It used to be that a great website was the best (only) way to speak to your potential customers. Once upon a time, you could support your customer base with a call center and responsive email times. And back in the day, potential employees had to rely on the interview process to get a feel for company culture and life in the workplace.
In recent years, we’ve seen the traditional marketing landscape shift as social media sites have exploded in popularity. Today, a company’s social media accounts are often one of the first channels where consumers interact with your company. Social media channels are also likely the first place a prospective customer or employee looks to validate your business.
No pressure, right?
There’s good news, though! The whole point of social media is to be, you know, social. And social media users are eager to follow and engage with brands. In fact, 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business. So if you do nothing else this year, find time to make a plan to launch your company’s social media presence.
Beyond basic brand awareness and finding new customers, here are four different benefits of social media for business:
Social Media Is One of the Best Ways to Connect and Engage with Your Target Audience
Websites are designed to be one-way communication. It’s a platform for companies to show off and deliver the perfect message for their audience to consume. At best, there’s a chatbot or a contact form where your visitors can interact.
With social media, you can have real, authentic interactions with your audience. Users can ‘like’ posts and leave comments. They can direct message you with feedback, concerns, or questions.
Even better, they’re much more likely to answer your questions and respond to polls on social than they are to participate in traditional market research methods. And, you’ll have near-real-time insight into what’s working and what falls flat.
Consumers are hungry for companies that will show up in a way that’s not overly corporate and polished.
Smart companies are using the power of social media to build true brand affinity with their followers. And they’re mining these interactions and this feedback for valuable customer data and insight into their followers.
Your Target Audience is More Than Just Customers
Yes, social media is a great way to generate leads and sell more to your existing customers. But social channels can also be an effective way to help with your recruiting efforts. Prospective employees want to know what the culture is really like at your company.
Sure, LinkedIn and Glass Door are popular social media platforms for job hunting. But why stop there? Something as simple as an Instagram account for ‘Life at Your Brand’ can really help showcase your company to the right people.
One of my favorite examples is Salesforce, which created a career-focused account to highlight its DEI initiatives, professional development programs, many awards and accomplishments, and also highlights stories of its employees.
Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to show your social media followers why your company is a great place to work. You don’t have to create a separate profile for recruiting. You can incorporate these posts into your core social media marketing strategy.
This can be as simple as creating some short videos that show a day-in-the-life of various departments. Give potential employees a better understanding of the job by talking about a recent challenge and how the team created a solution. Show behind the scenes of your customer support center.
Heck, most companies miss the fact that simply introducing current employees is quality content!
Have some fun with it, and keep an eye on audience engagement on a regular basis to see what’s working. And don’t forget that using relevant hiring-related hashtags and location tagging go a long way in helping with local visibility.
Your Users Are Going Directly to Social Media for Customer Service
Be honest – you’ve tweeted at a brand with feedback, right? You’ve also probably read the comments on Facebook posts and Instagram ads to see what feedback their customers are leaving before making a purchase.
Spoiler alert: This isn’t changing anytime soon.
Customers don’t want to have to navigate your corporate website to find your contact information and hope for a live chat so they don’t have to pick up the phone and (god forbid) actually speak to a person. The horror!
And your audience is watching closely. Do you respond to comments and questions? Is that response clear and helpful? Is the tone positive?
You’re going to get negative reviews, that’s just inevitable. What matters is how you handle the feedback. Your social media accounts provide the opportunity to drive this conversation and take ownership of the situation.
At a minimum, your social media marketing strategy should include a game plan for responding to customer feedback that is both positive AND negative. This includes details about your brand tone and voice, standard support processes and escalation procedures, and how you’ll measure and track your interactions.
Social Media Helps You Dominate the Search Engine Rankings
Smart business owners also know that Google is watching, friends. Open a browser and run a quick Google search for a popular brand name. I’ll wait…
I’m sure the brand’s website comes up first, but then what comes next? For most brands, each of their social media accounts is a unique search result. What an amazing way to influence the search results for your brand and own that messaging.
Of course, it’s not a guarantee that your Twitter page will outrank any negative press that might be out there. But the top social platforms have strong domain authority, so making sure your brand has a presence on these channels (and that you control the messaging) is important for reputation management.
And there are countless opportunities for brands and small businesses to create a strong presence – not every brand needs to run out and start an Instagram account. Become a thought leader in your niche with a LinkedIn company page. Improve your local visibility with an optimized Google My Business page.
The list goes on, as there are different social media platforms that make sense for various businesses.
Have I convinced you?
I hope I’ve given you a few reasons to consider why taking the time to create a social media strategy is worthwhile for more than just standard sales and marketing. If you need help setting realistic goals and building a strategy for your online presence, learn how I can help or reach out and we can set up some time to talk.
I’d also love to know how you think businesses can best use social media to their advantage. What tactics do you think will work best for your company? Please chime in below in the comments!