The rise of social media – the Facebooks and Twitters of the world – is inexorable. Social networking is creating a new communications paradigm that in is challenging traditional sales and marketing techniques.
Should small and medium sized businesses get involved in social media?
And, if yes, what are the benefits of doing so? (or in other words, how do I get the finance director to give me the money to do so..)
Why businesses should be using social media
The answer to the first question is easy – it’s a definitive yes. After all common business sense dictates that you follow your customers – and if your customers are using social media – so should you – “simples”.
And the answer to the second question – lots. OK, let’s put a bit more flesh on that. Depending on the objectives set by the business for their social media strategy, some of the benefits businesses can accrue from social media include:
- cost-effectiveness – social media can be (emphasis on the “CAN” there) a highly cost-effective form of marketing. Firstly, the initial setup is FREE (yes, I did say the F word). Secondly, if done well (emphasis on the “WELL”), can recoup any investment in terms of time and money many times over*
- brand development – social media can be a very useful tool to develop your businesses brand and brand awareness. It can get your brand, your message and your tone of voice to a larger audience, it can develop brand relationships with your customers and it can be used as a conduit to support the brand proposition
- business networking (social capital) – social media can be used to build, develop and support networks that are beneficial to the business. Both in terms of clients and suppliers but also other businesses in similar sectors – this can be a major form of lead generation for the business
- lead generation / business development – social media can be used very effectively as a sales tool to generate new business leads. Both in terms of getting the businesses customer proposition across to a wider audience, but also in terms of communicating special offers and promotions – something (which if done well) can go viral
- customer support – social media can be used as a great customer support tool – again if done well, can help customers resolves issues with your products and services, but also build the brand by being seen to offer good open customer support
- customer research – social media can be used to garner thoughts, viewpoints and opinions of potential customers on new products or service ideas (or existing ones) providing invaluable customer insight
- support traditional marketing – social media can be used highly effectively to tie in existing marketing activity, and to actively support and enhance it by giving it an interactive element (note, all marketing should be integrated with each other – don’t be going off and doing things separately)
- search engine optimisation – good use of social media can see the creation and propagation of links back to your main website – thereby potentially improving the search engine ranking of your site.
* like any form of marketing, if not thought out and done with a modicum of competency – it can all be a waste of time and money.
Note of caution…
All of the above benefits depend upon your business gaining traction and trust within the social media sphere. If you don’t put the effort in, then people will not engage with you.
Getting started
Want to know how to get started with social media for your business?. Well the first step is to read our next blog post – “Social Media – the Basics for Business”.
The second step – well that depends on you. But if you need any help or advice on using social media for business – you can always get in touch with Hot Lemon – we will be happy to talk you through social media and what it can and can’t do for your business.