Talkwalker.com reported that 40% of South Africa’s population (about 22.89 million people) are active on social media. With such a large potential reach, it is no wonder that businesses today utilize the different social media platforms to create brand awareness and sell their products.
This broad audience, however, is merely but the first attraction point when it comes to using social media for your business. Brands across the globe have various benefits to look forward to when utilizing social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin for their business. To explore these benefits, we have compiled a list of the top 6 reasons why you should consider creating a social media page for your business:
[1] Community
Modern day markets have become highly saturated with the same, or similar products on offer. As a result, customers today consider more than a need or want when making a purchasing decision. Instead, their focus has shifted to factors such as brand, lifestyle, and community.
Customers buy into a specific lifestyle and want to feel “part of something”. It is this lifestyle, and sense of belonging, that you create through your brand image, and will ultimately influence a customer to choose your basic blue jeans, over your competitor’s.
Social Media platforms are great in aiding this brand lifestyle and sense of community. Through an effective social media page, you can actively and visually portray the type of lifestyle your brand “allows” your customers to have. It also allows you to have various followers who interact with your brand, and thereby also create a sense of community amongst all your followers (customers) you have.
Ultimately, your social media page will ensure that your customers feel part of a group, can interact with and portray the lifestyle they gain through your brand, and thereby gain a positive brand image that will influence their future purchases.
[2] Two-way communication
One of the largest benefits of social media is the enablement of two-way communication. Unlike traditional marketing such as radio ads, social media marketing allows your customers to actively engage with and react to your marketing material.
Customers can instantly like or share your marketing material, thereby improving your marketing reach and consequently your brand awareness. They are also able to interact with you by asking questions which could influence their purchase. Questions such as: how much does this cost?, where can I purchase this item?, or do you have another colour in this?, can quickly be asked and answered.
By doing so, customers instantly get all the information they need in order to make a purchasing decision.
[3] Free brand awareness
As your followers interact with your social media page by liking posts, sharing content, and commenting on your images, these interactions will show up on the news feeds of some of their “friends”. These “friends” will therefore see your brand name, the specific content you have posted, and their “friend’s” reaction on this content, which creates brand awareness amongst these potential new customers.
What’s great about this is that it’s absolutely free. Your brand name can reach a completely new audience without you having to spend a dime.
[4] New word-of-mouth
Whether you have been around the block a few times, or this is your first rodeo, every business knows that word-of-mouth is your strongest and most influential marketing. Social media has become one of the largest platforms for word-of-mouth to take place.
Users will continually ask for recommendations on a product or service they need. “Friends” will then tag a company or brand that they strongly recommend. The potential customer asking for the recommendation can then easily click through to your social media page to see all the relevant information they require.
Unfortunately, if you don’t have a social media page, your page can’t be recommended. And should a potential customer not be able to click through to your page, chances are that they will disregard that recommendation as they aren’t able to easily see the information they need to make a decision on your company or brand.
[5] Customers stay informed
Another great benefit of a social media page is that it provides a platform where you can keep customers informed about the latest news and updates. This information is also instant.
Are your telephone lines down? Are you closed on the public holiday? Is there a scam doing the rounds with your company name in it? A quick update with all the relevant information is just a click away. This means that customers will stay informed about any issues they might experience, which could help avoid frustrated and angry customers. It also reassures them that you are aware of certain issues and are actively working on getting it fixed.
Ultimately being able to provide your customers with urgent updates and information will help improve your customer service.
[6] Consumer insights
Lastly, social media pages serve as effective hubs to help you gain consumer insights. Customers are generally reluctant to fill in surveys and feedback forms. Social media platforms, however, provide this much-needed feedback in an entertaining form.
Each post and page interaction is added onto an analytics page. Here you can easily see which products, stores, or features are most popular amongst your customers by the way they have interacted with certain posts. Customers also more easily provide compliments or complaints on your community page that will assist you in improving your customer service and experience.
This comes at no cost to you and ensures a much higher level of feedback provided than what traditional feedback forms do.
By creating a social media page for your business, you will be able to build a strong brand name that creates a sense of community amongst your customers. Your page will allow your customers to actively engage with you through two-way communication, recommendations, and queries. Through the broad reach of word-of-mouth, your brand awareness will reach new heights as you enjoy increased brand reach. Customers stay informed and ultimately you have a great tool in improving your customer service and experience.
A social media business page is therefore a crucial tool in the success of your business. And free! So why not start today?
Need help in setting up and running an effective social media business page? Contact us today for more information on our available packages and prices.
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