I think it isn’t overstating it to say modern businesses need social media presence if they want to survive. Virtually every sector of the economy is relying more and more on e-commerce and social media, and unless your customers are 60-plus uneducated retirees, it would be wise to ensure your business has at least a minimal level of social media presence.
Building a Dedicated Consumer-Base
It is common knowledge in marketing that the cost of retaining a customer is 10 times less than the cost of finding a new customer. This basic marketing rule should inform your approach to the way you run your business. Social media can be a powerful tool in creating and retaining a loyal customer base:
- Social media gives you an effective way to communicate with your customers. You can easily reply to their questions, thank them for buying your products, etc. This makes it seem that your company cares about them, and it makes your customers have a more positive perception of you.
- You can use the platform to reward your loyal customers, be it through discounts, giveaways, or in-store credit. This not only increases sales, but it will make your consumers more interested in your social media page.
Making It Easier for People to Learn About Your Company
Most customers decide to do business online based on trust. Due to the proliferation of scams and untrustworthy ads online, online shoppers are very cautious and require a lot of information about a business before they decide to buy from them.
Having an active social media means you’ll have a page that acts as a testimony to the quality of your services. From the previous reviews, your customers leave their comments and likes, these will all act as potential positive signals for anyone looking at your social media page. It is also prime real estate to tell your customers about your company and put the spotlight on popular products and services.
Putting a Face on Your Business
It is hard for people to care about businesses – oftentimes, they forget there are real people with real lives behind each business that try really hard to provide the best service to people.
Your social media pages could be the perfect place to put a human face on your business. You can talk about the difficulties inherent in your business, the innovations you come up with to cut costs, your hopes and inspirations for the future. When your customers read these posts, not only will they be more invested because they learn the inner workings of the business, but they’ll get to know you personally. This added human-aspect can be very valuable in retaining customers and getting new ones.
Diversifying Your Sources of Revenue
Not relying on one source of revenue is one of the basic business 101 rules, and any manager worth his salt must know about all the advantages inherent in diversifying and the disadvantages of failing to do so. Social media can help you in this effort in a few ways:
- Having a large social media account gives you more leeway for innovation. Whether you enter a new market or launch an e-commerce platform, you’ll know you’ll have a decent baseline of support. People often underestimate the large effect social media has on helping businesses direct people to new platforms. Although not entirely comparable, the startup fourthwall.com has been very effective in helping influencers with large followings get into the e-commerce business by helping them integrate their social media with the e-commerce platform. The process is almost completely the same for businesses.
- Social media pages, themselves, can act as a source of revenue for your business. Facebook and Instagram are trying their best to make their platforms friendly for businesses, you’ll be able to sell products directly from these platforms, and the tools they provide for advertising can help you create powerful targeted ads that will help you sell more products without relying on your traditional sources of revenue.