social media | BizSieve.com

If you’re a business owner who’s done any amount of marketing research, chances are you know the value of an effective social network marketing strategy. These social media networks are literally vast watering holes full of consumers, and if you’re not taking advantage of their accessibility, you’re missing out. Utilizing social media to gain business is probably one of the easiest marketing strategies out there. By making smart choices and sending the right message, you can effectively reach millions of customers on your own, without having to hire professional help. While you’ve most likely heard of these top 4 social media sites, you may not be using them to their fullest extent. So we’ve broken them down to help you boost your business ASAP!

Image by Mario Sundar

Facebook

This social media giant is the number one choice for business owners who want access to millions of consumers and their wallets. With 845 million active monthly users, Facebook offers plenty of opportunities for businesses to connect to the public. Try adding Facebook connect buttons to your website, use Facebook to connect and interact with your customers and add incentives like coupon postings or special deals on your Facebook page. That’s just a few ways to get started using Facebook for your benefit, and it’s all free.

Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is a professional social media site by design. Rather than building a friend or fan base, you are able to build a network of people who are interested in the exact services or product you are offering. Companies not only use LinkedIn to generate business, but it can be used in the hiring and networking processes as well. By creating a clear, concise description of your company, adding a call to action that will get people excited about your product and promoting your group, you can attract thousands of people to your network that you would otherwise never have reached. Just make sure everything is grammatically correct and extremely professional—LinkedIn isn’t a Facebook replica!

Twitter

While Twitter is most commonly known for its connectivity to the personal lives of the stars, more businesses are turning to Twitter for marketing purposes. There are so many Twitter business tools available that it can sometimes be overwhelming. However, it isn’t necessary to dive in head-first. By simply creating a Twitter account for your company and connecting with people, you will get your brand out there. Keep your information up-to-date, follow leading individuals in your industry, retweet (retweeting is quoting someone else’s tweet!) useful information and make an effort to be retweetable. Not only will you gain followers, but you will reach new consumers every time someone else retweets your correspondence. With over 500 million users, Twitter can be your business’ best friend.

YouTube

YouTube is often overlooked as a valuable social media marketing website. However, not only do YouTube users watch over 4 billion videos a day, but you can integrate your YouTube videos into your Facebook and Twitter pages. Try posting a few do-it-yourself videos for a simple service your company offers. Not only will viewers appreciate the free advice, but they’re likely to remember your name when it comes time to opening their wallet as well. Let’s say a car part retailer offers free installation videos on YouTube. Not only do they reach a huge viewership, but when it comes time to purchase the car parts, their name is fresh on the minds of their consumers.

Old-school marketing strategies are not exactly a thing of the past. While these old techniques are successful reaching one group of people, online social media sites can span the globe with information on your business. Your brand has the potential to make it into the living rooms of people all across the world. All you have to do it get your name out there!

About the Author: David Skimmer is a business consultant who enjoys web design and is a contributing author for backgroundcheck.org

Social customer service is the process of using social media to meet the demands of customers. Traditionally, customer service success was measured through satisfaction ratings, defect rates, first-time resolution rates, average handle time, agent utilisation, and cost of servicing the customer.

Today, in the age of social media, when companies talk to customers through the same media as friends use to talk to each other, metrics have evolved. Now we look at customer sentiment, self-service usage, cross-sell, up-sell rates, conversation volume, likes, retweets, +1s, and net promoter scores.

In 2010, 25% of enterprises were using social media to respond to service enquiries by customers or partners. In 2020, that number is set to rise to 90%.

One fifth of Fortune 500 companies engage with their customers on Facebook. These companies do more than marketing: they are actively listening, engaging, and responding to customer questions. But social customer service is not only the preserve of large corporations: it’s equally (perhaps even more) beneficial for small companies.

Many small companies are reluctant to start using social media as a customer service platform, believing it to lack credibility and fearing its (potentially) unwieldy nature. However, with its popularity continuing to increase, companies who ignore social media (and the customers who are active on social channels) are at risk of becoming irrelevant.

Social media channels provide opportunities that companies have not had before, which can be leveraged to significantly enhance customer service. Platforms like Twitter allow companies to monitor their customers’ opinions and complaints, even when the customers are not taking the time or making the effort to contact the firm directly. Social media also allows companies to respond faster than ever before, not only to the originator of a complaint or issue – but to all (or at least many) of those with whom he or she may have communicated about the issue.

Another specific benefit of social media is that users are willing to share extensive information publicly. That gives businesses access to people’s preferences, interests, opinions and networks, making social media an invaluable asset for many companies, and specifically small businesses, as it provides a low-cost means of finding out about their current and potential customers. Social media is a democratising force online, giving firms of all sizes access to the kind of information that was once exclusively held by the largest businesses.

Most people think of Facebook, Twitter, and perhaps LinkedIn when they hear the expression, “social media” and these are indeed the most popular platforms. But there are others, which may lend themselves particularly to communicating certain kinds of messages and advertising certain kinds of products and services. Those that are essentially visual – YouTube (video) and Pinterest (images) – can be especially powerful.

So how can a small business best exploit these media? First, be authentic. Don’t be cute: be real. Second, do one thing and do it really well – perhaps by creating a community and then sharing your particular expertise. Finally, monitor your customers and clients – the people who already use your products and services – to see what they’d like more of or less of. In other words, take time to learn from your customers, and act on their feedback. After all, they are your most valuable resource.

About the Author: Will Vicary is a digital marketing specialist whose interests include CRM solutions and online customer experience, as well as online lead generation. He is specifically interested in CRM insurance and cloud technology.