What Social Media Can Do For Your Business

There’s a lot of talk about the benefits of social media marketing for small and large businesses alike. The Internet is littered with studies showing how more and more people are going online and how they are using social tools to connect with their friends, brand and causes. And people are relying more on the advice and recommendations from friends and acquaintances to make purchases. All of that is old news.

What’s new? Over on Social Media Explorer, Jason Falls found a nice little gem that, in his own words, “might be the first quantified list of what social media can do for your business.” He says, “It was taken from survey of over 1,400 individuals, 69 percent of whom work at business currently using social media and 59 percent of whom are business owners or C-Level executives.”

Unfortunately, some business owners remain skeptical of the new media. They aren’t sure it will return much, given the investment and time needed to make it successful. While this report clearly shows the ROI of adding social media to the overall marketing communication mix, here are some other points you might want to consider.

Adding social media to your marketing public relations mix is not as time consuming and does not cost as much as you think.

Social Media Is (Nearly) Free

Over on the Traffikd blog social media is touted as free. I wouldn’t go as far as that. Nearly free is better. There will be expenses you will incur — website development, SEO research, and hiring new staff, or letting existing staff get trained will cost something upfront. And some social media tactics, such as sponsored conversations require some compensation to bloggers, but that’s not as nearly as much as a multi-million dollar advertising campaign.

Build Brand Recognition

Branding is an important part of any organization’s marketing public relations strategy. Social media tools, such as, blogging help you build your company’s brand because blogs help you build relationships with prospects. They also help you extend your relationship with current customers. As you extend a relationship with customers you will deepen it. They will become more invested in your organization. Over time, that equates to higher profits. It’s all about loyalty.

Creating A Tribe

I think sometimes there is a misconception about social media marketing strategies being about connecting  with the masses. It’s totally different. It’s about creating a core group of loyal followers, people passionate about your company and brand. It’s about nurturing that group. This is the hard part because it requires marketers to think outside the box. No longer does the relationship end at the cash register.

While social media marketing is an emerging arm of the marketing public relations mix, it’s not a job for the untrained. It takes a special knack and understanding of how relationships are built and sustained. Don’t just trust you social media engagement plan to anyone.