Social Media has become a breathing necessity for every company, organization &marketer. If your company/brand is not listed on a social media platform then you are definitely missing out on a lot of opportunities.
How much of this is true and is there truly a magical power to Social Media engagement is something a company will understand in the long run.
Because Social Media is a process and not an event. You can’t expect quick results from Social Media. It’s a process, a process to build relationship with potential clients and maintain cordial relationship with existing ones.
But first, let’s get the basics right!
What is Social Media?
Social Media, simply put, is just basic communication. Social Media can amplify your exposure and help you connect with customers in new ways.
Regular media (like TV, print, radio etc.) is a one-way lane where information shared by a company or brand can only be watched, heard or read but limits the ability to
comment back. Whereas, Social Media is a two-way lane, that gives customers the liberty to communicate back.
Marketers and companies should bear this in mind, that Social Media should not be
treated as yet another marketing channel. Social Media communication should be a two way process where you communicate and listen. You can’t only be talking about your brand and not listen to your customer feedback and woes.
Social Media shouldn’t play the role in direct marketing, instead it should influence viral conversations about your brand, build brand awareness, improve customer service and
engage with your target customer as a ‘friend and philosopher’.
Social Media is not just another marketing channel, but it has more to it:
• Public Relations – for your company and brand
• Customer Service – to hear out your customers and resolve issues
• Loyalty Building – to construct a concrete bond with your existing as well as
potential customers
• Networking – it’s the best place to bond over with potentials and create a
network befitting your company and brand
• Customer Acquisition – you heard it right, new customers can follow you, if you
treat Social Media with reverence and in the right way Even now if you are not convinced, lets get on to the next question!
Why Social Media?
Because it’s Huge!
- According to statistics, if Facebook were a country, it would be the third most
populated in the world, after China and India.
- An average of 27 million tweets is ‘tweeted’ per day on Twitter.
- Around 2 billion videos are viewed each day on YouTube.
These are reasons enough to show the number of audience your product, service,
company or brand can attract, when it is live on a social media platform.
Because it’s awesome!
Your existing and potential customers are conversing about you and your competitor on this platform and you can be a part of this conversation to understand your customer better.
Because it’s Cost Effective!
Social Media is definitely a much cheaper yet effective medium.
Because your Competitors are/will be on it!
Imagine a situation where your competitors are a part of some marketing efforts
and you are not aware about it. What a loss it would be to your company and your
marketing drive! You as a company need to keep your eyes and ears open to anything and everything your competitor does.
Now that you know what Social Media is and why a company should be on Social Media, lets take a look at what you do on Social Media.
What you can do on Social Media?
Get feedback: Simply listen to what people say on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums and you will know where you as a brand stand in the market. It helps you to improvise
if you have negative comments or to bank on your positive response.
Create demand: Proactively informing about upcoming products, features or services of your company will help create demand before the actual product arrives.
Offer discounts: Once you are on Facebook or Twitter and before you actually start to gain followers the best thing to do is to offer discounts. People will not only follow you but they might also buy your product.
Spread the word: You can build brand awareness by spreading a word about your company and brand and making them synonymous with something that you do as a principle.
Build brand loyalty: Brand loyalty can be built on Social Media with the right kind of information or community.
Get clients: Getting new clients and acquiring prospective clients on your existing
database is an easy task if you can pull of the conversations on these platforms
Get new workforce: You can not only get clients, but can also get workforce or
employees for your company on Social Media. This will not only increase your brand
status but also can help curb recruitment difficulties. Looking for talent is one of the more evident ways to use social media sites.
Watch the competition: In case you are not on social media your competition probably already is. With a competitor openly chatting with a prospective, you can be well informed about your competitor tactics and act accordingly.
Social Media is not a fad and it is here to stay for a long time. So in case you are not on a Social Media platform yet, then NOW is the time. Join the bandwagon soon and see the opportunities for growth for yourself!
