Social media is powerful, but don’t forget personal connections
Social media is a powerful tool, but don’t forget personal connections
Erica N. Gauthier – February 23, 2017
With one out of seven people in the world using social media, it’s no surprise that businesses are using social media. Their customers use social media 24/7 to seek information or shop online. It’s dynamic, popular and free. This blog highlights three dominant platforms, Facebook, twitter, and Instagram, as part of their digital strategy. An underlying theme in this discussion is that social media alone, while powerful, doesn’t replace face-to-face meetings or phone conversations. Consumers may feel comfortable buying products online, but when building personal relationships, it’s important to “put the face with the voice.”
Facebook is the number one social media site out there, but is it right for your company? With 71 percent of Internet users on Facebook every day, it definitely gets high marks for reach and frequency. Facebook is also the most low maintenance site there is, with many different ways to post dynamic content.
Facebook is an appealing site for posting text, photographs, and video, and it offers e-commerce features like its brand new buy button. The platform also ramped up its video strategy to make it strong competition for YouTube.
Facebook ads are becoming more and more accessible to businesses. With Facebook, businesses can drive online sales, increase local sales, promote your app, find leads, and be social with your consumers.
Dana Fontein, author of “The Top Social Media Sites That Matter to Marketers,” writes that Facebook is probably a more powerful tool than it has ever been.
As dominant as Facebook is, experts view Twitter as the most effective site for handling customer service. Customers use Twitter with the intention of engaging quickly with customers. A total of 20 percent of the U.S. population uses Twitter on a daily basis; 50 percent use it to visit or shop at the local businesses that they follow, and 60 percent use it to buy something because they saw on the platform. Why?
“Twitter offers a peek into the minds of industry leaders, allowing you to see what they are reading, sharing, and thinking about any topic, at any given time,” Fontein writes.
Instagram, a platform that shares ideas visually, may top others when it comes individuals with creative services or products. With 400 million active users, 75 million daily, young adult, picture-taking consumers are easily attracted Instagram.
Instagram’s per-follower engagement rate for brands is 58 times higher than on Facebook and 120 times higher than on Twitter. Fontein says Instagram users are “two and a half times more likely to click on ads than on any other social media site.” There are many Instagram success stories including brands like Mercedes-Benz, Coca-Cola, and Fido.
Of course, there are many social media sites for marketing your business, but you should consider their unique features, their primary audiences and how well they translate to mobile devices. No doubt you will want multiple platforms to reach the widest audience.
Brittney Helmrich, Business News Daily staff writer who wrote “Social Media for Business: 2016 Marketers Guide,” says that it is important that businesses choose and nurture the social platforms that work best for your business so that you don’t spread yourself too thin. “There is no use in having a site that you barely post on while not keeping it updated,” Helmrich states. “It doesn’t speak well for your brand” if content developers are not engaged in their own brand-generating platforms or websites.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are a good start for your business. Then, depending on your product or service, you can reach your consumers on multiple sites, perhaps through a blog, through boards on Pinterest or videos on YouTube or Vimeo. And while the digital footprint may deliver communication at supersonic speeds at anytime, but don’t forget face-to-face business meetings with clients.
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Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
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Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Join BPR
Meetings Every Tuesday in OM 102C
ck17@txstate.edu
Facebook-f
Instagram
© 2020 Bobcat Promotions
OceanWP Theme by Nick