Businesses have went through a “tectonic shift” with the way they market over the last 10-15 years. The dramatic change was the effectiveness and impact marketing had on a company. Back then, or “before the internet.” It was routine to plaster a business on billboards, newspaper ads, radio, television and receive a decent return on investment. Today? Good luck trying to get the exponential growth you’re looking for with those mediums.

Social Media brings a truly unique and convenient approach to customer acquisition, engagement and retention. Major platforms such as Twitter (336 million users–statista.com), Facebook (2.27 billion users–statista.com), Instagram (500 million users-statista.com) and LinkedIn (467 million users–statista.com) allow a business to make a post instantly with past/current/upcoming information about their business, product(s) or service(s).

Why be active on social media? Here are four different reasons.

1. Promoting

Social media has become a fantastic tool to promote staff, products/services and success stories not only to people in your local area, but around the world.

Example:

• “20% off this weekend ONLY on __________.”
• “Congratulations to Jimmy on setting a new company record!”
• “Did you know that we’re the leading company in our industry?”
• “Hope all of our followers are having a great Monday – make sure to check out our services today!”

Pretty straight forward right? Remember it’s your business, make sure you’re promoting it.

2. Visuals

Allow insight into your business with engaging visuals. “Behind-the-scenes” photos and videos can give your customers a reinforcement on why they bought your product/service and a reason to come back for more. The article “16 Video Marketing Statistics to Inform Your 2018 Strategy” by Lindsay Kolowich with Hubspot states, “90% of users say product videos are helpful in their decision process.”

3. Relevancy

There’s nothing worse than neglecting social media posts. To be an every-day business, you have to be an every-day business. Imagine a restaurant posting “50% off all meals today!”, only to find it was posted 2 months ago. That would give lots of people a sad face. Updates constantly show new and existing clientele you’re open and ready to assist.

4. Knowing where your audience is.

This is a big one and probably the most important; knowing which social platforms your customers are using. Make sure you’re actively conducting research on where people, that tend to buy your product/service, are looking. It’s like you’re a restaurant and only promoting on a platform like LinkedIn. Probably won’t be getting you the most traffic due to LinkedIn’s more “professional” network. However, platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook will provide a more “recreational” audience.

All in all, we live in a world that’s now ruled by online interaction.  Make sure your business is relevant on popular social platforms to ensure more exposure and ultimately maximize your ROI.

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Citations

Twitter Users:

Statista 2018: https://www.statista.com/statistics/274564/monthly-active-twitter-users-in-the-united-states/

Facebook Users:

Statista 2018: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/

Instagram Users:

Statista 2018: https://www.statista.com/statistics/657823/number-of-daily-active-instagram-users/

LinkedIn Users:

Statista 2018: https://www.statista.com/statistics/274050/quarterly-numbers-of-linkedin-members/

16 Video Marketing Statistics to Inform Your 2018 Strategy by Lindsay Kolowich, via Hubspot.com:

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics#sm.0000h4rgwfoa1fouwqm23llpma557