Why Your Business NEEDS Social Media

SEO for your Website.

As you probably know, Search Engine Optimization is a huge and essential part of making your organization an important player in the online universe. Social Media profiles rank high among many of the top search engines like Google and Bing. These are more progressively indexing and ranking posts and other information from social networks (such as, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and LinkedIn). To make this even more effective, use keywords and crosslink to your pages. This will make your business easier to find. YouTube videos can also be optimized for indexing by most search engines.

Narrow your Demographics

Let’s face it; social media is easy market research. You have everything at your fingertips to connect with your industry, your customer base, and potential customers. So, ask questions! Find out what is important to your customers and those involved and your industry and listen! Keep track of what they like and don’t. Social platforms like Facebook, allow you to look into you insights into your fans and posts, allowing you to track your performance and your followers. Take a look at the type of people and businesses who like your business on SM platforms and target your posts and specials to this audience.

Look Savvy

Most businesses are on Twitter and Facebook these days, including your competitors. If you are not, this could make your business look like it is not savvy in technology, trends and communication aspects. Honestly, it also looks bad if you have these profiles but haven’t updated them in over a month—this kind of defeats the purpose.

Visibility / Word-of-Mouth

Social media makes your business visible. It is only becoming more popular by people and businesses, so you want to be seen. Since social media has a great deal to do with word-of-mouth, don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from those who are already your fans/followers. You can even offer incentives for those who do so. Having a great SM profile can also create your company with some pretty great brand recognition. Make sure your you put pictures up of your products, office, people who work there, even your customers. Put up relevant posts about your industry and news, but also mention how it relates to what you do, so they are aware of what your company does and the meaning of it. Be willing to follow, “like”, or mention others. This technique actually gets your business (and brand) out there more. Posting regular updates relating to your business and activities can remind your friends about what your company does and influence them to use your services or make referrals.

Spotlight your Products and Events

While you don’t always want to talk about just what your business does. SM does provide an excellent portal for promotion. Send out reminders about your events and create some weekly specials even if it is Twitter and Facebook exclusive, also, share testimonials by your customers/clients (people are always curious to hear what people, other than you, have to say).

Get leads

It’s important to post regularly if you want to increase your followers or fans and convert them to potential leads. If what you have to say is interesting, then it will build the curiosity and convince others to try your products/services or recommend you to someone else.

Network with Influential Businesses

Social Media makes it easy for you to network with other businesses and communities by joining groups, mentioning other businesses in posts, sending messages, and by following or liking their SM profiles.

Personalize your Company

Letting people know your own business’ story really adds sentimental and personal value to your company. Show off your business personality—is it you are trying to convey? It might be that you are humorous, customer-oriented, friendly, or corporate. Your personality should reflect in your social media posts and profile. Show pictures and videos too, after all, these say more than a thousand words.

Show-off your Expertise

Mentor your fans/followers. Share the knowledge of your business. Your company profile is a great opportunity for you to post regular updates on your activities and about important news and trends in your industry. This will attract the attention of new customers interested in your industry and increase your reputation as an expert in your field. Doing how-to’s, tips, and answer frequently asked questions, are a great way to show-off your skills.

Increase your Customer Service

Social media allows you to get questions and comments in real time. ALWAYS respond to questions and comments or give them a number to call. Be consistent and reply as soon as possible and be informative. Get your business to have a reputation for caring. Correct inaccurate information and back up a negative answer with something positive.

Get Feedback

Social Media is an incredible way for customers and curious leads to give feedback and ask questions. You can also ask your own questions and do polls to initiate feedback. This can help you discover what works well and what doesn’t. Try out different promotions and find out what posts gets the best reactions or what new products they get excited about. Keep record of frequently asked questions and frequent compliments or complaints.

Learn from Others

Social media is a wonderful resource to learn from both people and other businesses. Look at what other businesses (maybe in your industry, maybe not) have to say (within their profiles and posts) and learn from them. What are they doing to get reactions and fans? Maybe they have a good how-to post that could benefit your business.

Build a Community

SM platforms make it so easy for businesses to create their own exclusive sharing community. Encourage comments and feedback. Have them participate in contests and sweepstakes, and always make it fun. Often times, businesses will take SM way too seriously, when in fact; the point of it is to communicate and have fun! Check out your profiles daily and always reply, even if it is following them back or “liking” what they have to say. This is a great way to leverage your social media. This builds a large trust factor and better reputation for your company. Your fans/followers also are likely to share these promos, good advice, videos, etc. with their own contacts.

Written by: Kasey Andrew, Social Media Manager for SearchPro Systems