Is Your Business Social Enough?

About Social Media Management

Social media has grown immensely since the start of the internet. And in that short timeframe, I bet you can remember using a social channel that doesn’t exist today—hasta luego, Myspace. This is just one example of how social media is not always reliable, which can be nerve- wracking when thinking about investing in it. The important thing to remember is that it is key to have the right balance between channels.  While some social platforms may seem sturdy, you never know when they could be acquired or bought out. Keeping a presence on as many channels as possible is key to a successful strategy. If your business doesn’t have the resources to keep up with a diverse presence, consider hiring a specialist to steer you in the right direction. But before you begin your search for the right help, learn why social media is so important for any business.

Why Social Media Is Important

Although social media has not been a top marketing channel for very long, it is still an important opportunity for any business. While it is great for organic traffic, advertising spend can also be relatively low cost and low risk. This makes it great for those ready to invest in marketing but only have a low budget to work with. Learn more about all of the benefits of social media management and how it can help your business.

Social Media Improves Public Relations

If you are a small business with a tight budget, you probably don’t have enough money to work with a top public relations firm. It is extremely costly to get big media placements, which is why most businesses choose to build media relations in-house. While having a social media presence won’t guarantee your business media placements, it will give your brand more visibility. It will also give the public a better idea of your brand and offer an opportunity to connect with consumers and gain their trust.

Social Media Improves Search Engine Optimization

While there are a number of factors that contribute to search ranking—i.e. your brand showing up on Google—social media can build upon your current strategy. The more places your backlinks live, the higher your site’s domain authority will be and the more likely it is for your brand to appear in search. If you are serious about SEO (and you should be), then social media is essential to a fully fleshed-out strategy. You should also consider adding your social links to on your website so that when bots crawl your site, they can connect your social profiles to your brand.

Social Media Develops Customer Funnels

Reporting has come a long way, which makes developing customer funnels much easier. Top of funnel is the phase of acquiring leads, while bottom of funnel is the purchasing phase. Separating your customers into these two groups will allow you to target them differently with messaging that relates to where they are in the shopping journey. If you have just happened upon a brand, you are more likely to interact with a content piece that explains the ‘why’ of your brand, whereas if you know the brand and are ready to purchase, a content piece and explains the ‘how’ of your brand is more appropriate. (I.e. why does this brand exist and how is it different from other brands.)

Social Media Prospects New Customers

One of the biggest problems most small businesses face is acquiring new leads and warming them. It is not only important to understand which customers are top of funnel, but it is even more important to draw more people into that funnel. One of the first steps in trusting a brand is viewing their social profiles for credibility. If no profile exists or it is done sloppily, consumers will have a hard time trusting your brand enough to purchase from you. Social advertising is also an excellent option to lead people to your email signup so that you have additional chances to resonate with them.

Getting Started: Ensuring You Have the Right Tools

With all of this information in mind, creating a high-performing social presence may not be as easy as you thought. All too often, companies spend too much time solely thinking of new content ideas. It takes much more than a couple of posts a day to make an impact, which is why companies often need to dedicate a full-time job or third-party to effectively use social media. Layering an excellent social media profile on multiple mediums with SEO best practices, blog resources and email campaigns is a great start to building new revenue streams.  If you are still not sure where to start, eliciting the help of an expert might be the smart thing to do. Sure, you could hire an intern to take care of the day-to-day posts, but there is a much larger strategy that should be considered by someone who knows how to create more revenue for your business. Once you nail your social profiles, you can constantly work on growing if further and learning new ways to make it better with each passing year.