Social media is a powerful tool for business marketing. However, many businesses are not taking advantage of it. They see social media platforms on the news with things about the latest celebrity spats or business faux pas posted for everyone to see. What many business owners don’t think about is all the positive things that social media can do for their business, or how big the audience is on social media. About 65 percent of American adults are using a social media platform. About two-thirds of Americans that you’re missing out on engaging with your business information if you are not on social media. It’s time for you to get started.
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Why is Social Media Good For Your Business?
Social media is good for your business because it’s a free marketing tool that helps you get exposure. You don’t have to pay to sign up for Facebook, Twitter or other social media platform to start engaging your audience. One business, RWC, turned to us and asked for our help with their social media and other marketing efforts, and they have since increased their revenue by 143 percent. That’s a pretty big gain. Your company can certainly be missing out on seeing the same positive gains and results by not working with social media or only having a small social media presence online that’s more like an afterthought than a strategy.
Best Practices When It Comes to Social Media For Your Business
When it comes to social media for your business, there are some best practices out there that you need to keep in mind to have a positive presence.
- Use social media platforms that make sense for your business rather than aiming to use them all. Some businesses will do very well with Facebook and Twitter, but not might have much use for Instagram. Other businesses that produce products, meals, remodels or other tangible goods can benefit from using Instagram or Pinterest instead of or along with these other social media platforms.
- Quality content that is timely, accurate, and shareable works well on social media. This type of information is sure to make your audience want to engage with your company, and will bring you to mind when they require services or products that your company offers.
- Engage with your audience in more than just sharing content. Respond to comments and interact.
- Track your metrics. You probably think that you’ve got plenty of things that you need to track already, but understanding how well your social media is doing can be very valuable. You should be looking to see how often you get people clicking to your websites, track your overall followers, see how engaged people are with your social media campaigns and more. This will help you with how to focus your social media efforts in the future.
Things to Avoid with Social Media
Social media is a blessing when it comes to free marketing tools for your business, but only when you avoid certain faux pas with what you do or don’t post. Some mistakes you can make with social media are pretty common sense, such as not lying or misleading your customers. Some things to avoid that you might not already be aware about includes the following:
- Ignore your social media marketing plan. Your marketing plan was implemented the way it was for a reason. If you stop posting often or not post quality content, it will be just as bad if not worse than not using social media at all.
- Ignore your competition. Nothing says you need to follow them or like them on social media, but ignoring how they use social media can be damaging as they may be doing something that you should be aware of or something that’s not working that you should avoid.
- Get too personal about your life. Yes, you want your personality to show through since you’re trying to humanize your business, but don’t go too far with it.
- Be rude or confrontational with comments. It can be hard to deal with trolls, but real customers with real complaints or comments should be treated well. If you’re feeling attacked, it can be helpful to step back and give yourself a minute before responding. Social media is a wonderful platform for providing customer service. Just be sure to move it to more private channels when private information comes up. Be polite and respectful.
Social Media is a very powerful marketing tool for business when used and used correctly. Getting started with social media is a great way to start engaging with your current clients, give them the opportunity to help you network, and bring in additional clients. Following this advice will help to put you on the right track for your business’ social media marketing strategy.
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I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
