Yeah, yeah. So, social media is all about what your kids spend their lives doing, but being serious about business is a different matter…..isn’t it?
Social’ these media may be, but those using blogs, online forums, Facebook, Twitter and other sites are not simply there for a chat with friends. Increasingly, these are the trusted places people are going to research and make their purchases.
Customer reviews and comments in cyberspace are carrying increasing authority with consumers, and businesses wanting to reach their customers direct are now having to go beyond simply maintaining their websites.
Getting out there through status updates, fan pages, tweets, forum postings and blogs is now commonplace and with the right strategies in place businesses can generate plenty of sales leads.
In essence the web’s unique ability to harness the power of customer conversations through online communities and networks offers a highly effective way of establishing contact with customers and also responding to their retail needs and wishes.
Like it or not, around one third of UK consumers are voicing their thoughts online, reviewing products and services and then sharing these impressions with their wide circle of friends.
So with vast numbers of customers already choosing the companies and brands they invest in based on the reviews they read online social media marketing is quickly becoming a key tool for marketers.
Key to making a success of this approach is building a relationship of trust with your online community of friends and followers, providing them with great content and sound advice.
Remember, people are already online and they’re gathering information through reviews and recommendations all the time. The impressions they get from these may determine whether they then visit your site. But if they get as far as the site it probably means they are well-disposed to whatever you are selling them.
Not that the sale is made! But what social media has done is drive traffic to the site that is positive about your goods or services. Social media marketing’s task is to be engaged in the wider conversation in a way that is not obviously sales driven but which helps steer the debate in beneficial ways.
Does every firm need to engage in this? Possibly not, but ignoring this massive market opportunity does not make any sense either. Many firms derive 25% of their traffic from blogs or social networks.
The young are discovering fresh ways to makes their retail choices and they are the ones shaping the online market today.
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