If you’re still asking this question, allow me to catch you up to speed: social media is here to stay.
I promise.
Your company needs social media marketing to compete in today’s marketplace. Have you noticed the Facebook and Twitter icons on most companies’ homepages? Have you heard the “Like us on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter” plugs at the end of radio and TV commercials? Of course you have; that’s because most companies already understand the power of social media marketing.
Your company can use social media sites to gain valuable insight on customer opinions of your products and services. The ability to interact with your audience has never been easier. Social media marketing helps to improve your company’s overall customer service experience by establishing trust and building meaningful relationships online. This level of engagement helps to keep existing customers and attract new ones.
Another reason to use social media marketing is to grow your online presence. Maintaining accounts on various social media sites helps to drive traffic to your company website, which, in turn, generates leads and boosts your reputation (if you have an informative, user-friendly website.)
I’ll leave you with some 2011 social media statistics to give you perspective on the power of social media marketing:
- Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the United States, according to Socialnomics.com.
- 80% of companies use social media for recruitment, 95% of which use LinkedIn, according to Socialnomics.com.
- Over 67% of users are following their favorite brands on Twitter, according to BlackBoxSocialMedia.com.
As research shows, social media sites aren’t new anymore. They are already integrated into many companies’ marketing campaigns. The longer you resist using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites as effective marketing tools, the further you’ll fall behind competitors who are already dominating in these arenas. Don’t get left behind!
Do you have an example of how social media marketing has helped your company?