The New Normal ...Business Edition

We are all living in the era of social media. It has a vital role in everyone’s life, whether that be for social reasons or business. Significantly, when Covid-19 affected us all, the importance of social media increased more than ever. Social media kept individuals connected with people outside of their homes and bubbles throughout the Lockdowns, we all relied on social media platforms for communication. I know for a fact that without social media, throughout Lockdown, I would be feeling lost, lonely and even more disconnected. We have all adapted to this new way of life, the “new normal”, and no…I don’t mean social distancing or wearing masks…I mean the “new normal” in the business world, if you’re struggling with this, let me tell you how social media can have a postive impact on your business.

The Impact of Social Media on Business in 2021

Social Media has become an integral part of every business’s marketing strategy, whether it’s a new start-up or a well-established brand. Look around you, social media is everywhere, so it’s no surprise that people use this platform to advertise their products, services or brands.

Social Media Marketing isn’t just an advertising strategy that business owners use, it’s absolutely essential. If your business isn’t on social media…it will be nowhere near as successful as it could be, and that’s even if it manages to survive at all. Let us begin with a straightforward fact that your business needs a social media presence. Social media has a significant impact on how businesses communicate with their audiences.

Prior to social media, businesses had to travel to live events to find a targeted group of prospects, this is still done and it’s usually a really exciting way to meet potential clients but unfortunately these events are few and far between and it’s a very costly way to reach your potential clients (the average cost to attend a small business conference can range between £500-£1000), making it very difficult for start-ups to get in front of their target audience…and this was before COVID-19! Since then, travel has been restricted and the way we communicate with our target audiences has changed. Thanks to social media, business owners are able to reach their targeted group of people virtually.

Is Your (Lack Of) Social Media Strategy Killing Your Business?

Let’s be honest here…the data from Datareportal says it all. Social media user numbers have rocketed in the past 12 months, with 521 million new users joining social media in the year to April 2021. That equates to annualised growth of 13.7 percent, or an average 16½ new users every single second…CRAZY RIGHT?!

The typical user actively uses or visits more than 6 different social media platforms each month and spends an average of close to 2½ hours using social media each day.

Assuming that people sleep for between 7 and 8 hours per day, these latest figures suggest that people spend roughly 15 percent of their waking lives using social media.

Added together, the world spends more than 10 billion hours using social platforms each day, which is the equivalent of nearly 1.2 million years of human existence…you’d be crazy not to advertise on social media, but in order for your marketing to be successful, you need to have a strategy in place…this is where we come in!

1) Allows Businesses to Become Omni-Present

The average person has around 6 different social media accounts (up to 9 for people aged 16-24). If your brand is present on even a few of those platforms, you will appear to exist “everywhere” in that person’s life, creepy, but very cool when it comes to marketing your business.

You’ve probably heard of the rule of seven, The rule of seven quite simply states that it takes an average of seven interactions with your brand before a purchase will take place. This is likely to be much higher than just 7 views in 2021 because we encounter over 5,000 branding messages in a single day!

The Omnichannel approach is the key to success in 2021. Companies with well-defined omnichannel customer experience strategies in place, achieve a 91% higher year-over-year increase in customer retention rate on average, compared to brands without omnichannel programs in place.

2) Generates More Loyalty

“A brand is nothing but an expression of the customer’s loyalty and trust.”

Ok, this one is really important! Social media has changed the way we interact with brands. Through social media, you as a company can connect with customers in a way unlike ever before. Whether you like it or not, your customers are talking about your brand on social media. Word-of-mouth has moved online and it happens on a much larger scale.

According to Forbes, 35% of millennials consider online forums prior to purchasing a product. Your customers and prospects rely on reviews and their peers to determine the quality of your brand.

This is why social media engagement is SO important. It allows you to keep in communication with your customers, keeping you connected with them. Social media engagement enables companies to develop their trust, nurture relationships, and create brand loyalty.

Your customers want to get to know the face behind your brand, they want to see how your products are created or how your services are successful, you can do this by posting on social media, you can get to know your customers individually, generating more loyalty.

3) Increases Personalisation

Personalisation is a powerful marketing strategy; it enables brands to connect with their audience on a more personal level, improving customers’ experience, and making business more profitable. In fact, 80% of companies report seeing an uplift since implementing personalisation tactics.

Customers clearly prefer brands who listen to them, understand them, and pay attention to their specific desires and needs. If your brand keeps blasting generic advertising messages, people will get bored of seeing your ads and probably end up unfollowing you or hiding your posts (this is definitely something you want to avoid!).

One of the biggest benefits you gain from personalised marketing is the spike in customer loyalty to your brand. If you’re personalising your messages to your audience, they’re going to feel recognised and valued by your brand. This means they’re a lot more likely to develop an affinity for you.

Personalised marketing can lead to a lot of positive sentiments among your audience, and they’ll be more eager to spread the word about your brand to the people they know, they will also be more likely to write positive reviews online about your business. And with 92% of people believing recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising, that’s definitely something you want to include in your marketing plan.

4) Helps to reach out to a bigger audience

Almost 90% of marketers say their social marketing efforts have increased exposure for their business, and 75% say they’ve increased traffic. It’s an ideal way to create brand awareness and stay in contact with your customers.

Social media platforms are becoming the main source for people to learn more about businesses – latest information about new products, services, advertisements, deals or promotions.

Using the power of social media, you are able to reach potential clients, anywhere in the world.

5) Adds Credibility to Your Brand

Times have changed and if people are thinking of making a purchase or using a service that you may provide, the first place they will check is the brand’s social media pages, they will do this to check for reviews, any special offers or discounts, or even to check if they are still active (this is why it’s important to post regularly). Prospects can also see your followers and likes, which increases your business’s credibility.

Seeing a business page with lots of positive reviews and no negative, gives a potential customer the confidence to use that business.

Social media is a great way to help generate reviews, since your customers are already accustomed to using social platforms like Facebook. It’s a great idea to ask your customers to post reviews on your social media pages and google. You can also use those reviews to add testimonials to your website.

Social media also allows businesses to take control over reputation management. Even if you have a dissatisfied customer, potential customers can see how you respond to the situation, I cannot stress the importance of this because 30% of people view businesses that respond to online reviews in a positive light.

6) Increases Website Traffic

Social media now drives 31% of all referral traffic.

Without marketing your business on social media, your inbound traffic is limited to your usual customers. The people familiar with your brand are likely searching for the same keywords you already rank for. Without utilizing social media as part of your marketing strategy, you’ll have much more difficulty reaching anyone outside of your loyal customer circle.

Social media, when done right has great potential to become a major source of traffic to your website. There are lots of different ways that you can do this, to name a few: replying to comments with links, sharing blog posts, sharing different pages on your website.

Social media supports various formats, hence when you are sharing text, images, videos, podcasts, etc. you can draw in more audience to your website. I would personally focus on sharing visual content because visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media that other types on content, this is why it’s important to have your posts professionally designed.

Social media is a great medium where the posts can be easily shared, this will allow your brand to reach to multiple users, in different locations, all around the world.

Still think it's a good idea for your business NOT to have a social media presence?

Give me a call or send me an email, let me discuss with you in more detail WHY you should be advertising your business online and how I can help you do this successfully.