Did you know that 70% of consumers prefer businesses that have a social media presence? It’s important to make sure you can connect with customers today the way they want to be connected with. Your phone lines might be open and ready, but if this isn’t the way customers want to communicate, they’re not going to do you much good.
If you are looking for ways to get online marketing for your small business off the ground, you might be wondering why things like social media matter so much to consumers. After all, you’re already offering great products and services, as well as positive customer service — does it really matter if you update your Twitter?
The explanation, in part, lies in expectation built both by other companies, and by the way social media commentary has often become a stand-in for the trusted advice of friends. When consumers want to see if you’re trustworthy, they see how you respond to others. About 72% of surveyed consumers agree that they trust online reviews as much as they’d trust personal recommendations.
How can you make a change in the way you’re handling your online communications? Here are three tips to improve social media for businesses.
1. Use Social Media Software
It often sounds like an easy gig — spend an hour a day or so posting to Facebook, answering replies on Twitter. However, managing your social media while running a business can quickly turn into more than you can handle. Software for social media services can help you respond to customers more promptly, as well as release posts during optimum viewing times, rather than whenever you happen to have a spare second.
2. Talk to Social Media Marketing Companies
Social media can, like anything, be outsourced. Communicating on multiple-platforms takes time, and having it actually generate into people liking your pages and coming to your website takes skill. Properly done, social media services can help enhance your search engine optimization, or SEO, as well, which can help generate better ROI for your company. Social media marketing services can help give you a professional boost among multiple avenues for communication between you and your audience.
3. Provide Your Readers With Value, not Just Ads
Though it can be tempting to constantly toss out reminders to your customers that you’re “the best,” think about it: what incentive is there for them to stick around? If you’re a pizza store, roll out advertisements, funny pictures, and informative articles on making your own pepperoni in equal intervals. If you’re the company equivalent of a Facebook friend that only posts about Farmville, you’re going to get dropped pretty quick.
What social media services do you use? Let us know in the comments. More like this blog.
