In today's digital society, using social media for business is a no brainer. The big question is: Which platform/s should your company engage in? Should you stick to 2-3 platforms or make accounts on several? How often should you post on each platform? And what type of content should you post?
In this blog post, we explain why a business (it may be a single owner business run from a basement office or a multinational corporation with branches in multiple countries) should pay attention to their social media.
Using social media for business
We know that every business (no matter the size) needs social media to be able to truly leverage the digital landscape profitably. There are a few reasons why using social media correctly is important for your business.
Reasons why social media is important for business
It helps with Brand awareness
According to
Investopedia, brand awareness is the marketing term used to describe the degree to which consumers recognize a service or product. Posting on a social media platform like Facebook, can help increase
customer engagement. Frequently seeing your post (and logo/profile picture) in their news feeds can help people remember and recognize your brand easily.
Better customer service
To deliver better customer service on your social media platforms, remember to be active and check your accounts daily. Also monitor the times your brand/product/service is mentioned by a customer and acknowledge it. As the number of followers on your account increases, it will become difficult to monitor and keep track of all conversations and brand mentions. This is the time when you should start thinking about hiring a professional or agency to take it off your hands.
RELATED: The benefits of having a Facebook Account for small businesses
Putting a 'face to the product'
Let's face it, all of us have posted a comment/concern/complain on the Facebook account of a company, only to receive a generic response. Social Media platforms can be a wonderful way to interact with your client base, if managed well. Putting a face to the product, can increase conversion rates.
Sharing your content with a larger audience
2.85 billion people use Facebook on a monthly basis. This is followed by 2.3 billion YouTube users. Other platforms have a billion plus readership. This means that when you create an account on Facebook, you are presenting on a stage with over 2 billion strong audience. It is tempting to think that this is important if you have a global brand, but even if you have a brick-and-mortar store that caters to your neighborhood, chances are that there are people and households you may not have reached.
Increase website traffic
Another common practice to increase traffic to your website is posting links to relevant webpages on your social media accounts. Most eMarketers believe that
posting on Facebook, has increased the traffic to their website by almost 75%.
What type of content should you post on social media?
There are some common types of content that small businesses can use.
Audio/video links
Businesses can create content on YouTube (the second most popular social media platform) and post a link on their Facebook or Twitter accounts. DIY videos, tours of your store, tutorials for using your latest product or 'meet our team' videos are some ideas you could use to create video content. You could also post an interesting video tutorial from the leaders in your niche, as long as it is relevant to your strategy and your followers.
User generated content
Posting this piece of content requires some thought. If your company, has its own hashtag, you could ask customers to post a picture of a video using that hashtag. You could reshare it on your business account. You can also post positive reviews left by satisfied customers on your account.
Latest products and news from your niche
Imagine that your business repairs computers. You could create content about the latest news in home computing. You could post about the latest update from Google, or Apple; anything you think might be interesting and informative to your audience.
Old projects you have worked on
This type of post is another traffic magnet. Posting this type of content will not just draw likes from the customers who you have worked with on this project, but even draw likes from prospective customers who might be interested in similar products or projects. Works well for businesses like interior designers, home service businesses, carpenters etc.
How many social media accounts should you have and how often should you post?
The answer to this depends on your business model and your customers. For businesses that provide B2B services, a LinkedIn account is a must.
Most local businesses need to have a Facebook account. Having a Facebook account is not enough, it needs to be monitored and updated frequently. You have to update it regularly, at least once a week to be considered active.
Another big one is Twitter. Companies need to have an active Twitter account. Instagram is another popular platform. You need to be where your potential customers are. That means if your business caters to a younger crowd, it would be an effective strategy to use Tik Tok for business. You should also know which social media platforms are used by others in your line of work and have presence on those platforms.
Conclusion
Using social media for business is a smart choice. Most small businesses that use social media, see increase in sales within two years. While others claim that using social media accounts increases their ROI within five years.
About the Author
Anandi Merchant has been helping businesses like yours navigate the digital landscape and built a stronger online identity using digital products. She uses a multi-channel approach to help grow your business. She can help you take the next steps to build and implement a better digital strategy to help you move ahead. If you need someone to manage social media accounts for your business, you can reach her here.
