In 2018, over 2 billion people were using social media worldwide. It’s the best place you can possibly connect with customers.
If you don’t have them already, you need to set up social media profiles on all the main sites. You should have a Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook account for your company at a minimum.
This article will teach you more about the social media impact on businesses.
1. Connect with Customers
In this day and age, it’s very difficult to connect with customers if you’re not on social media.
Social media is a way to talk to your customers in real-time.
You can invite them to post on your Facebook page or tweet at you and you can respond within minutes. Ask questions on your social media pages to your followers. For instance, if you’re an ice cream shop you can ask your followers what flavor they would love to see next.
Social media makes it easy to engage with people you otherwise would never meet.
On Twitter, you can create polls to ask your followers what they think of something. It takes almost no engagement on their part to respond, just the click of a button, but it gives you invaluable insight into what your customers care about.
2. Showcase Your Products
Social media gives you the opportunity to show off what you sell without paying for any advertising.
Fifteen years ago, if a company wanted to show off the mattresses they make, they would have to buy a television commercial.
With social media, you can reach a wide audience by posting your products in your own post. It’s a free and effective way to show people what you’re about.
Instagram is a great place to post high-quality photos of your products. You don’t need a fancy camera, just a smartphone will do.
3. Give Updates
Social media is a great place to keep your customers updated on your business.
You can post on social media when you’re having a big sale. You can also post holiday hours and if you’ll be closed on a particular day.
Social media is a great place to announce employee changes or changes in inventory. It’s the fastest way to communicate with your customers when something new happens or is about to happen.
4. Network with Other Companies
Social media makes networking with companies similar to yours easy.
It’s a good way to form beneficial relationships with other companies in your industry. Once you identify who other players are, you can find out what they’re doing and adjust your own business plan.
You can also collaborate with other companies and trade goods or services. You can organize markets with other companies as a way to sell your stuff at the same time.
5. Increase Blog Traffic
If it doesn’t already, your company needs to have a website with a blog.
Your blog should contain articles that answer questions about the products or services you sell. Find out what people want to know about your products by searching for them on Reddit.
Reddit gives you a clear understanding of what everyday people are talking about.
Use your social media sites to direct traffic to your blog. Do this by sharing all of your blog posts on social media. The larger your social media following, the more viewers your blog will get.
It’s also important you use SEO, or search engine optimization, techniques on your blog. This will generate more web traffic for your site and help you sell more.
SEO techniques include writing quality content, using keywords, and linking to other parts of your website.
6. Get Reviews and Feedback
Social media marketing is a great way to gather reviews and feedback about how your company is seen by the public.
If you have a business Facebook page, people can leave reviews straight on the page. The reviews are between 1-5 stars and typically include a comment.
This gives you the opportunity to gain valuable customer insight into what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.
You can also trade social media reviews for free food or discounts on services. For instance, you can tell your customers that if they leave a Facebook review, they can have $5 off their order.
It’s ok to add incentives to your social media use.
7. Makes You Seem Human
Many companies on social media use jokes and memes to make them more relatable.
When you’re on social media, you should be posting as if you were a person, not a company. Keep up with the latest internet trends and try to make posts that appeal to them.
Learn how to make memes and gifs so you can draw people in with your sense of humor. People are more likely to trust companies who seem human.
Post photos of yourself or your employees at work to add faces to the company. This is another trick to seem more likable.
Feature an employee every week on Instagram and post in the caption a little about them and why they like working for your company.
Now You Understand Social Media Impact on Businesses
Social media is a business’ best friend.
It’s a lifeboat to stay afloat in this digital world. Even if you don’t sell any products online, you still need an online website and social media platforms.
You need to let the world know you exist, and social media marketing is the way to do so. So download Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram today and watch the social media impact on businesses happen before your eyes.
Looking for more ways to increase your business profile? Browse the rest of this site for more great advice.
