Many companies still fail to see the advantage of using social media within their marketing budget spend or dedicating internal time to manage their own presence on channels which are working incredibly well for their rival competitors. Some companies will say that they haven’t had the time to commence or those who have a presence will say they have too much else to do to update the likes of Twitter or Facebook and besides do not know what to share and what has been shared previously gained no response / web traffic / sales.
What should you do to convince yourself that social media is really not an advantage to adopt within your business?
- Check Competitors social media presence – Are they active?
- What is working on social media within your industry – Research success / failure stories on Google?
- Are peers in your industry using social media not only in business, but also personally – Are they building their status to ‘Expert’ level?
- Is social media a cheaper solution to SEO / Direct marketing compared to your current spends?
- Are business leads being created on social media – Is your direct target audience actively seeking and asking for products or services you offer? ie ‘Can anyone recommend a website to book cheap flights to Ireland’ or ‘I need to transport a sofa to outside town, can anyone recommend a man with a van in Croydon?’ etc.
Once you’ve exhausted these kind of questions then you will be in a position to make an educated decision on the value of social media to your company. Remember though to maintain a look over social media as it is changing so very fast that what today may seem to lack any worth to your company / industry could suddenly start to trend and you could be missing out on much new business.