Four reasons why your business needs social media

From the explosion of TikTok to the resurgence of LinkedIn, brands must have a clear idea as to which online networks are likely to provide the best return on investment too – and therefore where the social media focus should lie each day.

Social media is not only a great tool to connect with customers and prospects, but it can also help to produce commercially savvy results – without breaking the bank.

If you’re happy with your company profiles, let’s delve into some of the reasons why you should be tapping into the powers of building a positive online brand…

Engage with customers and develop long-term relationships

Your audience is typically right there before your very eyes – even more so during the current climate. And they’re often looking at you to provide real-time advice and of-the-moment support.

A valuable interaction could transform a prospect into a customer for life, simply because you’ve helped to answer a burning question. Other individuals might need a few touchpoints before they head into purchasing territory.

However, never underestimate positive word of mouth because – if you’re providing a strong customer experience online and engaging with recipients throughout – that trusted digital voice could prove to be vital for future conversions to take place.

Don’t be afraid to be responsive, but also be very mindful of your organisation’s tone of voice and the type of discussion you’re getting involved in.

Keep conversations alive via follow-up support too, whether that means encouraging people to download an informative guide, pointing them towards your next webinar, or simply continuing to deepen relationships through regular online chat. Strong conversation can help cut through such vast newsfeed noise.

Generating leads, gaining online traffic, and creating positive bottom-line impact

As online statistics go through the roof – following a mass adoption of hybrid working models – an organisation should be strategically capitalising on the vast uplift in social media users.

That doesn’t mean businesses must now ‘spam’ their profiles with post after post. Instead, pick the right moments via your social analysis and delve further into the detail to figure out what your audience reacts positively – and negatively – to.

You should be starting to build up a picture as to what type of content truly engages customers and prospects too. For example, are videos and GIFs the way forward? Or maybe it’s a thought-leadership post that provides helpful advice and drives traffic to click through to your latest downloadable guide or blog?

Once you begin to understand the data at your fingertips, several tools – from Twitter Analytics to Sprout Social can help – this should assist in how you draft creative copy that ‘sticks’.

And when content works, it has the power to increase organic traffic, enhance lead-generation opportunities, and boost bottom-line impact. For tips on how to analyse your digital comms, read our our recent blog here.

Keeping abreast of industry news

Whether you’re a plastic recycler helping firms to make their operations more circular, a construction firm providing retail expertise on the future of the high street, or you know your edge from your core computing, it’s also vital to know what your industry is saying.

For budding ‘go-to’ spokespeople, an easy place to start generating ideas for comment opportunities is via a simple keyword search on social media platforms. These can reveal the trending topics and show what your audience is reacting to – in real-time.

Additionally, a variety of free and paid-for social listening tools – such as BuzzSumo, Hootsuite, and Google Alerts – can help. A small piece of advice here would also be to select 5-10 industry news outlets or engaging commentators from the off and start to follow their updates.

Empowering your workforce to have a voice

According to our friends at SoAmpli, employees can generate eight-times the engagement that a company can – from the same social media post.

So, if you have a team that’s keen to update their personal newsfeeds with positive brand content, encourage them! If you’re stuck with how you can maintain momentum, try incentivising efforts too.

For example, could the person who achieves the most valuable level of engagement win a prize at the end of the month? Such ‘healthy competition’ could assist in motivating and inspiring workforces to do more online.

It’s cliched, but people really do buy from people – social selling ultimately comes down to trust. For example , if you know someone in your network has had a good experience with a firm, you’re likely to remember this information when you require a similar product or service in future – and vice-versa.

Not only should you engage with customers online, I’d advise your enterprise to empower colleagues to get involved to. Making them feel valued and encouraging them to write engaging posts can assist in driving a positive company culture – both on and offline.

If you’re still wondering how social media can effectively impact your bottom line, get to know us via our Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn pages! You can also email office@scribapr.com or call 01484 489333 – we’d be happy to have a virtual cuppa and a chat!