“We want to use social media for our business, but we don’t know where to start…” Now, if only we had a pound for every time we heard that... By now, the majority of businesses and organisations understand that this social media malarky isn’t just a flash in the pan, but something that's here to stay. They know it’s powerful and they know they need to be on it, but they’re just not sure quite why...
So what exactly are the benefits of making strategic use of social media for your business? What can social media really do for you? Are you ready?
Ok, here goes. Social media...
- Represents your brand online
- Establishes a direct line of communication with current and potential customers
- Showcases your business and products
- Builds brand loyalty
- Establishes you as an industry expert
- Improves your search engine results
- Drives traffic to your website
- Provides and improves customer service
- Puts your business in front of new audiences
- Gives your business the ability to learn more about their audience
- Helps you to stay relevant
- Allows you to research and understand your competitors
It’s a pretty compelling list isn’t it? And when you combine this list 👆with these stats👇
- There are almost 2.5 billion social media users, and the number is constantly growing with predictions of more than three billion social media users by 2021 - Statista 2017
Plus the current user base of the six major social media platforms: Statista 2017, LinkedIn 2017 👇
- Facebook: 2.07 billion monthly active users
- Instagram: 800 million monthly active users
- Twitter: 330 million monthly active users
- LinkedIn: 500 million members
- Pinterest: 200 million monthly active users
- Snapchat: 178 million daily active users
You find it’s pretty clear that the opportunities for businesses and organisations to use social media are vast and to overlook them would be a crime..
So where do you start?
Tempting as it is to jump straight on every platform and start shouting about why you’re the best, it’s not the most productive way to use social media. Whilst the audience potential is huge, if the audience isn’t your audience then the return on investment is going to be low. At Looped Media, we frequently bore our clients with one of our favourite words - STRATEGY. We may sound like a cracked record, but using social media as a marketing tool without a strategy is a shot in the dark and unlikely to return favourable results whilst costing you time and money. Before going any further, spend time creating a strategy, one that is tailored to your business specifically for social media. And be sure to incorporate it into the wider marketing and communications planning so everything works seamless towards the wider objectives of your business,
A social media strategy should cover the following areas:
- Overall social media objectives
- Understanding where you stand in the marketplace
- Who your target audience is and what you already know about them
- Understand where your customers spend time online
- Analysing your competitors social media activity and identifying opportunities to stand out
- Which platforms will best reach your target audience
- How you should be using those platforms, including daily management, types of content to use, best times to post, engagement, campaigns and advertising
- Paid social
- Measurements and analysis of results
Need help with your social media platforms or Facebook advertising?
Contact us: hello@looped.media