What’s the Point of Using Social Media for Business?
If you are still one of those people who think social media is all cat videos and weird memes, then you and your business are missing out.
Like it or not, if your business isn't on social media, you are missing out on potential customers. That’s especially true if you target younger people who spend a lot of time on their social accounts.
It’s true that social media is powerful. But you only get out what you put in.
If you are spending lots of time on your accounts but not doing it properly, then quite frankly, you are wasting your time!
Let's look at how you can use social media for business to your benefit and how to do it properly.
What’s The Point Of Using Social Media For Business?
The Big Benefits Of Social Media For Business
Helps to build awareness
Your social media accounts and the content you post can help to build awareness of who your business is and what you do. Further develop that awareness by linking to your website and driving traffic there. You can also use targeted ads on social media to show your business to potential new customers who may not have heard of you yet.
Encourages interaction
Social media makes it easy for people to interact with your brand through likes, shares and comments and by leaving reviews. You can encourage more interaction by posting polls or asking questions.
Top tip - you can use this interaction and feedback to improve your content strategy by seeing which posts perform the best. You can even improve your products or services by listening to what people say about them.
Shows a different side of your business
Your website, if you have one, is like your business' online shopfront. It needs to include certain information, and you'll probably be focusing on the benefits your products or services can bring. But, there is only so much info that can be included on your web pages.
Your social media accounts give you the chance to show a different side of your business. While you don't want to look unprofessional, the more relaxed nature of social means you can share things like casual team updates, projects you've been working on or updates related to current events.
Open communication
How can your customers or potential customers contact you? Is it just by email or phone? Social media gives you another way to connect with people via Messenger apps. It's quick and easy communication, especially for checking simple queries like opening times or product availability.
How To Get The Best Return On Investment From Your Social Media
Alright, so now we know how social media can help your business. Let’s take that one step further and discover how to make the most of it.
Here are our three top tips for ensuring a good return on your social investments:
#1: Get On The Right Platforms
The first step to getting a great return on your social media is to ensure you are using the right platforms. From Facebook to LinkedIn, and Instagram to Tiktok, there's plenty of platforms to choose from! The thing is, you won’t be able to cover them all well, so it's best to choose just one or two to focus on, and then you can repurpose your content to the others.
Your platform choices need to reflect the places that match your business values, that you feel comfortable interacting on and, most importantly, where your ideal customers are.
#2: Develop A Content Strategy
It’s true that content is king when it comes to social media. But, it's no good just posting any old content on your pages or posting a flurry of content one week and then nothing for months.
To get the most out of your social media, you need to have a strategy. This strategy should include some overarching goals for what you want to achieve - generate leads, build brand awareness, launch a new product etc.
The strategy should then detail how often you are going to post and what you will post to help achieve those set objectives. Of course, the most important part of any strategy is making sure you stick with it!
#3: Track Your Return On Investment And Tweak
Once you have your strategy in place, you need to make sure you are tracking the results. Otherwise, you won't know what's working or what's not. Keep an eye on the interactions a post gets in terms of clicks, likes, shares or comments and how many people you are reaching. This will help you to tweak your strategy if needs be.
Sometimes it can be hard to know which aspects of your social media you should be focusing on to build a successful strategy. So, if you'd like some help working out which social media platform is best for you, how to develop your strategy, what to post and how to make the most of your social presence, I'm here to help.
If you have current social media accounts, I can audit them to ensure you are using them to their best advantage. Or book a strategy session where we'll map out your content for a year.
Get in touch or connect with me on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn now.
