In recent years, almost all of us have become increasingly au fait with social media. Millions of people update statuses, share photos, offer opinions and make contact with family and friends via Facebook, Twitter and a host of similar platforms. Communication like this, via phones, tablets and computers, really is here to stay.
It’s perhaps a little surprising to see just how many companies have been slow to embrace social media, however. While the average man or woman in the street is online regularly and engaging with significant numbers of people, commercial organisations are, to a lesser or greater extent, still playing a game of catch-up.
If your company isn’t using Facebook, Twitter et al in order to build relationships with customers, you could be losing out on the many benefits. There are a great many business strategies which have been underestimated over the years, but social media is surely too good an opportunity to pass up.
Speak to the people like never before
The usage statistics back up the fact that social media is here to stay. This is no passing fad, a realisation that is all too apparent when you understand that more than a billion people worldwide are regular Facebook users. Your future profits will almost certainly be enhanced considerably if you embrace this hugely impressive phenomenon.
Irrespective of which industry sector you happen to be operating in, your organisation needs an effective, visible social media persona. This is one of the very few opportunities you will ever get to speak directly to your current and future customers in a way that is as ‘in your face’ as it gets.
Information about new products, marketing campaigns, special offers and discounted prices can be transmitted via social media for an exceptionally low cost, far less than via television, for example. This engagement, however, is only one the tip of a much larger commercial iceberg.
As well as talking directly to a consumer base, you will also have an opportunity to listen. Such a process has never properly existed in the past, so it needs to be taken seriously from the start. Whatever you’re selling, wherever you’re working and whoever you’re engaging with, a cohesive social media presence will help you.