Using Social Media To Further Your Business

Why use social media?

We all know the internet has given brands and business a whole new marketplace to conquer and unfortunately this is ever growing. With social media platforms being at the for front of most peoples lives it makes sense to meet potential customers there. People are expecting to find people through social media, if your not there you are missing out.

As you can imagine social media activity is at its peak in the evening or during the morning commute to work. This presents a unique opportunity to you as a business to reach out to potential customers on the go or even in their own home. The internet advertising bureau UK reported that almost 80% of consumers would be more likely to purchase more often from a brand or business because of their presence on social media. These platforms have become a marker for a brands authenticity and allows consumers to put trust into your brand.

With a multitude of social platforms available with the ever growing smart phone market, the ways in which you can interact with people is ever increasing.

Facebook & Twitter

The for runners in social media Facebook & Twitter have both have advertising facilities allowing you to advertise directly to the millions of users. They work on a similar model to Google ad words where you only pay way someone clicks your advert. Twitter operates slightly differently, they charge per interaction (re-tweet, follow, favourite, clicking link) this only applies to the first generation, and subsequent re-tweets etc from a previous re-tweet will not be charged.

Content management

The way in which you manage your social media accounts will tell me people a lot about your business. If you are overly self promotional you will appear spammy and sales driven (even though that is your goal), if you are very uninformative about your business you will attract the wrong people. You need a healthy balance of promotional content and personal interaction. Giving your brand a face and personality will encourage people to interact with you more than promotional messages. Follow people of interest to your brand people who engage in your sector and interact with them, you’ll soon see an increase in your social presence. You should offer people solutions to problems, answer questions, just SOCIALISE. If you wait for someone to engage with you before responding you’ll probably be waiting a while. The more you interact the more you will appear across multiple feeds and grow your social presence. With this said make sure everything is relevant and justified, annoying people on twitter will do you no good.

Competitions

For any start up business, allocating some budget to run some free giveaways is a great way to start your social media campaign. A lot of people will disagree with this statement, suggesting you are attracting the wrong market. I say, it’s become normal for brands to offer freebies to loyal followers or to reach new customers. By offering something free you are offering people the potential chance to become apart of your brand for nothing. It also encourages people to share your content. Brands often set the requirements as Re-tweet and follow (Twitter) or Like and share (Facebook) to grow brand awareness. Who doesn’t love a freebie. Be careful though, if your account becomes associated with giveaways and freebies you will find it hard to achieve a return on your investment (time).

Professional account management

If you are ready to take the leap into social media and feel you need some expert guidance or account management you should speak to the advertising team at Sound Solutions Internet. They are experienced in social media account management. If you have yet to start a social media campaign they can get you up and running alternatively they will take over your accounts as they stand.

Resource Box: Benjamin Baker – Twitter user for business needs.