From Discovering Important Information to Finding New Customers

With more than 3.5 billion people on social media, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who is not actively engaging on one or more of the well-known platforms. Best of all, social media isn’t just for personal use—there are many great advantages to using social media for business. 

Uncover Key Insights

With social media, integrated marketers get an unvarnished look at the types of conversations audiences are having about the products they love, the services they are searching for, and the situations where they have been disappointed or are especially happy with you or your competition. By interacting directly with customers, you can find out what makes them tick, what topics get them talking, and ensure that there are no red flags that you need to handle. 

Improve Customer Service

Consumers use social media to ask questions or address concerns, opening the door to two-way conversations with businesses. This allows you to provide fast, effective solutions to customer issues, serve your audience, and get their feedback. Harvard Business Review research found that customers that receive responses from a business via social media are more willing to spend more with those companies, even if the initial outreach was a complaint. Social media is also the perfect venue for reaching younger audiences for whom social media is a natural extension of their communication preferences. 

Outperform Your Competition

When you are active on social media, you can see what your competition is doing. You can deduce their strategy, check out what they are promoting, and let your shared audience know that you are open to working with them and serving their needs. Your social media interaction may be the ideal way to introduce your business to a whole new audience, possibly converting browsers to customers. 

Reach Younger Audiences

Millennial and Gen Z customers are digital natives, making them far less responsive to traditional advertising and outreach. They are constantly trying new platforms and channels, so as long as integrated marketers are willing to keep testing out these places for engaging with customers, they will be able to remain relevant. Younger audiences are particularly interested in user-generated content, influencer reactions, and any other stories or content that is authentic. 

Grow Your Business

Social media is a great way to drive traffic to company websites; by sharing content that is relevant to your audience, you will encourage people to visit your site to learn more about your products and services. Posting and interacting on social media is also a terrific way to keep your followers and visitors informed about upcoming sales, events, giveaways, or launches. Posting regularly will help you to increase your audience size and increase your chances of turning visitors into customers. 

Conclusion

If your business isn’t yet utilizing social media, you’re missing out. The benefits of using it are countless, going far beyond what has been covered here. Nearly half of the world’s population is on social media, giving you access to a wide range of potential new customers. According to Facebook, 60% of Instagram users reported discovering new products on the platform—and you could enjoy that same kind of success. Now’s the time to see what social media can do for your business.