. Sharing links to blog posts, links to pages that customers may find interesting, or just links driving them to the site in general is smart – because social media users are link crazy! Social is also a nice place to share your photos, as users are very visual.
Social matters when it comes to SEO, and social profiles DO show up in Google searches. If you’re looking to be found in search more easily, don’t skip out on social.
You want to be accessible to your customers, and you can achieve that by giving them as many ways to contact you as possible. Social media profiles allow customers to contact you through wall posts, tweets, and messages, and you can also list your company’s email, phone number, and address.
It pays to get social! JAM Graphics is here to help you become successful on social and build more brand awareness and ambassadors. Contact us right away to setup your FREE social audit and to learn more about how we can help.