Should I Be Using Social Media For My Business?

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At Solidus, we understand this question all the time from customers and potential customers KKVSH. The clear answer: If you're in operation, YES! I've heard the sentiment a number of times from our customers: "I don't feel like telling people where I am all the time or what I had for breakfast." While some people use social networking to broadcast the mundane details of the lives, for businesses, social networking is a platform for providing information about your organization and industry, starting conversations, and listening to customers and potential customers.

Why Should I Be Using Social Marketing?
Because that's where people are spending their time. Recent research implies that "nearly 50% of Americans use social media." Based on a new survey from Arbitron and Edison Research, 8% of teens and 77% of individuals from 18 to 24 have profile pages; 65% of individuals from 25 to 34 and 51% of those 35 to 44 also have profile pages. Also, 30% of Americans who have a profile on a minumum of one social networking site visit them "repeatedly a day," which is a significant increase from 18% a year ago. There are currently around 400 million users on Facebook - when it were a country, it would be larger than the United States.

Obviously people are utilizing these sites for pleasure and for connecting with friends, but they are also following brands and looking for information for purchasing decisions. The "2010 Social Media Report" released by ForeSee Results reports that 69% of online shoppers regularly use social networking sites to interact with a common brands. Approximately 56% of respondents reported using Facebook to interact with brands.

We hear lots of "the type of customers I am looking for are not on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn." I don't believe that is necessarily true, considering that the fastest growing users of social networking sites are over the age of 45. Also, even though your target customers (in terms of age and demographics) aren't currently the main social networking craze, they will be - and, probably sooner than you think. "Over 50% of all consumers say they have already purchased something - or switched to some other brand or retailer - as a result of recommendation they got through a social networking site," according to Shama Kabani, writer of The Zen of Social Marketing.

I Have Doubts about Using Social Networking for My Business
A recently available Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, "Entrepreneurs Question Value of Social Media," as indicated by the name, discusses the good qualities and cons of entrepreneurs who have engaged social networking due to their businesses.

A survey released in January by the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business and Network Solutions LLC, reports that last year, social marketing adoption by businesses with fewer than 100 employees doubled to 24% from 12%. The WSJ also article cites stats about entrepreneurs who say they've lost money on the social marketing efforts. I can't believe that this true, and the article does give details regarding how they are losing money. I'd argue that the organizations that are being cited here did not plan effectively or have those who don't know very well what they are doing running their social networking efforts.

The article tells the story of a lady who purchased a $1,900 folding kayak after she saw a Tweet on Twitter. Obviously this sort of result isn't typical because the value of using such sites for business marketing is usually more of a long-term relationship-building activity than a direct sales channel.

Another entrepreneur cited in the article argues that there's an immediate correlation between is full-fledged entry into social marketing for his business and increased sales - a 40% escalation in online sales in 2009, in contrast to 2008 when the company was just getting started.

Recommendations for Your Social Media Strategy
• Be strategic - Like any marketing or customer relations efforts, you will need to plan effectively for connecting along with your audience and spark interest. You wouldn't send an immediate mail campaign without carefully crafting the content or determining who the recipients will soon be; the same relates to social media.
• Tailor your social networking content to your audience - What do your web visitors want to know or find out about? They don't value you; they wish to know so what can help them.
• Be mindful about that which you post - Make certain it makes sense, won't offend people, and is error-free. If something does go awry with social networking, you are able to quickly address or rectify the problem.
• Be consistent - Stay engaged and keep your audiences engaged. If you just log on and post once per month, people realize that you're not paying attention.
• Study on others - Pay attention to industry and customer trends. Listen to what's going on around you. You are able to learn a whole lot about your web visitors and competitors by following their social networking activities. What are they thinking about on a regular basis? What are the customers thinking about? If you follow their social networking activities, you'll find out.

The New Face of Marketing Includes Social Media
"Marketing today could be the art and science (dare I say the Zen?) of leveraging multiple platforms to truly get your message across so you can motivate individuals to take action. Tools are changing - you will need to steadfastly keep up," argues Kabani. "Your website is the spot where you are able to SELL your products and services. Social media marketing is where you introduce a possible client to your brand."

A recently available report titled, "2010 State of Inbound Marketing," released by HubSpot, emphasizes that inbound marketing through social networking can double average monthly leads for small and medium-sized businesses; "creating a residential district of followers through Twitter and a regularly updated stream of content on a web log builds engagement, boosts the company's presence on Google and ultimately generate more potential customers."

While some people may feel like it's confirmed to be engaged with social networking, especially when you're available of social networking and content marketing, for a lot of men and women available, social networking are still foreign, shrouded in mystery, and not completely understood. However, we're almost to the stage where not being part of social networking is not an selection for businesses. It shouldn't be described as a question of whether to do, but steps to make it work for you and your organization. Today, the hot social networking venues are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Tomorrow it is going to be something else, but whatever IT is, if you're in operation, you need to be involved and the main conversation.