When clients hire us to do their inbound marketing, a startling number of them say, “We don’t use social media.” Or, “Our clients aren’t on social media.” Or, “Our clients are on LinkedIn, but not Twitter.”
Your clients are on social media and you need to be using social media to reach them. And this is why.
People search social media to determine a company’s validity
It took time, but businesses eventually accepted they HAVE to have a website. It’s not optional. Not only do the numbers back it up, but if you don’t have a website, people jump to the conclusion you’ve gone out of business or they come across your marketing-savvy competitor online and use them instead.
Today that is true for social media. People are using social media to find businesses, learn about them and interact with them on a regular basis. We are reading a business’ response to criticism to see if they handled it the right way. We are making socially conscious choices about the products we buy and now “shopping local” is for more than just hipsters.
If your business isn’t on social media, visitors may come to the conclusion that you don’t exist.
There are more business people on Facebook than on LinkedIn
At Inbound 2017, one of the most meaningful statistics was this: 23% of all business professionals are on LinkedIn. 42% are on Facebook.
We think of Facebook as the place we go to argue about politics or show off pictures of our families (strategically positioning the camera to avoid the mess around them). But just like any other place we’ve ever marketed or advertised, we need to be where the people are. Adweek says adults are spending almost 40 minutes on Facebook EVERY DAY.
That is almost 5 hours every week. What would you give to spend 5 hours a week marketing to your customers?
Social media is one of the best ways to connect with customers
- It’s fast.
The problem with traditional marketing and advertising is that it has to be very planned. An ad spot is purchased, copy is written in advance and approved, materials are printed. Social media is very “In the Moment.” Marketers can react quickly to relevant industry news, share content published on internet magazines and even tease a product out inexpensively before it launches.
- It’s personal.
Talking to your customers is a wonderful way to build rapport. That is true in real life and in cyberspace. Watch them interact with other products and services, make notes of what they respond to and either duplicate it (or run screaming and do the opposite). People are extraordinarily transparent online. Use this transparency for good and get to know your buyer persona’s better.
- It’s targeted.
Facebook remains one of the cheapest advertising opportunities and is highly targeted. Businesses can narrow in on their ideal buyer persona with age, gender, hobbies, recent life events, employment information … we could almost call it creepy if it didn’t work so well!
Social media affects SEO. Kind of.
Google treats Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn like any other webpage and have their own social platform Google+, but there is a complicated answer to the question, “Does social media play factor into SEO?”
Currently, search engines index social media pages and use them as a reference site for your website. It is important to keep your NAP and URL consistent across all social profiles.
Search engines are pretty savvy and stay in step with societal trends. The more we use social media to conduct business, do research and shop, the more likely it is social media will eventually affect SEO. We recommend that businesses operate on their social media accounts as if it is already affecting SEO and get ahead of the curve.
These are all compelling reasons to open social media accounts for your business. If you need help planning or writing content, reach out to us and work with one of our marketing managers on creating a social media strategy that benefits your business.
