Why use social media in your business

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Trackback URL

If your boss comes to you and asks ‘reckon we ought to get into social media?’ how would you answer? Rather than look like a stunned mullet, say ‘yes’ and put forward the following reasons:

1. Spread your reach on the world wide web. The more websites your business is on and the more web content you put out, the easier it is for potential customers to find you
2. Give sneak previews to new products/services. For example you can post photos and brief descriptions on Flickr or on a Facebook page. Museums and theatres are already doing this well.
3. Share your knowledge. This is what social media is all about. The more you share the more you’ll build your profile as a trusted authority on your area of expertise. An ideal site for this purpose is YouTube. It’s astonishing the plethora and variety of videos posted by people sharing what they know, about pretty much anything under the sun, from how to use a complex software application to how to give your dog a massage!
4. Demonstrate what your business does. YouTube and Howcast are great for this purpose.
5. Build traffic to your website. Twitter and Facebook are handy for this. One way is to use status updates to link back to a webpage on your site. Another way is to encourage viewers to share your webpages by adding sharing widgets such as ShareThis, which facilitates easy uploading of your webpage URL to other sites.
6. Inform your customers. By using blogs on your website you can provide a forum to share company information with your customers, e.g. information on company developments, performance results and new product releases. YouTube is also ideal for sharing any television exposure you might get, say, an interview of your CEO or a profile of your small business.
7. Introduce new advertising campaigns. Why not spread the reach of your latest advertisements by uploading them onto Youtube. Not only will this broadcast your ads further but you can also track feedback via user comments.
8. Help employees bond and share insights. Facebook pages and Twitter enable employees to share their insights, communicate with one another and see what each are saying to other stakeholders. Further, bookmarking sites such as Delicious and StumbleUpon provide a very convenient way for employees to share interesting articles and websites, and is far better than attaching links via email. This approach is particularly useful for companies with far-flung offices. As a bond building vehicle, social media sites are a lot more useful than going on a paintballing or abseiling love-in.
9. Complement market research. Because social media offers a multi-way conversation (you and customers and customers among themselves), sites such as Facebook are perfect for eliciting customer feedback. Blogs are also good for sending out a message and seeking feedback. Sites such as Trackur allow you to monitor what is being said about your company.
10. Send out promotional offers. Companies in the retail (e.g. Borders Bookstores) and travel sectors (e.g. Intrepid Travel) are already doing this well via their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.
11. Advertise your business. Both Facebook and MySpace allow you to create advertisements targeted at select audiences.
12. Address customer complaints/issues. By monitoring the blogosphere and social media sites, you can find out what is being said about your company. This enables you to quickly address any issues raised and rectify service problems. For example, if you read a negative review by a disgruntled customer, you can write to this person and resolve the issue promptly. They’d appreciate your rapid response and you’d enhance your reputation.
13. Enable customers to help each other. Through sites like Facebook and blogs, and specialised sites such as Get Satisfaction, you can trigger conversations which enable customers to help each other solve problems.
14. Promote your personal accomplishments and qualifications. Sites such as LinkedIn are perfect vehicles to spread the word about your personal achievements and credentials. It also offers a way in which you can connect with past colleagues, associates and classmates, which can be useful in networking and business building.

The bottom-line is this: social media has the potential to spread your message far and wide. And the best thing is, aside from the time involved (which can be considerable), is that it’s largely free to use.