Believe it or not, I am still seeing many businesses shying away from social – either not even getting on it or, yes, having profiles there, but doing nothing. Why? Are you scared? Of what?
To be honest with you, the pros far outweigh the cons.
Today, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are your most powerful instruments for two-way communication and digital relevancy. This means, they offer you the opportunity to talk directly with your customers, but most importantly your customers have the means to talk back to you too, anytime, anywhere, about their needs, their wants, their pain points. And this is where the power of social media lies – in communication that is meaningful. 15 years ago were able to ever come so close to your customers? Did you ever have the opportunity to be so relevant? I’m guessing no.
What some still get wrong is that social media is just another advertising tool. Yes, there’s this great marketing vehicle called native advertising, but the reality is that broadcasting a message and selling, selling, selling don’t work anymore. As Brian Solis says: “People are searching for answers and directions, not messages or sales pitches.” It is ‘peer recommendations’ (the reviews and opinions about products and services by other people like us) that we seek on social media and that today are absolutely critical to your business for one very simple reason: people trust friends and others like them, not corporate talk. Research shows that 75% of consumers do not even believe ads tell the truth, whereas 90% would turn to friends for brand recommendations and 71% are more likely to buy a product if someone referred to it on social media. Pretty serious numbers here, don’t you think?
So, here’s what you can get out of social:
What matters most is that your clients and customers are on social media. Actually, EVERYONE is on social media. You can’t escape it anymore. Finding ways to engaging with your audience can only benefit you, because as Seth Godin says “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell”. And social media is one of the most powerful storytelling tools.
Are you on social? How has it benefitted you?