We get it, you think that social media is just for the teenager next door and you may wonder “Why is social media important to my business?” But let me tell you, social media isn’t just for adolescents. According to the Pew Research Center, 73% of adults using the web are now using some sort of social networking sites; and 42% of those adults use multiple social media sites. This means that your business could be missing out on free internet marketing and advertising if you aren’t using social media as a part of your internet marketing strategy.
If you are using social media, that is great! But, we see sites every day that are less than par and it looks like their teenager is running the site. These bad sites rarely post, don’t try to engage their readers and post the wrong things that aren’t even relevant to their business. This is bad for creating your business’s online presence, which can lead to awful consequences that affect your bottom dollar.
Using social media is important if you want to increase web traffic, convert leads, increase brand awareness and do so much more for your business. But, you have to use it properly.
Be Strategic
You must have a plan for your social media accounts including what you post or share and when. It is recommended that you post at the least three times a week. This will help increase reliability for your readers. With our short attention spans now a days, posting once every two weeks isn’t going to cut it. You want your readers to know that you are going to constantly feed them entertaining and useful information. If you don’t do this, they will find somebody else to give them what they want. Create a schedule to ensure that it gets done.
Create Sensational Content
When posting on your social media accounts, it is good to keep your goal in mind. You have to cut through the clutter of information already on the web and give content that is useful to your readers. Writing new and fun content on social media is important to catch the attention of your readers. This can be links to your business’s blogs, articles that were written about your business, links to articles related to your industry and other multimedia components that are newsworthy. Be creative, original and don’t be boring! For more tips on creating content click here.
Be Engaged
One of the greatest ways to build relationships with your readers is through social media. You do this by being engaged and respond to comments. Make sure that you respond to positive and negative comments along with answering questions. Don’t use automated responses; this tells the readers that you don’t care about their personal needs. When responding to negative comments, be mature and don’t be defensive while trying to solve the problem. And no gossiping! Commenting on social media is important so the public can see that you are addressing the problem. If the problem seems like it shouldn’t be discussed in public, then give them a way to contact your business privately. But your business should always care about what is being posted on your social media pages.
Stay Current with Social Media Changes
Because social media is constantly changing to enhance the user’s experience, your business needs to do the same. It’s also trying to build on a business user’s experience which will help you run your social media. Facebook made some changes recently including the addition of the star-rating for businesses to use, along with different advertising and promotional opportunities in Pinterest. You won’t know what your business could be achieving with social media unless you know about the tools that are made specifically for your success.
Now that you have the answer to why is social media important and the basics to using social media in a professional manner, it is time to take your social media marketing to the next level by applying these steps! Remember that social media is a part of most people’s daily lives, and that you can use this as a resource to step into their world while increasing conversions, leads, and ultimately customers.
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