13 Reasons Why Social Media is Crazy Good For Business

Social Media for Business is a Must This Day and Age

Should your business be on social media?

Why yes! Not only should it, but it NEEDS to be on social.

In fact, your business cannot afford NOT to be anymore… If you’re not leveraging social media then you are losing out on a tremendous amount of potential.

With platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, & Twitter your business can generate a huge amount of exposure and leads.

You can show off your products, speak with customers directly, and build relationships with industry influencers.

The best part about Social Media for Business is that it is amazingly cost effective. It is inexpensive and provides huge potential.

Here are my 13 reasons why social media is crazy good for business…

 

1. Social proof

Consumers have become sponges of knowledge.

When they shop around for products or services it takes them, on average, 5-20 touches before making a decision.

They investigate the solutions to their problems and search the web for those answers.

Social proof (likes, shares, reviews, testimonials, etc.). is the biggest piece of evidence that you can leverage.

Showing that others use and believe in your products and services will make other customers feel more comfortable when buying from you.

 

2. Emotionally connect with your audience

Social media is great for building brand awareness.

In gaining brand exposure, you have the opportunity to show off your brand identity.

This is perfect for connecting with people on social media.

You talk to them the way they talk to their friends.

You change from being a non-existent factor to a humanized business. Which is great for connecting with your audience and engaging your fans.

Building a tribe is hard and takes time, but pays dividends over the long haul.

 

3. Rank Higher on Google.

Google’s Rank Brain considers a ton of different variables when factoring rankings.

One of the variables is stellar content… Content that adds value to the community.

If you make awesome posts on social networks and the messages get shared by a lot of different people, this equates to popularity – or value.

And if it’s popular, those posts have a tendency to get written and blogged about.

Within those articles will be links, and links will drive your rankings.

 

4. Boost Customer Service

Social media platforms such as Twitter have become the hub for company’s to keep in touch with their clients.

Due to the real-time functioning, these platforms allow, using them for customer service has become a no-brainer.

Everything from maintaining relationships with customer, dealing with problems, and launching new products.

In what used to take days or weeks, platforms like Twitter offer you the ability to respond to customer queries in a matter of minutes.

 

5. Increase Reach & Visibility

With proper targeting, you can reach your market and express your voice in a way that has never been offered to businesses.

By researching hashtags, searching for trending content, and finding what influencers in your niche are talking about, you can see what people are interested in.

Increasing your business’s reach and visibility, can get your message in front of just the right people and engage in the conversation.

This helps build your brand identity and authority.

 

6. Your Audience is on Social Media

Think of Facebook as a mall, where folks reside in a virtual social life, being in this mall is one in all the best things can do for your small business.

Numbers don’t lie…

…so here are the official stats from Facebook:

• 845 million monthly active users at the end of December 2011.
• Around 80% of our monthly active users are outside the U.S. and Canada.
• 483 million daily active users on average in December 2011.
• More than 425 million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile products in December 2011.

Of course, these numbers are solely for Facebook and their subsidiaries. They don’t include any of the other social media sites available to your small business.

All of which have hundreds of millions of more users.

There are bound to be certain bumps in the road you’ll want to ignore when using social media marketing, however, you are crazy NOT to test it.

 

7. Build Relationships With Influencers

Influencers are people who have built a large following/audience in a specific niche.

These are the people you want to find, network, and build relationships with.

• Learn from these people.
• Watch how they operate.
• Dissect their process.
• Become more efficient.

The more time you invest, the more valuable these relationships become.

These relationships can turn into future business for your company.

In time, you too can / will become an industry influencer, which will grant you more access to consumers in your niche – *hint you want access.

 

8. Engage in the Conversation

Every fruitful business has developed to know their tribe extremely well.

The advantage of social media is that becoming acquainted with your audience is less demanding than ever.

With analytics from Facebook Insights and Pixel, you can comprehend the significant demographics and behaviors of your clients.

This allows you to focus on your tribe and helps you comprehend the needs of your client base.

While picking up knowledge on the demographics of your audience, you will also be able to connect on a deeper, more personal level.

 

9. Gain Followers & referrals from fans

The best way to find GREAT clients is from referrals/promotions from fans.

People converse with like minded people.

Thus if you have clients who own small businesses, I guarantee you they know both small business owners.

Creating amazing and valuable content leads to fan engagement. Engagement such as; likes, shares, tweets, pins, etc.

This level of engagement is also visible to that person’s following.

This acts as a great bridge for your business to get in front of their friends or colleagues.

 

10. Keep your Customers Coming Back, With Reward Campaigns

Your clients are the best people to learn from.

You can find out what worked well, what didn’t and the “why“…

Why did they buy from you?

By understanding this information you can start to optimize your process and focus your time and energy on what’s working.

You’ll also be able to come up with new ideas for content, as well as products.

Successful businesses learn to listen.

 

11. Establish Authority

Not only does social allow you to build long-lasting relationships with your clients, but it gives you the opportunity to connect with other influencers in the industry.

Establish these connections and stay up to date with trends.

Over time this will build a presence of strong rapport, which in turn will lead to industry authority.

People will come looking to you when they have a question because you will be known as the expert.

 

12. Your Competitors Are on Social Media

Is your industry or niche is represented on Facebook and Twitter?

Of course, it is!

If you don’t believe me go to Google and do a search for: “Your niche” + “Facebook” and see what comes up…

…don't worry, I’ll wait.

Everyone is on social these days.

This includes brands and businesses, big and small.

Companies are shelling out a lot of money to advertise and grow their brands in social media.

This suggests that using social media for business is working.

And if you aren’t already, then you should be.

 

13. The Most Affordable Way to Grow Online

Social media is THE place for advertising in our modern world.

Although most folks end up butchering it, there is still a high amount of ROI to be made.

This also means that anyone can play the game; big or small, corporations and solopreneurs, everyone has a chance to find success.

It’s like the gold rush of the 21st century…

…you just have to go about it the right way.

 

Conclusion

“Social Media is the current state of the internet” – Gary Vaynerchuck

Using social media for business today is as important as learning how to use email for business 15 years ago.

Instead of being angry about it, embrace social media.

The possibilities AND challenges are endless, however, in an every changing and social world, high ROI is now found via social media.

Your business needs to stay relevant… Get on social!

Thanks for reading! :) If you enjoyed it, hit that Like button below. Would mean a lot to me and it helps other people see the story.

This article was first published on my website SpragueMedia.com