When social media first appeared on the scene of the world wide web, it was intended to be used by individuals to connect and share with their personal network of friends and family. Social media has evolved a lot over the past years. Businesses have found out that they can take advantage of social media capabilities and use that as a way to interactive with their customers and build relationships. Thus, social media marketing was born.
Everyone knows that customer satisfaction is essential to the success of any business. It has always been a challenge to businesses to know exactly what the customer wants and to be able to fulfill what he wants. For multi-national companies using conventional marketing methods, gauging consumer sentiments on a product across the world takes a lot of time and human resources.
On the other hand, marketing by using social media cuts through all the barriers. A business presence on any one of the popular social media sites can be seen by anyone all over the world. Anyone in the world can post a comment and give feedback. A business can respond to comments instantly. Marketers can tell right away how a campaign is going by just looking at the comments posted by customers. If the reaction is mostly negative, the marketer can quickly change directions before the ill-fated campaign does any more damage.
As a business owner, you can see how powerful social media can be in your marketing strategy. The beauty of it is that very little financial investment is required to make use of this way of marketing. It does require you to spend your time building up your presence on the various social media platforms. You need to proactive in engaging your customers in a conversation about your products and services.
Customer feedback given here is very valuable information to you in terms of using it to improve your business. Your customers are able to tell you directly what they like and what they do not like. It is up to you to balance those comments and improve your business in such a way that will give them more satisfaction.
You can also use social media to solicit feedback on a business idea. Let’s say that you are thinking of altering your products or services in a way that you think will make your offerings more desirable. Before you invest any money into changing it, run that idea by your followers. See how they react to the possible change. They may surprise you and say that they do not like it. If that is the case, you have just saved yourself the time and money that you were going to invest in the changes.
Nothing spreads quicker through social media than an item of interest that has gone viral. Something unknown to most people one day can gain notoriety the next day. If you have the right approach in social media, you will give your business a better chance in improving its brand recognition.
How Social Media Marketing Helps Businesses
When social media first began, it was all about blogging sites and MySpace. Soon, the birth of Facebook brought with it a sea change that revolutionized the way individuals used social media sites. Over the last decade, social media marketing has transformed the way that companies do business and interact with customers and potential customers.
It has taken quite a long time for many business owners to recognize that a social media site can be used effectively for promoting the company brand. When used properly, the power of social networking sites can quickly generate a plethora of new business while increasing the company’s productivity.
An Increase in Productivity
Research indicates that companies that utilize social media marketing tools boost their level of productivity far beyond companies that do not. Many businesses utilize social media marketing tools to effectively advertise the services and products they provide. Many online users turn to Twitter and Facebook accounts of companies instead of calling one 800 numbers to discuss issues with customer service representatives.
A Two-Way Street
Social media marketing has allowed the consumer to gain more power over the company’s a provide services and products. They do this by venting their frustration online using social media. In the open platform, businesses are more likely to handle issues with the services and products they provide in a timely and professional manner, openly on a social media site for everyone to see.
While at first blush this might appear to be a negative for the company, in fact the opposite is true. The quick and positive responsiveness of the company on an open public forum including Twitter and Facebook, and finding a quick remedy to a customer problem shows everyone looking that the company cares about the consumer along with the products or services they sell.
Other Valuable Content
Companies that tend to have low levels of success using social media marketing strategies are those that simply want to use social sites for promoting the company. By continually bombarding their social accounts with “buy now” advertisements endlessly, tend to turn off the audience, and have them stop participating.
Alternatively, successful businesses that use proven social media marketing strategies often blend in other valuable content to the blogging site, Facebook, and Twitter page. They provide essential information about things that are pertinent to their targeted audience, whether or not it results in a sale, or is even about anything the company offers.
They understand that the social networking sites are all about being social. They see the value in adding content, with links to sites not owned by them. This builds a significant trust with their customer base, and enhances their reputation as being an expert in a variety of fields.
Taking Criticism
One of the most effective social media marketing strategies is to use the websites to obtain valuable feedback from potential customers and existing customers. By using the blog is an online form, the company can listen to the opinions, ideas, and complaints of their customer base, and respond quickly to their needs and desires. This helps the business remains successful in the long run.
