The importance of a strong social media presence for your business

In 2018, good social media presence is not merely an option, it is imperative for brands and businesses to be leveraging the opportunities social media can do for them. 2 million businesses today use Facebook advertising for promoting their products and services. If you wish to stand apart from your competitors, it’s important that your brand has a strong social media presence online. According to an info-graphic published by Ambassador, 71% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand to others if they have a positive experience with it on social media. It’s not enough to have your business set up on multiple social sites, its equally important to ensure that your brand creates a strong and consistent presence on each of it’s platforms. Here are some reasons why:

Search Engine Visibility

It is known that people love to do research online. To buy products, find somewhere to eat, to connect with others, it’s all done online. The customers that need to use your service want to be able to find you quickly and efficiently when they are searching on Google. Any chance you have to increase your visibility as a brand is valuable. Even if that is setting up a website, Facebook page or Twitter account. You are establishing a presence that immediately makes you accessible to new customers and can also make you familiar and recognisable to existing customers. Social media profiles can help you reach the first search results page and can increase traffic, user engagement and potentially increase profits for your business.

Improve Brand Trust

Creating a trustworthy brand is not only important for business owners but equally as important for customers. Your customers want to be able to trust your brand and have a good experience with you. Increase loyalty with your customers by engaging regularly and positively with them. It’s important to recognise that customers will also see your social platforms as a service channel where they can communicate directly with the business. Additionally, networking with different businesses is also important as you are establishing a network where other brands could recommend your service to others. Having a trusted brand will benefit you enormously as your customers will be more likely to stay loyal to your brand versus going with your competitor.

Opportunities to Drive Sales

As mentioned previously, when you make yourself available online, you can start to build a following. You will have access to new customers, recent customers and old customers who will want to use your services. Social media platforms can be immensely useful at generating leads and will give you the opportunity to convert your audience into paying customers.  The more you provide to your audience via your social media profiles such as blog posts, images, comment or video you are giving them multiple reasons to click and check out what you have to offer. Every reaction brings traffic to your social platforms and could result in a sale. The sheer number of opportunities you have on social media to drive sales is significant.

Competitive Advantage

Standing out from your competitors is an important part of creating a strong social media presence. Creating social accounts for your business offers the potential for you to drive your message out to a massive audience. For example, let’s say there are two flower shops on one street. One has no social media profiles of their business online while the other is available on Facebook, Instagram and have their own website. The shop that has social media profiles has an advantage here as they can advertise themselves to a huge audience of people online. Additionally, offering ordering and delivery online can drive more sales as it is simple for the customer to purchase through the different platforms. It’s easy to rationalise how setting your business up on social media gives you a competitive advantage.

In this modern world of technology, social media is increasingly becoming the most powerful tool for businesses. So, it’s only right we take every opportunity available to us. If you are not taking advantage of social, you are missing out on a fast, inexpensive way to potentially reach almost half the world’s population.