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1. Tell your storyIf you do not tell your story, who will? Social media is a perfect way to share yourself or your business with the world. Social media is increasingly becoming a starting place for customers to learn about a business, so it is important to take control of your company’s image and make sure it is helping you grow your business.2. Make your business personalBy telling your story, current and potential customers are able to create a personal connection with your brand. People buy from brands they trust. Building a personal connection is the first step to building trust.3. Customer service32% of people who contact a brand on social media with a customer service complaint expect a response within 30 minutes. Social media is becoming the most popular way for customers to contact brands. Create a great customer service experience for your customers and they will gladly help you grow your business.4. Search engine optimization benefitsSearch engine optimization, SEO, is and will continue to be a deciding factor of if your business will succeed. Imagine your toddler decided to see if they could flush 2 rolls of toilet paper at once. Now your toilet is overflowing and you quickly turn to Google to find help. Let me guess, you called the first plumber listed and never looked back. This is how most consumers use search engines. Optimizing for search engines will kickstart your business immediately. Social media plays a major role in SEO, because a strong social presence is a solid indicator of a successful and more importantly, trustable business. Google has even begun including tweets in search results!5. Decreased marketing costsUsing social media will decrease your overall marketing spend, guaranteed. Got your attention? Now let me explain. Social media marketing is not free, but it is significantly more affordable than traditional forms of marketing. With this said, social media can help you save money on your traditional marketing efforts by allowing you to A-B test your marketing material, without committing a lot of resources. Testing multiple headlines, formats, etc. on social media gives you an inexpensive way to gauge what works best. Once you know, you can target new leads through traditional marketing more effectively and save money in the process.6. Connect with customersThe access to consumers that social media gives businesses is unprecedented. Understanding your customers is crucial. It will allow you to create products/services they want, market to them more effectively and much more. It is called SOCIAL media for a reason, so be social!7. Get feedbackInstead of guessing what your customers want, ask them. This will save you a lot of money in the long run and will create loyal customers. Find your most engaged customers and form relationships with them. Encourage them to recommend improvements to your product/service.8. Connect with influencersWho are the most influential people in your industry? Once you have a list of the top 50, begin connecting with them. Keep an eye on what they tweet about, who they engage with, etc. Forming relationships with influencers is a great way to receive valuable feedback and advice, as well as increased exposure.9. Demonstrates thought leadershipWhy should customers trust your brand? By sharing and creating content relevant to your industry, your brand is able to demonstrate expertise and credibility. Create valuable content for your audience to consume and share.10. Attract funding sourcesInvestors are beginning to look at social media when evaluating potential businesses to invest in. They are looking to see how many followers businesses have, how they interact with customers and how creative they are when it comes to marketing campaigns. Not convinced your business needs social media? It could be the deciding factor when it comes to getting funded and taking your business to the next level.11. Increase business leadsIn order to kickstart your business, you need to generate highly qualified business leads. Social media is a perfect way to generate leads for free. One way is to conduct keyword searches. Find people in need of what you sell and engage with them.12. Employee advocacyYour employees should be your biggest fans. Leveraging your employees’ social networks is a high effective and affordable way to grow your business. A recent study by Weber Shandwick found that 50% of employees already post on social media about their company, despite not being asked to by their employer. Start encouraging your employees to share your business regularly and make the process easy by creating content for them to post.13. Promote your blogWant more website traffic? You aren’t alone, we do too. Blogging is one of the most proven ways to increase your website traffic. With that said, writing a great blog post is only half of the equation. It is written, it is proofread and your links are added. Now what? Now you have to promote it or all your hard work will be wasted. Social media is the perfect platform for promoting blog content. You already have a pre-qualified audience waiting to see your posts and they can share it with just a press of a button.14. Monitor competitorsDid you know 80% of small and medium-sized businesses are active on social media? This means 4 out of your 5 competitors have social media accounts, which presents a unique advantage. By monitoring their social activity, you can learn a lot about them and their customers. Are their customers asking for something you currently offer? Let them know and you could gain new customers for free!Final ThoughtsWith all of these benefits in mind, there is one more reason you can’t afford to ignore social media: your customers use it and expect you to have a presence. Do your research to decide which networks are best for your business and get started!
