Social media is revolutionizing the way
individuals/companies do business on an everyday basis.
- build brand awareness
- attract new customers/clients
- increase sales
- engage and interact with customers
- research their competition
- influence product development
- better their customer experience
- better the management and employee experience of the company
Here is a rather informal interview with Brian Solis on how social media works for business in relation to traditional marketing strategy:
I would have to say that the most deciding factor of the success of social media for business is the level of interaction with the potential customer/client base. Businesses have been able to join in online discussions and provide valuable information or promotions to individuals, which in turn increases brand awareness, sales, and returning customers. A online article providing great examples of businesses utilizing social media states, "A recent survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey found 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from or recommend a brand they follow."
One such growing and effective strategy for using social media is video:
A great example of utilizing video (and social media in general) for business is Gary Vaynerchuk's Wine Library TV which is a daily wine video blog. I have been following Gary for some time now and he is considered by many to be a social media trailblazer who saw the potential of these platforms before many other businesses started taking advantage of them. He has almost 1 million followers on Twitter.
I believe social media is effective for business because so many people (consumers) are a part of one or more platform, largely due to the fact that most are free to use. If more of the social media sites begin charging for use, I believe that the statement at the start of this post would prove not to be true.
Using video has become a very effective strategy in social networking. People are highly visual whose attention spans really don't lend well to lengthy written posts and articles. I also believe videos are successful in developing awareness and sharing information because viewers begin to feel a connection to the person or company in front of the camera. For business, videos are effective because they can begin to develop transparency and allow consumers to get to know the voice and culture of the company. The example above, Wine Library TV, illustrates this. Vaynerchuk allows his personality to show through in his videos and that's what people like and connect with. As a result, he has a very successful business and many followers.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statement. I work for a fortune 100 company and I have the opportunity to witness this on a regular basis. In the you tube video with Brian Solis, I think he pointed out a really great point. He talked about how social media allows more people to reach more of the right people (influencers) to help sell a product. Social media has opened up so many opportunities for businesses to reach customers that they have never been able to reach before. I think it is also important to point out that companies are able to target new consumer groups that before were unheard of or unable to be reached. The companies that realize this are able to see it in their bottom line. Your first article hits this head on, by highlighting the effect on sales. Your statement is very accurate in my opinion. Thanks!
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