Why your Business Should Go Social

Note: This is the second article in the 7 part series on social media contributed by Xerago. First article here.

Businesses taking to social media marketing has been quite the rage for a while. While large multinational corporations took to social media marketing like moths to a flame, other companies have been slower in following. For those who haven?t yet tested the social media marketing waters yet, here?s what you need to know about the upside of indulging in social media marketing.

Connect

Incorporating a social media strategy along with your traditional marketing activities can open up newer lines of communication with your target audiences. Engaging customers and potential customers is effortless and quick with social media. Apart from improving conversations with audiences, social media marketing facilitates relationship building across the globe with peers from your industry or potential partners.

Your competitors/customers are there:

While you?re sticking to the good old, tried and tested marketing plan, consider the fact that your pesky competitor is getting one up on you at Facebook, Twitter, Google + and other popular social networking websites. In all likelihood, your customers expect your presence there as well. So when your target audience and your competitors are in the same space (social media), why would you still be elsewhere?

Your organization could benefit from online presence

Getting online can help you share the unseen side of your organization with your customers ? the affable side. For instance, uploading photographs of employees at candid moments has become quite popular. This lets customers see the people who work tirelessly to cater to their needs. It also makes the organization seem more human.

Taking ?reach? to exponential levels

With social media marketing, while you plan to reach a specific audience, chances are your reach will extend beyond the levels you aimed for. For starters, you will attract potential customers in addition to existing customers. Also your followers will tend to take the conversation offline, thereby bringing awareness about your brand to those who might not have been looking for you at all.

Image management

One of the most essential reasons to adopt a social media marketing plan is to be considered a thought leader. In social media, thought leaders are the messiahs, so to speak, and very clearly have an edge over everyone else.

On the flip side, having a presence on social networking websites helps you be aware of conversations about your brand instantly. This enables quick feedback from customers. Disgruntled customers can also be appeased when good customer service is integrated with social media. Reputation management can be carried out with ease.

Still not convinced? Here are some quick pointers:

• Consider this: 30% of the world?s population is online and the internet as a marketing channel reaches the largest number of people from varied demographics
• The channel requires a low technical investment, has a great ROI and a low learning curve
• It is a fairly simple way to increase your website traffic and search engine ranking
• Lead generation and, thereby, sales can be improved
• Connecting with media becomes easier
• Promoting events becomes quicker and more effective
• 58% of small business owners reported a decrease in marketing costs after they migrated to social media

Considering the impressive advantages that social media marketing brings and the negligible investment it requires in terms of time and money, it?s hardly a surprise that businesses are hopping onto the bandwagon rather merrily. Go on, get aboard the social media bandwagon!

The next article will be uploaded next wednesday on what social media is NOT.