Orig Post phuketgazette.net | Re-Post So-Mark Consulting 9/1/15
These days you hear that every business should have a social media presence, but why is this the case?
This week, we explore the main reasons why social media is so important and, if done correctly, what benefits it brings to your business.
BRANDING & EXPOSURE
To launch a company, create a brand name and even just to be in the consumer’s awareness zone used to be difficult and very expensive. Well planned strategies using radio, television and newspaper advertising all took a long time to plan and action. Lead times on newspapers and television could often be weeks.
There was also the accepted marketing principle of the 7 touches. It was believed a potential customer needed to experience a brand 7 times before they would trust the brand enough to make a purchase.
With the advent of modern technology, social media research suggests that our attention span has shrunk, and this means the average number of contacts to build brand trust has increased to about fifteen; however this is much easier, faster and cheaper to achieve with modern social media.
RAPPORT & TRUST
Part of the seven touches principle was that it built brand awareness, but more importantly it started to create trust and rapport. People saw the brand a number of times, so there was a positive experience and this generated consumer confidence. When our subconscious recognizes that we have seen something before, even if we cannot remember if the specific context was positive or negative, we instantly assume it was positive. Obviously, if we have a bad experience, that will trump everything, but a neutral experience becomes positive.
UNDERSTAND MARKET BETTER & QUICKER
Modern social media are both instant and effective. Through the use of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc, we can instantly see how consumers react to live events and content shared with them. We can see what is trending (we have all seen the #).
If used effectively, this can provide us with instantaneous feedback on our products. For example, if I had a restaurant launching a new menu, I could ask my audience for their suggestions, or to comment on my own suggestions, or even vote on them. I can put up whatever content I like and interact directly, getting instant and very valuable feedback.
MORE COST EFFECTIVE
The use of social media also generates huge cost and time savings compared with traditional methods and we can get instant results, which in many cases are essentially free.
I have mentioned many times the power of a database in marketing – this is where the true power lies in social media marketing. The value of Facebook is not just that it is fun and interactive; it is that 1.6 billion people agree.
These platforms also allow us to ‘rent’ their database and even to use it to build our own.
Most people do not realize the amount of information that is collected about us individually. We can target people very specifically on the normal age, sex, marital status, race and geographic factors that have always been used, but modern social media also know our spending habits, the places we frequent and our personal likes and preferences, so we can be even more focused on who we want to have seeing our messages. And instead of costing a small fortune, we can have our messages in front of our very specific target audience for fractions of a cent.
The end result is we can find new customers quicker and cheaper, build a rapport with existing customers, and all the time be building brand awareness and a social media footprint that makes it easier for others to find us. This all means more profit for your business.
So are you using Social Media to support, drive and benefit your business?