Why should your business be on social media?

As an entrepreneur, you are constantly looking for new ways to make your business more successful, whether it is getting new clients through the door or making sure you keep your current clients happy.

Most likely, you always remember to set some budget for advertising, whether in the local newspaper or in your own storefront with some beautiful leaflets or other traditional methods. However, there is another way to promote your business that can bring you closer to your clients and help improve all the other marketing efforts you make. It is called Social Media, you have already have heard of Facebook, twitter, and many other social media channels, you might even have opened accounts in some of them, but are you making the most out of these new channels to engage with your customers?

Your clients are keen on hearing information about businesses they like, in addition, you have the opportunity to tell your story directly, in your own words. It´s time to get on the social networks to talk about your brand, there are many great reasons to do it.

Here are 5 great reasons why you should be using social media to speak to your consumers:

1. Speaking to your customers’ means generating new fans.
Social media is the perfect channel to amplify your business marketing efforts, it allows you to talk to them directly, on a more personal level. If your message is relevant to them, the social effect will take place by sharing with their friends your news and reaching much further than you could on your own, thus creating new opportunities for customers to discover you. Turn your clients into fans of your company, encourage them to share your content on social media offering them the opportunity to win prizes, free services or exclusive discounts.

2. Join the social media buzz and discover a new way to make potential business contacts.
Make use of the appropriate social media channel for the right audience. Increasing your professional contacts and thus opening up new networking opportunities will put your name on the map, and perhaps create new ways of operating your business more effectively. LinkedIn is a great way to get started, you can network with other professionals in your field, join relevant groups and post interesting content that will reach a wide audience. You might find a great new employee or a new supplier for your business.

3. Give a new look to your customer service.
You can use social media as an effective communication tool to improve your level of customer service. Social media has to be one of the most efficient and fastest way to respond to your customers´ questions. Social channels provide you with the perfect communication channel for interacting in real time with your customers, answer their questions, and respond quickly to any complaints or concerns.

4. Share your success and establish your company as a leader in your field of business.
Demonstrate your expertise, share with your customers the best results of your professional work, give real-life examples of what they can expect when visiting your business, etc. You could even write a collection of real life histories of satisfied customers and put them on your web page and share this content on social media and inspire others to share as well. This will reinforce your company’s image as a trusted provider of services in your area of expertise.

5. More traffic results in more success.
Using social media can help you greatly in increasing the amount of traffic to your site. Remember the golden rule: It’s not just about sharing, it’s about creating your own content that is interesting for your users, they then will be happy to share this relevant information within their own social media network.
Sometimes it will be a nice picture, perhaps an interview with a satisfied customer, your latest promotions and new services or a prize draw for your fans…It doesn’t matter, you just need to remember to send the right message at the right time and your site will not only gain traffic but it will also increase awareness of your brand and the visibility of what you have to offer, helping you to turn users into consumers. And before publishing anything, always remember to ask yourself the golden question: “Is this something my customers will be happy to know about?”

(Finnish version of this post is available here.)