If you have decided that social media marketing is not something you want to do for your business then you could be making a huge mistake. Social media marketing is often a very cost effective and successful way of marketing and if you chose not to partake in it then you may be cutting yourself off from huge number of potential customers.

Many people now search online to find companies that offer the services and products they want or need. You may be advertising through Google, Yell or your own website but if you have no presence on the social media sites then you have no way on connecting with these people.

You may want to have a profile and try and build up a community by getting others to share your page and posts or you may decide to do a bit of paid for advertising on social media and gain followers that way. Paid for advertising often gets you quicker results but you do need to have knowledge of how the paid for ads work and how best to set them up to get a good return on your investment.

Social media marketing is a massive part of online marketing. It has many benefits to its advertiser and its users. If you are a business looking to boost your online traffic or sales of a product or service then you can use social media to instantly reach your audience. Many of the social media sites and services that they offer are free, even to businesses which is quite rare, so I would strongly recommend that all businesses use it in some way.

You may want to use your social media accounts just as a portal for your customers to communicate with you through. Some companies use social media as another form of customer support, allowing their customers to message them with any issues they have rather than having to email or call. This has proved very successful and has given some businesses the edge over others when it comes to gaining new business.

Very often a business will come to the conclusion that they do not need to appear and have a presence on the social media websites. Although social media is more effective for certain industries or individual companies, I believe everyone should have some sort of account on there.

Social media marketing may not gain you direct sales, but if you are on Facebook or Twitter for example, it may mean that someone sees you and then contacts you in the future for a quote or service. It can also be a great way to build up your brand awareness. The more ways you can get your company name out there and the wider audience you can reach the better.

Some of the largest search engines now use social media in their ranking algorithm, in other words, will favour websites that also have a social media presence.

If you are unsure of how to go about setting these accounts up or have not go the time to manage them, then talk to a marketing agency who will be able to come up with a plan of action.

What do businesses want? What do they need? How do they do it? If you are in business, and you ask yourself these questions, then you should think about finding a new career, and if you do not think social media is the answer to any of these questions, then you should get some tests done! Continue reading →