If your company isn’t optimizing its social media presence, you may be losing opportunities to grow your business.
Social media has invaded nearly every aspect of our lives, from politics to food to entertainment to just staying in touch with friends and family. It is a ubiquitous presence, noted by the vast multitude of faces focused on their phones instead of each other, taking pictures of their meals instead of eating them, and laughing over puppy videos instead of (well, ok…we all love puppy videos).
The point is, regardless of how you view or use social media, its influence is enormous and businesses that understand how to use it effectively are at a huge advantage over those who do not. In a recent IdeaXchange blog, Jane Clark, Vice President of Member Services at NationaLease, discusses how companies should be using social media to “increase customer engagement and drive sales.”
The most effective way to use social media to grow business is through referrals from existing customers. One of the most important and relevant advertisements for your business is the opinion of existing customers. When you stay connected on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google, you can discover and share those opinions.
But, Jane notes, you should not just jump head first into social media for your company. First, it’s necessary to establish goals that are realistic and measurable. Decide what it is you want your social media presence to accomplish before embarking on this journey.
Posts should clearly illustrate what value you bring to customers. Share your company’s strengths. Once you’ve made clear what your strengths are, it’s time to build a following. There are a number of ways to accomplish that, according to Jane:
- Start by following and commenting on other sites. That will expose your presence and potentially draw people to start following you.
- Visit your customers’ social media sites and engage in content posted on those sites.
- Share stories of how you’ve helped customers achieve success.
- Repurpose company content in smaller, more digestible bits. The value of social media is often its brevity
Once you’ve got that following, you can use social media as a way to dispel any myths that may be out there regarding your company. This is an often undervalued importance of the way companies can benefit from social media. The very anonymity that makes social media so appealing to some can make it difficult for companies to dispel any untruths or myths that may be brewing from who-knows-where. Having control over your own social media profile and presence gives many opportunities to make clear what is fact from what is fiction.
Read Jane’s blogs for important information on a wide range of topics, from social media to recruitment and retention to safety and technology and more.
