Remember when the Internet phenomenon first started to become relevant? Sometime around the late 90s and early 00s, everyone realized that they needed a web site for their company, business, organization, brand, personality, whatever they were promoting in the real world. They realized this because more and more people were spending time on the Internet and provided companies the opportunity to get global exposure for cheap. Today, you couldn’t fathom having a brand or business and not have a web site. That is ludicrous.
Similar to how web sites caught on back then, and eventually became a must-have for any business, a presence on the social media networks has now become a necessity for brands, products, services or businesses of any kind. Here’s why:
1) It’s where the action is
Here are some statistics on Facebook.
- There are more than 500 million active users.
- More than half of those users log on to Facebook every day.
- An average user has 130 friends on their Facebook profile.
- People spend over 700 billion minutes on Facebook every month.
Just let those numbers sink in for a bit. Facebook is one of the highest trafficked sites in the world. And best of all, people go there to have a social experience. If they find a product or brand on there that they like, they are very likely to interact with it.
- There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups etc)
- An average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups & events.
2) A two-way street
The problem with the web sites of old from the 90s and the early 00s which we discussed earlier was that it was all one-way traffic. The web site would spew all sorts of marketing talk at you, show and tell you what they wanted you to hear from them, but you, the user, had no way of talking back directly to your favorite brand. With the social profiles such as Facebook pages, you can.
This empowers the customer and gives the brand managers the ability to gain valuable insight into the mind of the people who matter the most, their direct consumers.
Some people worry about the negative effect this may have on their brand if customers are allowed to express their opinions, freely talking about their product in an open environment. They may have something bad to say. This is an incorrect way of thinking. Instead of looking at this as a problem, you need to look at this as a way of containing and fixing the problem.
People are free to discuss your brand in a negative light whether you like it or not. And they will. So it is in your best interest that they do it on your turf where you can address the situation by either providing a rebuttal or in situations where you have correctly been shown a shortcoming in your product strategy, you can thank the customer for pointing it out and assure them of measures being taken to rectify said problem. This will go a lot further in creating loyal, lasting customers than if they were to go and blog about it on their own terms without you knowing about it or having any way to defend yourself. There are some excellent tips in an article on Mashable.
3) Sharing is caring
When we see something online that we like, our first thought is to ‘share’ it with someone who will appreciate it as much as we did, and then discuss it with them in comments (LOL that cat is totally playing a piano). This usually means our close friends and family members.
By creating a platform that is built on sharing, Facebook has made sharing content the easiest possible thing you can do on the Internet. With a vast majority of web sites using Facebook’s sharing widgets on their web sites, you can share content even when you’re NOT on Facebook.
- An average user creates 90 pieces of content in a month.
- More than 30 billion pieces of content are shared in a month.
4) Create brand ambassadors
When a user gets a recommendation or a link from someone they trust (close friend or family member) they are more likely to want to take a look at it than if they had gotten it directly from the brand or read it on the company’s blog.
People by nature want to share their likes and dislikes with their friends. If I notice that my friend likes a particular brand of potato chips that I haven’t tried before but have always been curious, I am very likely to pick those up the next time I am at the store and see them on the shelf. That begs the question, how do we get people who like your product or are intrigued by your product to join your Facebook Page and share your content? Well that brings us to our 5th point:
5) Engage, interact and incentivize
In order to engage your audience you need to give them a location where they can find exciting content presented in a creative manner that is relevant to your brand or product. A perfect example of this is the Old Spice social media campaigns that recently took the Internet by storm.
Next, you need to interact with your users. Post content regularly, respond to their messages and provide details that they won’t find anywhere else but on your Facebook Page. This will let your audience know that you are regularly reading and listening to their requests and that they are not falling on deaf ears. This will ensure that they check back often.
Last, and most importantly, you need to provide incentives. Majority of the people say they join online communities to get information on deals, offers and specials. Allow your consumers who interact with you on your social profile to have an advantage over the ones that don’t. Run a monthly contest or sweepstakes giving away free stuff. If there’s one thing people love, it’s free stuff. Give users inside information on where to find the best deals for your product (go to xyz dot com and get our new product at 30% off!). There’s literally hundreds of ways to go about this. Be creative. Social media campaigns cost a fraction of the price conventional advertising campaigns would. At a minimal risk you stand to gain huge rewards.
Previously you couldn’t fathom not having a website for your brand or business. The time is upon us when not having an interactive social media profile is becoming unfathomable.
