Increase Website Traffic
Social Media for Business 101 – posts and ads are KEY to drive traffic to your website. Sharing quality content from Social Media Channels should make people want to click through to your site. This way they can learn more about you and what you do. Offer great value to the conversation and contribute to the life of your reader.
Generate Leads
Social media offers an easy and low-commitment way for potential customers to express interest in your business and your products. Lead generation is such an important benefit of social media for business that many social networks offer advertising formats specifically designed to collect leads. For example, Renault Europe used Facebook lead ads that allowed people interested in learning more about a new model to book a test drive directly from Facebook, with just a couple of taps.
Boost Sales
It’s simple – no matter what you sell, using Social Media for Business can help you sell it! Your social channels are a key part of your sales funnel. This is a trend that will only increase as more and more people use Social Media regularly. The time to align your sales and social media goals is NOW! Getting in front of your potential new customers is one thing, but Social Media allows you to position a converting Landing Page, or Squeeze Page right in front of them.
Reputation Management
If you provide excellent service, or you have had a less than stellar moment, your customers are talking about you. Not all negative feedback needs to be negative. By responding in a timely and appropriate manner, you can communicate with people before it turns into a major issue. Is someone saying something about your business that’s not true? Be sure to share your side of the story in a polite, professional way. Someone singing your praises? Send them plenty of thanks and draw attention to their kind words.
Crisis Communication
Silence is NOT AN OPTION when it comes to managing a crisis in real life. This is amplified on the often divisive world of Social Media for Business. Maintaining well-run and managed social accounts – and having a plan in place – can help make sure you’re present and ready to engage should the worst happen. For example, see how Starbucks reacted quickly to put the fire out!
Partner with Influencers
Word of Mouth drives 20% – 50% of purchasing decisions. This is according to research from Mckinsey Business. When you get people talking about your product or company on social media, you build brand awareness and credibility and set yourself up for more sales. One key way to drive social word of mouth is to partner with influencers—people who have a large following on social media and can draw the attention of that following to your brand.
Source Content
There are two ways that companies can source content on social media. Source Ideas or Source Material for Posts. This could involve a process of Social Listening. Or it may be a contest or sharing User Generated Content.
Go Viral!
Easier said than done, right!? As people start liking, commenting on, and sharing your social posts, your content is exposed to new audiences—their friends and followers. Going viral takes this concept one step further. As people share your content with their networks, and their networks follow suit, your content spreads across the internet, getting thousands or even millions of shares.
Customer Service and Support
People expect brands to be available on Social Media and seek out your Social Media channels for Customer Service. It’s that simple. If you are not available, you are in danger of some serious negative sentiment. It is important to be available and to be able to talk people through their problems. This builds your authority and makes you appear to be approachable. This is a GREAT thing for your brand!
Keep an Eye on the Competition
As important as it is to know what people are saying about you, using Social Media for Business purposes is great for seeing what people are saying about your competition.
When Uber Canada launched a promotion to deliver free ice cream for a day in Vancouver, things went spectacularly wrong. People couldn’t get their free ice cream, and they were not happy about it. They took to social media to complain. The social team at Skip The Dishes saw an opportunity and reached out to people complaining about Uber with a free ice cream delivery of their own, in the form of a Skip The Dishes credit. All those Uber haters quickly turned into Skip The Dishes fans, and new customers (since you had to create a Skip The Dishes Account to get your free ice cream).
Reporting and Analytics
It is always a challenge for Digital Marketing Agencies like us here at Big Gun Digital to PROVE return on investment. With social media tracking and analytics tools, you can see the full impact of your social media activities, from follows to engagements right through to purchases. Tools like Google Analytics and Hootsuite Impact track website traffic generated from social media, conversions, email sign-ups, and ROI for both organic and paid social media campaigns.
So that’s our top 15 reasons to use Social Media to boost your Sales efforts. Come and speak to us at Big Gun Digital if you are looking to SUPERCHARGE your Social Media!
