Currently, using social media for business has become practically an imperative to reach your target audience.
According to the latest 2018 Annual Social Media Study , carried out by IAB Spain together with the Elogia agency, there are already more than 25.5 million users in our country who use social networks. The same study shows that 8 out of 10 users follow brands through social networks , very similar to what was already happening in 2017.
Social media and related tools offer many options for contacting customers either organically or through advertising. There are numerous possibilities and advantages for companies and it seems imperative that this opportunity be exploited.
The social media marketing is much more than launching content to the online world to be seen.
Social media can be used by any company of all sizes and is more affordable than any other marketing tool of the past. You should Learn how earned media works as well.
Not taking advantage of social media in a business is losing a fast and effective way of reaching your audience. But before launching to open corporate social profiles, it is very important to understand and learn to use social networks effectively to avoid investing time and money without a tangible return.
Proper use of social channels will increase your customer’s loyalty to your brand, while humanizing your company.
Why companies need social media
Table of Contents
Social networks for companies is the place where your business should be , if you want to know what your audience thinks about your products / services, attract new customers, build stronger relationships with the customers you currently have or promote your brand and your products / services.
Social media marketing is a gateway to the digital world and a great way to connect with your customers.
Now, before opening a social profile for your brand you have to plan well what strategy you are going to follow and know what channels you are interested in being on. This step is essential for the proper use of social networks in your business.
Using social channels without strategy and without a social media plan is like navigating without using a compass, without having a destination or a map that can guide you.
Here are some basic steps you need to take to plan your content strategy well:
Set some goals
Defining your strategy requires some preparation, since you have to set some objectives and find a way to achieve them. Once business goals are established , you have to think about how social media can help you achieve them.
Know your target audience well
It is essential to know the behavior of your audience so that your publications can be relevant to them. Understanding what your audience wants, what they are talking about and what they are looking for on social channels is essential to be able to create content that is of interest to them.
Social networks for companies are one of the keys that help you achieve this.
Find out what your competition does
It is also necessary that you investigate your competition, what type of publications it makes, as well as the strategies it uses to interact with its audience. With this information you can get inspired and know what is working best for companies in your sector.
Track, analyze and continually improve your actions
It is very important that you monitor the performance of your publications. Knowing what is working best or worst will help you improve your strategy. From mistakes you learn and it is very difficult to get everything right the first time.
5 Key benefits of social media for business
I list some of the benefits that social networks can provide for your business.
Social media posts drive traffic to your website
Regardless of the sector in which you work, a large part of your clients and potential clients are using social networks . Having access to these clients will help you increase traffic to your website, especially when you publish new content. For example, a new post in the blog a new product or service.
Business social media posts give you the opportunity for your audience to find your website and click on the landing page that interests you.
Through social channels you can get to know your audience better
Social networks for companies give you the opportunity to interact directly with your audience , learn about their interests, and answer their questions. It is a great source of information on the behavior of your clients and potential clients.
With all this information about your audience you will be able to better understand how they are and how they behave in relation to your products / services.
When you understand your customers, you can provide better solutions and more relevant content. You can even detect their pain points that will help you improve your conversions and refine your sales strategy.
With social networks you can build relationships with your audience
Before attracting your customers, you have to connect with them on social media. If you help your audience by answering their questions, entertaining them or informing them about relevant content, you will surely connect with them.
When you increase engagement with your brand, you will build relationships with your audience and increase exposure to your brand. You will even reach potential customers who did not know your brand yet .
Use specific keywords related to your sector and use hashtags strategically in your publications to reach your target audience.
You can offer a new customer service channel
Users expect your brand to be present on social networks to be able to ask them questions, express their complaints or satisfaction with their products / services.
Customers expect quick responses, and if they have a problem they want immediate solutions.
A strong presence of your brand and committed to marketing on social networks will help you keep your customers happy and maintain a positive brand image on the network.
Through social networks for companies you can monitor what your competition does
Keeping track of the comments that users leave on your competitors’ profiles can reveal weak points of their products / services that could help you highlight yours.
Monitoring your competition on social networks will help you to know the behavior of users and also the type of publications and promotions they carry out, as well as the degree of engagement they have with their audience.
Knowing what your competition is doing can also inspire you to create improved strategies tailored to your audience and your products / services.
How social networks affect the digital transformation of companies
Digital transformation offers new ways of working taking advantage of the advances of digital technology. But a company culture is needed to push this change .
The commitment to meet the demands of customer service through digital channels requires involving the entire company with the participation of the entire team. Department managers and managers need to be trained to motivate and educate your team and to have everyone row in the same direction.
Business social media is making business actions increasingly transparent.
Through active listening and interactions with your customers, you have the opportunity to turn dissatisfied customers into satisfied ones and even create advocates for your brand on social channels.
The sales departments of companies are increasingly using communication tools and channels to encourage and enhance these interactions: videos, voice searches, email, bots, social networks, social selling …
Through social networks you will personalize the experience of your customers, with shorter resolution times to their problems, closer and loyal relationships, greater loyalty to your brand and, ultimately, greater sales opportunities.
Do companies need to advertise on social media?
Currently if you do not invest in advertising on social networks , you run the risk of being left behind.
Each platform is designed to facilitate the objectives of your brand, such as recognizing your brand, generating leads or creating traffic to the website.
There is so much competition in social networks that it is difficult to stand out . Algorithms are becoming increasingly complex and require paid ads where you can expose your posts to the right audience.
Through advertising on social networks you can segment your target by interest, demographic and geographic characteristics.
To achieve greater reach, research the social channels where your audience spends the most time and align your advertising strategy according to the behavior of your audience.
The best social networks for companies
To know which social network is most profitable for your business, you have to know the main social networks in which the majority of users have a presence. As we have mentioned before, it is a priority that your brand has a presence wherever your target is.
Without a doubt, it continues to be the platform most used by users , despite the fact that its growth is no longer as strong as in previous years.
Whether it’s for branding, generating traffic to your website or getting leads for your business, Facebook is an excellent platform to find your audience, especially in B2C businesses .
The wide user base on Facebook and its powerful platform for advertising makes it a channel without a doubt for your business.
On Facebook you can create segmentations when doing ad campaigns:
- by age,
- sex,
- job,
- interests,
- buying behaviors,
- relations…
… And many more aspects that make it a great tool to publish your ads to your exact audience.
The only cases in which I would not recommend being on Facebook is, on the one hand, if you do not have a budget to advertise on the platform and, on the other hand, those businesses, especially B2B where it is very difficult to find your buyer person in the platform.
Twitter is one of the oldest channels, and although it has not experienced user growth in the last year, it is still the second most mentioned social network by users .
On this platform you can post photos and videos with limited characters, but what is really attractive are the posts in real time .
As in the case of Instagram, you can search for a hashtag online, find other publications from users and companies that have used it. This means that you can find consumers who are looking for or related to your products / services.
It is the platform that has experienced the most marked growth in recent years. Instagram ranks as the number three most present in the minds of users following Facebook and Twitter (according to a study by IAB Spain 2018).
With more than 500 million daily active users, being the same owner Mark Zuckemberg, he has access to the same user base and advertising platform as Facebook . So it has has the same benefits as its ads.
However, on Instagram you can grow your online community and increase the reach of your publications organically.
It is a very visual platform where you can post photos and videos, which plays in your business’s favor, since people remember 80% of what we see instead of what we read.
If your clients are other businesses, that is, it is a B2B, then Linkedin can help you enhance your relationships , whether with clients, suppliers, collaborators or even find partners for your business.
Linkedin is a professional platform , so people include information about their jobs, job contact details, unlike other social networks that are used on a personal level.
Many recruiters use this social network to search for candidates, but this is only one of its functions, since the potential of this network goes much further.
Through this network you can do networking either by contacting direct messages, or by participating in groups where you know you are going to find your potential clients. Interacting with them in a group, participating and recommending the best practices in your sector, can open many doors for you, and prepare contacts to prepare them for a future commercial proposal.
Youtube
YouTube has 1.8 billion monthly registered users and every day users consume 150 million hours of video through it.
With these data, your company has the opportunity to reach thousands of people with attractive visual content.
Being a Google network, you have access to Google’s advertising platforms (Google Adwords), which is a great advantage that must be considered when considering the social media strategy for your business.
Google My Business
Google My Business is extremely important to local businesses . A key aspect to the success of any local business is making sure that your audience can find you online quickly.
It is a free search engine, which Google provides for local businesses to highlight and be easily found by users.
The fact that you can leave comments ( reviews ) about the business increases confidence for the company, as long as they are good.
Businesses with a Google My Business account appear in right next to paid ads that display information about hours, location, website, and phone number. This is very useful for any user who is doing a search for the company, because it quickly accesses their data.
Given the characteristics of the most important networks at a general level, it must be taken into account that there are many more and also specific to specific market niches.
The ideal is to have a presence in a general network and if you are in a very specific niche, investigate what social network your audience is.
conclusion
Social networks for companies are an essential tool for any business that wants to have online visibility.
Your competition is already in them and, day by day, their participation is increasing, so do not allow your competitors to take away your potential customers.
Make sure you have a social media plan within the marketing plan that is aligned with your business objectives.
Each business is different and has different objectives in social media. You have to be prepared to be able to invest resources in the execution of the actions to develop the strategies established in your plan. And above all, measure everything you do, in order to improve your strategy and grow your online community.
