Social Media Week hits the UK
in News
Today marks the start of social media week (24th- 28th September) so what a great time to talk about social media and the positive affects it can have on your business.
Over the past few years, social media has exploded onto the scene and made a big impact on the way many businesses plan their marketing. It has become a vital element in the communications mix as business and consumers sign up to the sites available to them.
There are now thousands, if not millions of social media sites but some of the most popular include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus. Although each of these sites have different uses and functions, they all enable businesses to create a dialogue with customers, build a profile, establish a reputation and communicate their range of services.
As mentioned above, Twitter is one of the most popular sites with 175 million tweets being sent every day*, which shows the potential reach it can have.
So as a business owner, you may find yourself asking ‘Why should I use social media?’ Here’s why we think it’s a powerful way of communicating:
1) Helps to boost awareness. The power of social media should not be underestimated and it’s a great way to get your name and brand in front of your customers and prospective customers.
2) It builds relationships. Social media allows for two way communication so helps to build relationships locally and across the world. Engaging with others is very important so regularly join in on conversations which spark interest and relate to your audience. Also don’t forget to share news and stories that will be of interest to your connections.
3) Provides a stage to promote your services. Social media enables you to show others what you offer but be sure to post interesting messages to get noticed including offers to encourage people to trial your service. It’s also important to get the right balance between being overly ‘salesy’ and posting relevant information as you do not want to bombard people with new offers every week.
To make social media work for you and your business, you need to dedicate time and effort to it so remember to regularly communicate. Once you do this you will find out what works best for you and will see how it fits into the marketing and communications mix.
Find out more about social media week here.
*- http://www.webanalyticsworld.net/2012/03/twitter-stats-in-2012-infographic.html
