Think back to the olden days and about how you would make purchase decisions. Remember when you used to be in the market for a high-priced item like a refrigerator or an automobile, or even services like hairdressers or painters. What would you do? You’d ask your friends, family members, and co-workers which one they bought or which one they use. You would then take their feedback into consideration and make your purchase choice.
Social media is the electronic form of word-of-mouth advertising, but it spreads much faster, easier and has the potential to reach a lot more people than the traditional offline method.
Your Consumers Use Social Media
No matter what product or service you offer to your consumers, consumers are talking about it on their social media. As the provider of the product or service, when you create an account on the major social media outlets, you are creating a platform for these conversations to take place. You are fostering relationships between you and your current customers. You are starting relationships with prospective customers, and you are listening in on conversations that consumers are having with or without you.
Your Consumers Share on Social Media
About one in five happy customers shares good news or appraisals on products or services with their social media contacts. Marketing 101 is that you, as a business, need to be where your audience is. Your audience is on social media. It does not matter if your target market is 13-year-old girls or 85-year old men. Consumers are social creatures by nature, so when they have used a good product or received a good service, they tend to want to share this with other people they know.
Social Media is the Part of the Marketing Puzzle
No one marketing tool is the one-size-fits-all solution to marketing your business, product, or service. Social media, however, is one piece of the puzzle that completes your marketing tool kit. When you combine your social media marketing efforts with all of your other marketing efforts, you have the opportunity to reach consumers, business owners, audiences, and target markets that you may not otherwise have the chance to get in front of and convert into customers.
Quite frankly, nobody buys so much as a pair of socks these days without turning to their friends on social media outlets to get their opinions, read consumers reviews and ratings, and get the good, the bad, and ugly details. Should they buy the white one, the black ones, which brand, and from where? From socks and underwear to technology and cars, take a look around and you’ll see all sized companies using social media networks to advertise and promote their products, run contests, elicit feedback from customers, and interact with current and potential customers on a regular basis. When these conversations are taking place, you want to be right in the middle of the mix rather than left behind in your competition’s dust.
