These days nearly everyone is on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or some other social media platform. There’s no doubt that the numbers speak for themselves. According to Jeffbullas.com, there are now nearly 7.2 billion people on the planet, and 2.1 billion of them have social media accounts.
Depending on your industry and market, you may need to rethink whether or not your marketing strategy should include social media.
Consider some of these statistics from Social Media Today:
- Nearly one out of every three Americans receives their news through Facebook
- 40% of people socialize more via social media sites than they do face-to-face
- The average social shopper spends an average of $140 when coming from Pinterest and $60 when coming from Facebook
Is it for me?
If you’re in a business-to-consumer (B2C) market, social media is a no-brainer. But it’s not always the case if you sell business-to-business (B2B). Sometimes your ideal customer might not use social media that much, if at all. For instance, some industries have older workers (funeral home workers and postal employees have a median age of 52). These markets may not have a high interest in social media. For the most part, however, people are liking, sharing, tweeting and pinning more than ever, and if you’re not in on the action, you’re likely missing out.
Attract and keep customers
Making social media a priority will go a long way in helping you build your brand, distribute content and garner leads, as well as keeping your customers engaged.
If you offer value to your prospects (not just talking about your products, but other things your audience would be interested in, like checklists, educational videos and other information), they will see the value in you and your brand.
Perhaps the most important element is listening. Listen to your customers, your market, your competitors and your competitors’ customers. Respond! Many online social platforms like SproutSocial (paid) or SocialMention (free) offer tools to help you track your brand name, hashtags, keywords, locations, user names, etc. Keep an eye on posts so you can respond quickly. (Plus, you’ll get to know your audience better!)
Tight on time? Consider hiring a professional
If you’re lucky to make it through tackling the day-to-day priorities, hire a virtual assistant to handle your social media activities or look into a social media management company.
If you’re an entrepreneur and promote your name instead of a product, be careful not to leave everything up to a VA. Your audience expects to hear from you. Ask your VA to manage day-to-day things (like scheduling your posts, following people back and researching influencers). But when it comes to responses and posts, try to write your own.
Are you currently using social media to promote your business? If so, what results have you seen? Please share in the comments below.
Read part II of this article on social media marketing.
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