How can your business benefit from social media.

Image by Coffee Bean from Pixabay

There are 3 billion people on social media, that's almost half of the world's population, yet some businesses are still holding out on social media.

Having a social media presence is not just doing what everyone is doing or following the crowd, there are many ways it can benefit your business. 

Here are 5 crucial benefits of social media for your business;

1. Create brand awareness...

60% of Instagram users say they discover new products on the platform. That means you have a big chance of gaining new customers on these platforms.

Social media is a means of telling people about your business, allowing you to connect with potential customers, grab their interest and eventually make a sale.

What's services do you offer? What are your brand values? These are the questions you need to answer to create that initial awareness. Using social media can help you communicate these to more people than you could physically. 

...and manage brand reputation.

So people know about you, but what are they saying about you? The valid question is, what do you want them to say? Thanks to social media you can take control of your brand image and ensure people are saying the right things about you.

Also, you can highlight the positives and address negative before it gets out of hand.

2. Generate leads...

Lead generation is an important benefit of social media for business. This allows potential customers to easily express interest in your product/services.

...and sales.

Social media helps you to build relationships with existing customers.

You have an opportunity to connect with fans and followers every time they log in. With helpful and engaging content, you encourage your audience to build confidence and trust in your business.

When you keep your social posts entertaining and informative, your followers will be glad to see your new content in their feeds. This way, if they are in need of your product/service, they'll come to you first.

We'll cover more on helpful and engaging content later this week.

3. Provide excellent customer service.

Social media make customer service easier. People have question and queries every time, having an account means people can send a direct message for your help.

This is helpful to your business because people prefer a business that's easily accessible to a business that isn't. According to a research published in Harvard Business Review, businesses who don't meet this expectation damage their cause. The research shows that customers who receive a reply to their queries are willing to spend more on the brand on a later purchase. 

4. Learn about your customer.

This is a very important benefit you should not overlook. Thanks to social media, you can learn more about your customer's interests, habits etc.

They provide insights and analytical tools that can help you create strategies to speak to your target market. You can easily collect data and use them to make informed decisions for your business.

We'll discuss this in-depth as we go further this week.

5. Study your competition.

This is another important benefit of social media. Studying your competition can help you understand what's working in your industry and where you can improve your social presence.

For example, you might notice people are complaining about your competitor's customer service, you can up your service and encourage your customers to post reviews of your service to attract people to your business.

Taking time to do this helps you maximise the benefits social media has to provide.

And there you have it, 5 important benefits of social media for your brand.

As we go further down this week, we'll look at how to create content that speaks well to customers, how to use data to drive sales and more.