So what’s all this social media thing about then? It’s just following celebrities isn’t it? We don’t socialise with customers, so there’s no point! - these are just some of the responses you’re likely to get when you mention social media.
Believe it or not there a still a few dinosaurs out there who fail to see how social media marketing, like more traditional forms of marketing, can work for their business.
Most will see spending even small amounts on a consistent social media campaign as a counter-productive drain on resources. This is a false economy when marketing and advertising spend should form a significant element of business expenditure. Most of your customers will be spending a high proportion of their time checking in to social media sites, so it makes sense that your company has some sort of presence.
The fact is, if your business fails to keep pace with developments in social media marketing, natural selection will come into play and you will be left behind, leaving other companies with a free reign on customers that should have been yours.
Used wisely, social media can be a potent way to drive sales and brand awareness. Take computer firm Dell for example, who make $6.5 million from Twitter Sales
Dell doesn’t make those sales tweeting about how they are enjoying a coffee and a muffin for breakfast, or the office party, no they tweet about special offers, discounts and new releases. Obvious things you need your customers to know about. They will also post regularly and consistently to give people a reason to continue following them.
It is still a common misconception that all you need to do is create a website and the customers will come –they won’t. The same applies to setting up a Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin Group. All of them will need to be regularly updated, promoting news from your blog or your latest offers and product launches as well as interacting with exisiting customers, let's not forget them!
Many of the experts in the business will also tell you that social media doesn’t work for all businesses - they’re wrong.
If your product is niche market you will need to work harder on your social media presence, but research in the United States proves that it will generate results. 78% of businesses in the US said that it generated more buzz, and not all of those businesses would have been obvious magnets for a social media audience.
To get the best out of a social media campaign, time is a major factor. With the optimum level for getting serious results being around 6 hours a week amongst businesses in the US, it’s only a matter of time before such an investment of time is commonplace amongst businesses in the UK – can your business afford to be off the pace?
