Unless you have a Flat 70%Sale to offer, direct-selling is now a thing of the past. Thankfully, the majority of the brands today have learned that creating brand loyalty is more vital to the business than generating a one-time sale. The key to doing this is by connecting and communicating with the audience on social media.
What best way to communicate with someone, than reaching out to them?
Social Media progressively has proved to be a successful, cost-effective platform that does more than allowing individuals worldwide to stay connected. Companies today need not go knocking the doors of customers to reach out to them, to understand them, to lure them. Their presence on social media can do all this and much more.
Assessing consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction is a matter of clicks today. The common link between brands, consumers, and experiences apart from the product today is the platforms available on social media. Existing in the “tweet” generation is all about the #hashtags and likes. If they like you, they ‘share’ you; if they really don’t like you, they ‘report’ you. At the end of the day, they decide if you are a brand worth talking about or not. Narrating their bad experiences on social media is much faster (in reaction and response) than writing to the Consumer Forum and waiting for their reply. All it takes is one strong narrative post and you already have innumerable supporters and peer-customers willing to bad-mouth you.
Failing to respond to this promptly and efficiently, you unleash a PR disaster. In terms of reputation management, social media is a game-changer. Companies that have adopted social media marketing have witnessed noticeable growth in terms of their sales and reputation.
What is it about social media that has changed the entire scenario of modern day business?
Is it the freedom of expression that being leveraged to another level?
Is the lack of any geographical boundaries that confine outreach?
Is it the simple fact that people expect pace in everything today?
Or, is it that social media gives us a ready-made audience?
It is all this and a lot more, yet actually nothing by itself. Neal Schaffer rightly quoted in his blog “social media really replaces nothing but does complement everything we do in the business world”
Social media has progressed from being a “good-to-use tool” to being a “must-for-success”. Here’s why:
- Use of Social Media has given companies a proven increase in site traffic
- Serving as a peer-interaction-platform it has the ability to influence others decisions
- The high rate of engagement that can be tracked and assessed
- Brand loyalty resulting from the active interaction between a brand and its customers
- Majority of lead-generation is an outcome of its customized and widespread outreach
- Analytics that allow you to assess and modify your practices in order to perform better
Why should you choose to be just a brand, when social media allows you to be a friendly (humane) brand? Your customers love to speak, social media allows you to hear what they have to say. Less talking and more listening enables a better understanding of what’s trending with customers (is it you? or your competitor?) understand their needs better (without all the costs that you would incur in conducting physical surveys). Engage far better and establish two-way communication you’re your audience. Make them realize you are here, and you care about what they feel and want you to do for them. So, if you are still hesitant to get-on your social game, explore what other companies are doing for themselves, and find out what you could do for your company.
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