Your company has been running just fine, growing at acceptable rates- and seemingly continuing to expand for decades now- all without a true social media presence. Why shake things up if they’re moving along just fine, right?
One word: success.
And I’m talking more than just “moving along just fine” kind of success.
Consumers Are Online
With a growing number of millennial decision makers in the economy, it’s important to remember how these consumers are getting their information- and where they’re buying. Statistics show that “67% of Millennials and 56% of Gen Xers prefer to shop online rather than in-store” giving those brands with a strong social media presence an immediate leg up.
Visual Content Helps Convert
Your customers and clients are craving to know more about your products and services, and with the help of social media tools you can give them exactly what they need. Videos, product shots, and even Facebook LIVE can help engage your audience with visual content that leaves a lasting impression. According to various studies, visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared than regular typed copy with nothing to entice the eye.
Mobile Users Aren’t Going Anywhere
Look around a busy restaurant or crowded train station and you’ll likely see most people with their heads down and phone in hand. With the rise of smart phones everything is going mobile from social media to purchasing to news outlets and banking. There’s literally an app for almost anything and everything these days and if people are looking for new services or products to buy, you can bet they’re checking out their options on their phones.
Having your company on social media helps to be where your customers are already looking on a daily basis. Additionally, because social media platforms are already “mobile friendly” inside their respective applications, it helps for those businesses still working to make their own personal websites mobile friendly as well- a MUST for most customers who don’t want to deal with a hard to read website on their smart phones.
Develop a Community
A huge benefit to having your company prominently displayed and engaged on social media is the community of followers you can build around it. Consumers want to be a part of something- not just another customer name in a file- and this social aspect helps to bridge that gap. With community comes two important things: trust and loyalty- which every company strives for to ensure continuous business with clients and customers.
Lower Marketing Costs
While I’m not suggesting you would be getting rid of your marketing budget entirely, there is something to be said for the vast amount of access and tools available on social media for next to nothing. You can schedule, post, share and engage with your audiences for free, though it will cost you time out of your day.
Still, for minimal financial investments, you can subscribe to services that will help give you back some of your day, such as Smarter Queue or Hoot Suite, two social media scheduling options. Hiring someone to manage your social media altogether is still typically a huge savings from a normally expensive marketing budget.
However, if the budgets are set and you’re prepared to spend even more, again social media can help you by creating fantastic ads that will spark your customer’s interest, even when you can’t.
Gain Statistics
Finally, if there’s one truly invaluable tool of social media that your company needs to be using right now, it’s the backend analytics. With a company page you can see who’s looking at your page, their demographics, the time of day they’re active and even the typical age range of your viewers. These statistics are changing the game for how companies target and sell to people across the Internet and social media. With insights like these companies are able to reach their audiences exactly when and where their prospective clients are.