5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Social Media
Many businesses see social media as a set of problems rather than a set of opportunities. For those who have never used it, or never used it successfully, it seems like another in the long list of tasks to get through, an uphill struggle to learn or an incredible pain in the neck with promised results that never seem to materialise.
But social media isn’t something to fear. What they say about the future of the internet being social is completely true and it’s something your business needs to get on-board with as soon as possible. Here are five reasons that you shouldn’t fear social media.
1. Everybody’s Using It
Long gone are the days when you could say that your customers weren’t social media users. With so many social media sites out there and the growing popularity of these sites, it’s absolutely certain that your target customers are there. That may seem a very bold statement but look at the facts (2014 numbers as no UK stats available yet for 2015):
Worldwide:
- More than 1.3 billion monthly users on Facebook (the biggest social network)
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Twitter now has over 550 million registered users, and 215 million active monthly users
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Over 1 billion Google+ accounts, and that figure is growing 33% per year
- 332 million LinkedIn users
- 1 billion people use YouTube
In the UK:
- Facebook has 33 million users (over half the UK population)
- Over 16 million active Twitter users
- YouTube gets 19 million unique visitors (making it the 2nd largest social network)
- LinkedIn has over 15 million users.
2. Social Media Can Be Easy
Social media is only daunting until you start learning it. For those who aren’t into it, it seems difficult but it’s actually quite simple once you learn your way around. Your profile is like your mini-website on the platform. Once your profile is made, you can connect to your audience and then interact directly with them. There are lots of people who can help you – I run training courses, set up profiles and will even be you on social media if you really can’t face it! 🙂
It’s not a quick fix and does take time so you do need to be disciplined so that you don’t waste time just browsing.
3. A Marketing Goldmine
In addition to being a way to broadcast your business’s message to the people, social media also offers a treasure trove of information about the people who use your goods and services. Even if you aren’t active on the site, you can find out a great deal about your market in a very easy way. Not only can you access profile information to learn about your market’s likes and dislikes, but you also get to see them share content, hold discussions and so on in real time.
However, when you really benefit is when you participate and engage with people – it is ‘social’ after all!
4. Direct Feedback
The nature of social media is that it’s a two-way communication channel. Your customers can contact you directly through the site and give you valuable feedback on what you offer. This opportunity for communication personalises your business, which is extremely important on the potentially impersonal internet. You get a chance to show that there’s a human being behind the company.
5. An Asset to Your Sales Funnel
Since so many people use social media, it’s a great part of a company’s sales funnel. You can use it to promote your business and draw new prospects into your sales funnel. One great way to do this is to use social media to build your email list, an even more personalised and effective way to sell online.
There are very few businesses today that can or should try to survive without social media. Your presence on these sites is an extremely valuable asset to your business that offers a number of benefits.
