This is a question I get often, and it’s a valid one. It’s easy to feel like one’s efforts on social media aren’t yielding the results one expects or wants.
Furthermore, it is a known fact that social media engagement isn’t what it used to be. With so much going on in the world, many people are “detoxing” from social media. People are choosing to permanently delete their social media accounts either because they have lost confidence in “trusted news sources” or in their platform’s privacy assurances. Others are just feeling fatigued or overloaded by the time they spend on the internet.
Nearly 29% of people who deleted their social media accounts reported doing so because they felt overloaded, while another 27.2% felt it was a waste of time. However, social media still has 3.8 billion users. That’s over 45% of the world’s population and this number is only growing.
So, does being on social media matter? The answer is yes, yes it does. If having and growing your brand, owning online real estate, and customer service is important to you and your business, you should be actively invested in your social media pages.
Three Reasons you want to be on Social Media
There are three main reasons why as a business you want to invest in your social media presence: Owning online real estate, growing your brand, and taking advantage of the future of customer service.
#1 - Owning Online Real Estate
There are about 5 parts to owning online real estate. These are:
Your company website
Your social media profiles and pages
PPC ads
Google Local Pack / Google My Business Page
Featured Snippets in Search Results
Whether you agree or not, you’re losing money if you’re not investing in any one of these avenues, and falling behind your competitors who are implementing these tactics.
Here are some recent figures to back that up: Nearly 30% of consumers say they would not purchase from a company lacking in social media presence. Frankly, I would agree.
Let’s say there were two companies identical in almost every way. Both have great prices and specials, a shining reputation, and trustworthy employees. The only difference between the two companies is that only one of them had an active, responsive, and transparent social media account. I would choose to do business with the active social media account. Why?
Social media pages allow you to give your audience an insider look into what your company is like, what you care about, and what your employees are like. That view into your company’s personality, mission, and values that social media provides promotes trust, familiarity, and brand recognition. It shows that you’re transparent, relevant and relatable. You’ve kept up with the times, this changing world and you understand the things that your customers might value. You’re “cool” and modern. You don’t have to be a hipster, but you’re also not a dinosaur. This is a place all businesses should strive to be in, especially as newer generations of your future customers are more comfortable using social media.
Even if young people aren’t your target market, did you know that as of a recent study, consumers between 30 and 44 years old expect brands to use Facebook, and 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others? Also, 69% of adults between the ages 50-64, and 40% of those above 65 use social media. Perhaps more interestingly, 41% of Facebook users are 65 years old and older.
As you can see, social media is not a piece of the puzzle you want to throw away.
#2 Growing your Brand
Social media is a great tool for growing your brand. As it was mentioned earlier, social media is a platform that should be used to connect with your community, and not, necessarily, sell directly to clients. It should be noted that social media isn’t what it used to be. People are more concerned with being sold to, lied to, and manipulated than ever before. For this reason, it’s important that you make your social media presence meaningful and human.
What does this mean? Your brand needs more than memes, deals, and flashy colors. You need to start delivering content that is memorable and provides them with as much value as possible. The key is in how you engage with your audience. This includes not only sharing posts that will connect with people, but also promoting and encouraging interactions. A large following on social media doesn’t always correlate with engagement.
For better engagement, try creating a community around your brand. Facebook groups or pods and similar tools on other social media sites. They will allow you to invite all those you feel would be interested in your business, and monitor what is going on in a smaller community of people who decided to join.
The next step is creating a human feel to your brand. This is done by posting content that promotes conversation, opinions, education, and a sense of community.
"I'm not talking about engagement so that your content shows up better in the algorithm, but actually thanking those people in your community not only when they comment or engage with your content but actually proactively reaching out to them like a social media user would reach out to a friend. If your business wants to survive in organic social media in 2020, I believe that this sort of humanization of your brand will be necessary.” - Neal Schaffer, Leading Global Educator and effective implementer of social media strategy for business.
Influencers and Word of Mouth
The term “influencer” has earned itself a little bit of a negative connotation over the years. Many kinds of influencers are no longer viewed as trustworthy by customers. Why? Traditionally influencers only associate themselves with big brands who pay them tons of money for promotion. This has given people the idea that they are insincere and not to be trusted. For this reason, 61% of consumers prefer the recommendations of friends and family over celebrity endorsements.
The fact of the matter is that “influencers” don’t need to be celebrity figures. They can be trusted members of your community, other business owners, and previous customers. This route can be a source of more engagement at a lower cost.
You can encourage your team to promote content on their own social media pages to increase overall brand trust. This method will help you create an authentic personality and voice for your company.
“Now I'm not talking about spending thousands of dollars and reaching out to celebrities who are promoting one brand today and another brand tomorrow. I'm talking about authentically engaging with those in your community who are already following you and are already nano if not micro-influencers and finding a way to collaborate with them.” - Neal Schaffer, Leading Global Educator and effective implementer of social media strategy for business.
#3 Customer Service
The importance of customer service will never diminish. A positive customer experience will always ride on superb customer service.Social media has changed the landscape of customer service forever. The expectation of good customer service has moved to the internet. Online reviews and complaints are more accessible than ever before, and that much more important.
(28%) of consumers have communicated with a company through social media in the last year, and this trend is expected to increase over time. Due to the convenience of social media, many brands have gone ahead and started handling customer service on Facebook, Instagram and the like. This has resulted in most people expecting businesses to be responsive on social media platforms. Up to 37% of people want a response in under 30 minutes, while 31% want one in under 2 hours, and 26% want a response within 4 hours. On the other hand, only 6% don’t expect a response at all. Evidently, quick and helpful responses on social media platforms are the expected norm.
What about ROI (Return of Investment)?
When business owners ask whether or not social media matters, what they really mean is are they going to see a significant ROI (return of investment) on their social media investment
Your social media presence and investment is not as transactional as other digital tools, say Google Ads. For this reason, it’s difficult to accurately calculate short-term ROI. Attempting to do so is misguided. Social media is a “see” and “care” platform. In other words, it acts on people’s emotions.
Your social media pages should focus on producing engaging, educational, and transparent content from your business. Social media’s primary purpose is to build your brand by garnering attention and trust from your audience.
In contrast, Google Ads and other tools that work in tandem with search engines are “think” and “do” platforms that cater to audiences that already have an intent to buy. This is why search engines fall within this category, because most of the time, if someone is searching for a product or service, they have already made up their minds to make a purchase.
Nine times out of ten, people are not looking to buy, As a business posting on their feed, you are invading their space, so the name of the game is to make it worth their while. Be engaging, use interesting photos, use video, use colors that pop, be educational, be transparent, and show your audience the inner workings of your business and your brand’s personality.
In Summary
The internet is about 50 years old, the World Wide Web is thirty years old, and social media is in its early twenties. These are not new-fangled concepts. They are established communications media that have proven to be crucial for business success and they are here to stay.
Instead of finding ways to circumvent using social media, find techniques that will allow you to exploit it. Consult a social media and digital marketing expert to work out what strategies are best for your business.