Developing your company brand is key to driving customers to your business and with social media now becoming a substantial part of any marketing strategy it provides the perfect cost-efficient platform to increase your business’ visibility.
With relevant and timely posts and updates, using social media for business provides an ideal opportunity to engage and interact with a broad audience of potentially new customers, as well as continuing to build on your relationships with existing customers. The more trust you gain, the more brand loyalty customers will have with you which in turn will lead to sales.
Here are 10 key benefits of social media for business:
One of the most obvious benefits of using social media for your business is being able to increase brand awareness and gain exposure to a new audience. There are billions of users on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other networks, so there are plenty of people to reach, most of which will not have heard of your brand.
Using social media for business can help build your brand loyalty as you have the ability to consistently interact with your audience, respond to questions in real time and build a ‘tribe’ across different platforms. The more a customer resonates with your brand, the more likely they are to buy from you and most importantly recommend you to others.
By seeing a brand on a consistent basis, brands can start building a relationship with potential and existing customers. Think of companies such as Apple, Nike and Starbucks, they have extremely loyal customers who will consistently choose them over their competitors no matter what.
Having business social media accounts is a great way to add a face to your name by humanizing your brand and showcasing your brand’s personality. These days customers care just as much about who they’re buying from as they do what they are buying. By creating a brand voice, that is consistent across all your business social media profiles your brand will become instantly recognisable amongst competitors and will fit the perception you want to give about your brand.
In a world where customers expect 24/7 real-time contact with brands, using social media for business provides the perfect communication tool to keep in touch with your customers and stay front of mind, even if they aren’t quite ready to make a purchase.
Social media platforms are an excellent way to establish your brand as an authority in your industry. By sharing relevant content, becoming a go-to resource for information, and responding to industry-related questions, you can use social media as a platform for becoming an authority.
If we look at Tesla Motors’s CEO Elon Musk for example, he is considered an authority on energy efficiency, innovation and sustainability in tech and automotive industry with his Twitter feed packed full of content about those topics and his opinions on the industry.
Social engagement is increasing, which in turn is driving traffic and sales to company websites. Customers no longer have to sit on hold or wait for 24 hours on an email reply, instead they can ask a question or advice and receive an answer instantaneously. This can quite often result in an online purchase or if it is a more considered purchase the research will be carried out online and then purchased in person.
A study from GlobalWebIndex about how social engagement is increasing and visual content platforms are driving it reveals:
B2B companies can reach out to the key decision makers and start conversations directly through networks such as LinkedIn. B2C companies can use Twitter and Facebook messenger to answer any questions from those customers on the cusp of making a purchase and just need that little extra nudge or confirmation to convert.
According to data from Hubspot, social media lead conversion rates are 13% higher than the average lead conversion rate.
If you aren’t using social media in your sales process, it’s time to start!
Your employees and customers are potentially your biggest (and less expensive) advocates of your brand. If you encourage and embrace their posts by highlighting and re-sharing their posts/tweets the ‘feel good’ factor will continue, but you may also get user-generated content that’s free and is ‘unbiased’, so perfect word of mouth!
GoPro is an excellent example of a brand that uses UGC effectively. Their entire Instagram feed is made of photos and videos re-shared from their customers.
Storytelling is a great way to take your customers through a journey rather than pushing an advert or ‘hard-sell’ marketing message in front of them. Using your business social media accounts is great for storytelling, particularly with Instagram stories and Snapchat where stories are brought to life through images and videos. The goal is learning how to tell your story in a way that fits the platform you’re publishing on, you don’t want to share the exact same creative on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
If you are looking for long-term brand growth, building an audience of loyal customers and advocates is the best way to proceed. Every new customer or follower you gain is one more person that could then potentially share your content and talk about your products with a friend/family or colleague. This ‘viral’ nature is a key benefit of social media that you just wouldn’t get from another marketing channel.
Another great benefit of using social media for your business is the fact that you can use social media as a tool to glean useful information and insights about your audience. You can learn more about what your audience wants and what their needs are which in turn could inform key business decision and new product launches.
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