Social Media as we know it is simply a gateway to other things. It’s not the social media that concerns us, it’s the effects thereafter. For instance, using social media can lead to tendencies to respond to customers. It can lead to the longing to see actualized results that impact the bottom line. Heck, social media can even lead to customer loyalty and a growing client list.
We’re concerned. Concerned for those businesses who feel that social media is just another bad habit that just wastes business’time from doing other more productive things. If that truly is the case, perhaps you should just pass the social media around and consider outsourcing it to someone or some company who knows how to enjoy it and make it work. Once you see how much social media can do to a company, you’ll be glad that your business began it in the first place.
Being social means more than just posting a tweet daily or updating facebook so that others can comment on it. It means cultivating those comments into relationships and growing your business through social activities. Passing around business cards, while still effective, is very 1990’s. Back then, business leaders would attend conferences and physically meet others.
They would exchange static cards with information on them and if services were needed, perhaps a B2B relationships would immerge. But social media does much more than that.Today’s business card is the social media handle. It is dynamic and constantly gets into potential customers’ faces. You may remember Joe the plumber down the street who gave you his business card years ago, but you will definitely remember Bob the plumber who recently tweeted about the proper usage of Drain-o. In this way, social media is the gateway to new opportunities and new business. It allows business to be static and remain at the forefront of their client’s, both potential and current, minds.
By maintaing an active presence on social media, businesses will be able to serve their customers better and consequently help themselves. Being social allows for greater visibility, and also encourages greater interaction. When a customer has a simple question (like how much is too much drain-o?), it may be too much to call a local business for this simple question, but tweeting a local plumber who uses social media (like Bob) wouldn’t be out of the ordinary at all. So when that leaky faucet happens again, who is that person likely to call? Bob!
Because social media encourages interaction, it encourages brand loyalty. It encourages businesses to assist customers with their needs and respond in a timely manor. It allows a business to seem bigger than it is and be visible to more than just what they are now. Social media is a gateway into the future.
