Have you ever heard slow and steady wins the race? Social media marketing is no different. Just because you aren’t seeing your likes increase by five hundred percent or your phone ringing off the hook with sales calls doesn’t mean that you are doing something wrong. Turning followers into customers doesn’t happen over night, and there are more benefits to being on social sites than that.
Benefit # 1: Increase Brand Recognition. What you say and how you say it on social sites is completely up to your company. You can create and build a brand reputation around your company values and goals and display your advantages around that. You can position yourself and tell people what you want them to know about your company.
Benefit #2: Increase Demand for Upcoming Launches. What better way to increase demand for a new product or service by leaking information to your followers about new launches? There is none! Reward people who are following you to exclusive previews, behind the scenes look on how something started, when things will become public, etc. These are things that your followers will want to know about, and they can spread the information by word of mouth to do publicity for you!
Benefit #3: Increase Exposure. Out of sight, out of mind. Well, that isn’t the case on social sites. You can continue to remind your customers about what you have to offer, new products, or helpful tips that will keep your name in their minds. You are developing and maintaining a relationship with customers and potential customers to reinforce your brand exposure, which can ultimately shorten your sales cycle.
Benefit #4: Establish a Strong Community. Community means that there is a two way means of communication. It shouldn’t be just your company talking at your followers, you should be listening to them as well. After all, that is why you have two ears and one mouth. You should be listening more than you are talking. You can find out what challenges people are facing, what they like, what they don’t like, and what they find valuable. If they aren’t physically talking to you, then let your analytics do the talking.
Benefit #5: Increase Website Traffic. You can lead traffic to your website through your posts on social sites. In fact, you want a good majority of your posts to lead back to your website. Why? Well, because that is where all of your information about your company is. Social sites show a snap shot of your company and company news, but your website is everything about your company. Once people land there, they can learn more about your products and services, and this also increases your search engine optimization.
Benefit #6: Keep an Eye on Competition. Don’t fire your marketing research team just yet, you still need them. Just be aware that it is okay to see what your competition is doing on social sites, and to check it often! This is a much easier way of seeing how they are reaching out to their followers and what they are doing because they can’t hide their social marketing efforts from you. Go, gather, and conquer.
Benefit #7: No Time Constraint. You can now announce anything at any time from anywhere! Several fast thinking companies used this to their advantage during the Super Bowl with their fast response time to the black out. You can post things when your target audience is most likely to see them, and in a timely manner. People want their news faster and more direct, and social media makes that expectation a reality for your company news.