At one time it was just the big brands that were able to outsource their social media marketing to specialist agencies. Now social media outsourcing has become an affordable option for small and medium sized businesses, too. This means that an external specialist agency will manage your social media engagement daily, across a range of platforms, whilst you get on with the operational tasks associated with building your business.
Why Do I Need Social Media For My Business?
Social media is now an essential element in your marketing strategy. Why? Social media is all about engagement and it’s engagement that is currently driving sales. 95% of 18-34 year olds are most likely to engage with a brand via social media, and features like Facebook Live encourage ever more interactivity. It’s not the only game in town, but social media is now eating up between 35-45% of SME marketing budgets.
What Are the Benefits of Social Media for Business?
People visit shops to buy, but that’s not the only reason. They also enjoy the unique shopping experience that is offered by brands like John Lewis, AllSaints or Reiss. Building your social media presence is like creating an online store. It has to offer all the benefits of an online shared, interactive shopping experience for your customers.
Here are the 5 top business benefits our social media strategies deliver:
1. Building Awareness of Your Business
A social media presence need not cost you anything to set up, and it immediately increases online awareness of your business. With a large percentage of your potential customers spending a significant amount of time on social media it makes absolute sense to ‘open up shop’ in the environment they feel most comfortable in.
2. Making Your Business Real
Authenticity is the currency on social media. This allows you the opportunity to find the human stories behind what it is you sell, and to build a strong narrative around what you do and how you do it. Instead of ‘saying’ what your company values are, social media give you the opportunity to demonstrate them. This happens in loads of ways, from the tone you use, to the kinds of posts you share, to the way you deal with bad reviews!
3. Getting to Know Your Customers
Online buyers want a relationship with the businesses they buy from, and social media platforms exist in order to facilitate that. Talking to customers helps you to know what they’re looking for, what kind of thing puts them off buying and what will make them decide to go with one brand over another. Crucially, offering ways to engage beyond just ‘buying’ builds value – and recommendations.
4. Keeping an Eye on the Competition
You can be certain that your competitors will be taking advantage of social media, even if you don’t find it particularly appealing. Building a presence doesn’t happen over night but you can learn from what others are doing well, and badly. In the end, your followers will be wanting a better experience from you online, than they get from other companies like you.
5. Providing Support for Customers
Which of us haven’t written “Just get in touch to find out how we can help…”? Well, social media is about providing that helpful support as an easily accessible resource. Brand loyalty grows quickly when followers know they can get prompt, valuable advice from your FB page. They’ll trust you when they see you engaging with negative feedback, instead of shouting back. And they’ll get in touch once they feel secure that they feel they know who they’re dealing with.
OutsourceYourMarketing Can Help To Grow Your Business
If you want to grow your social media presence, but you don’t have the in-house expertise or numbers to resource it, the Outsource Your Marketing team can help. We’ll review your current social media presence, and find out from you about who your customers are, and the budget you want to dedicate to social media marketing. Then they’ll put together a strategy for you to consider.
