Social media is taking over the marketing world.
Social media marketing is used by almost every company. There are many important reasons you should use it and you should find the time to post every day. Social media isn’t as easy as posting a simple tweet or a short Facebook status now and then. It takes commitment, originality and clever content to draw people in and build relationships.
Social media marketing targets all audiences whilst defining them. Sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will always be around; although in various forms. They are valuable as they are used to connect with people both locally and worldwide. Whatever the business, wherever the business; your message will be out there in social media world.
Business Social media marketing
From a business perspective, social media marketing increases your exposure, search engine rankings and website traffic. It’s easy to use, once known how to effectively, and free! You just have to decide if you have the commitment and expertise to do it yourself or if you need to ask a professional! Social media is more flexible than you think. It’s not just writing about the business or what you offer though, it should also be on a more spontaneous level.
Networking on the Internet doesn’t only benefit you as a company; it benefits your customers too. It gives them more of an insight as to what the brand is all about and enables them to connect with you wherever they are. Social media doesn’t only allow customers to get an insight to the company. It allows you to see what kind of clients you attract and gives you the opportunity to strengthen the relationship you have already built. Customers that use Facebook and other networks can also share, retweet and suggest connecting with their friends or followers.
Why not take advantage of the free sites? Your audience does!
The infiltration of social media has dramatically changed the face of public relations campaigns. Thanks to the so-called ‘big four’, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, people are now communicating and sharing information differently.
According to recent figures, Adult women now spend 12.3% of their time online on Facebook. Approximately 262 million accounts are active on Twitter, with over 500 million tweets per day. This addiction to social media has impacted the way we run our social media campaigns and target our customers with certain information.
Below are some ways in which social media has altered PR for the better.
Successful social media marketing has made it easier for businesses to gather real-time feedback from customers. The live interaction allows us to make ongoing refinement and improvements, creating a deeper connection with our target audience. By using socials to ask questions, we are able to demonstrate that we listen and reply to our audience. This social strategy helps us to develop a company’s image and build that all-important relationship with people and businesses.
So why use social media?
With the help of socials for business, the speed at which we can share data is faster than ever before. Previously we may have relied on newsletters and press releases to gain attention. However, now, creating a successful PR plan with keyword-based searches can connect the right company with the right consumer at exactly the right time.
As a result of being slightly quirky or clever with our tweets and by including keywords that people are likely to search, our thoughts could be re-tweeted by thousands and before we know it, our hashtag is trending on Twitter. By engaging proactively in the media and public relations we are also able to develop new opportunities to help form a favourable brand impression, which can lead to the beginning of a promising relationship with other businesses. This can involve scheduling statuses at certain times or using relevant ‘Twitter Hours’ to get your message out there.
Due to the advancement of social media, consumers can now target companies with complaints with ease. If a problem has been ignored and not dealt with, this is then visible for others to see. As a result this can influence others opinions as to whether they turn to you to or use a rival to purchase a product from. Therefore, it is important that you respond to an issue as soon as possible and more importantly take time to assess the quality of your reply, as a short or inadequate response could have detrimental effects on the customer service of your business.
To learn more about the growing importance of social media and its impact on a successful public relations campaign, do not hesitate to get in touch with social media marketing agency VerriBerri on 01376 386850.
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