What began as a clever way for people to interact via the internet, sharing their photos, thoughts and other personal information, social media was quickly recognized as having enormous potential for marketing. Many businesses are using the power of social media platforms to promote their products, engage with their customers on a more personal level and chase more leads. But now, it seems, there’s even more to be gained from social media.
Businesses are realising the value of integrating their social media teams into other parts of their business, because social media marketers are one of the first points of contact for customers. By having this front row seat to public conversations and loads of audience data, social media marketers can use this information to create a better customer experience.
If your business is based on a physical product, any feedback, negative or positive, that is received via comments can be used to modify and improve your offering. In fact, feedback of any sort is invaluable when it comes to finding out what your customers want, like, look for or think you can improve on. You can ask your customers direct questions or create surveys related to your product. It’s also a great way to keep tabs on what your competitors are doing, what their customers are saying and requesting and how they are using the information.
Social media is an ideal way to extend the life of your evergreen content or refresh your old content with new ideas. Networks like Twitter can link back to older posts, as long as they’re still relevant. Keep in tune to the social chatter happening in your audience; something may come up that you’ve addressed before, so your older content can get a second chance, with minor updating or tweaking.
Another way social media can work for your business, is to use the platforms to test material for offline purposes. A great YouTube video could be re-purposed as conference material, or an infographic used in print advertising. You can use online testimonials in brochures and the statistics from social media interactions (viral videos, number of likes or shares from a particular post) to prove success in planning sessions or product development.
Using social media in your business can bring a friendly, informal element into your day-to-day operations that is rare to find in normal business interactions. To find out more about social media and making it work for your business, contact us today.