5 Ways Social media can Impact Your Business
The rise of social media is one of the biggest changes to the business world and consumer behaviour in the 21st century.
It has changed the way people consume information, make purchasing decisions and interact with each other.
Numbers don’t lie and today’s statistics show that an average person spends 145 minutes a day on social media. The average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 145 minutes per day. That is more than 2 hours a day!
And two-thirds of Internet users regularly use social networks online to share or obtain information on products and services.
Ambassador says 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others.
As a business leader, this information beckons you to have a strong presence on social media. This is where your audience is.
This is where they discover products and services, this is where they talk, interact and influence each other. And this is where you can get their attention.
Businesses are responding to this overwhelming trend and developing a strong social media presence. Every business needs to grasp the magnitude of this change and use this to its advantage.
Here are 5 ways social media can impact your business
Provides Instant Connection
Today’s customer chooses to interact with a business via social media as they get instant attention - this is where they appreciate, complain, influence and interact.
Social media is a powerful tool to reach out to customers and deliver a seamless messaging experience.
A great example of this is how Nike uses social media to solve their customers’ problems instantly. They use a Twitter handle, Team Nike, to provide support seven days a week in seven different languages!
When a customer mentions Nike’s main Twitter handle, @teamnike responds instantly. This shows how dedicated the brand is to solve its customers’ problems.
Lends Credibility
Today’s customer is a conscious and very informed decision-maker. Your social media presence lends immense credibility to your product or service and your brand. It shows your customer that you exist and provide valuable and reliable products/services.
In an age where the customer has a lesser chance of meeting you in person or physically visiting your place of business, than ever before.
Keeps the Competition in Check
Everyone who is looking to do business is online today. By being actively engaged in creating a social media presence for yourself, you can also keep a track of your competition and use it to your advantage.
What is your competition talking about?
Who are they targeting?
What do their campaigns look like?
All these could give you clues to build and create your own campaigns.
One of the best examples of this is how the brand Hellman used social media to get people to use more of their mayonnaise while cooking.
They asked people to click a picture of what is in their fridge and share it via WhatsApp. And they then connected them to a chef who would help them plan a recipe using the ingredients from their fridge and stay connected with the customer while they cooked it together!
Helps Build a Community
The internet has helped the world shrink in size. Today, you have the opportunity to talk, interact and sell your products/services to anyone in the world. Location and geographies are no more a constraint!
In that light, a strong social media presence helps you not just sell but also build a strong community that believes in you and your offerings. This gives people an opportunity to discuss and help each other. For example, if you are a SaaS company then having a community helps you understand your users very well and also gives them a platform to help and communicate with each other.
Or if you have a product/service that is new or niche, it can help build a community around that philosophy and get people who believe in it to come together. Like environment-conscious home cleaning products, or toxin-free beauty products, or vegan food products.
A great example of this is an online community of T-shirt designers where people were asked to vote on T-shirt designs and the designers were paid 20% in royalties.
The members were happy to promote their designs and bring more people to the site by good word of mouth
Eventually, the people who believe in you and your products have the potential to become your advocates.
Discover New Trends
Working endlessly as a start-up or a small business can sometimes blind us with our own urgent challenges and might push us to lose out on other important information - like discovering the new trends in our space.
Being active on social media helps one stay abreast with the latest trends and upcoming events related to your business and industry. You can boost this stream of information by actively following the industry leaders on social media.
Conclusion
Social media is a very powerful and useful tool, especially for businesses that are strapped for bigger budgets.
Creating a smart social media strategy can help a business get the word out there, build a bigger audience and keep up with the competition.
If you are looking for a Social Media Manager to help your business create a strong online presence, then do reach out to us.
