By Evan Vitale
A common theme among small businesses that continue to struggle with sales and gaining new customers, is the lack of using social media as a free and powerful marketing tool for their company.
Yes, even today many business owners don’t utilize social media as a part of their sales strategy. Unfortunately, these are the same businesses that have been in an ongoing rut of print, radio and (maybe) television advertising.
While print, radio and TV might still work, the impact of getting the word out about your company through social media channels is huge. This includes:
- YouTube
- Google+
- …and several others.
Consider this: A recent survey shows that nearly 75% of sales and purchase decisions are done through social media evaluations in one way or another. Times are changing. They’re constantly changing and so should the way you conduct business and maintain customer relationships. All of this is because of social media.
Remember the FAX machine? It’s gone for the most part. Telephones have been replaced by mobile phones and now phone calls and face-to-face meetings are slowly starting to fade as texting, live online meetings and social media continue to evolve. Last week, a business friend of mine participated in a free, one-hour webinar on Facebook. He was able to ask questions and participate just as if he drove to a conference, paid for parking and attended. Not only was the Facebook webinar beneficial (and cost effective), but it was also recorded so it could be viewed again at any time by anyone.
Social media is no longer about “I’m having a meatball sub for lunch” and pictures from your great seats at the baseball game. It’s more about information and engagement. It’s participating with your customers on a different stage.
To success on social media, you need to have a plan and set out a clear strategy on how it will work for your company.
In our upcoming blog posts here, we’ll talk more about how to create a strategy and how to implement it in an engaging way.