How Social Media Can Transform Your Business
Written by Ben Robinson
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The social media revolution is the most important thing to happen to businesses since… well, maybe ever. Using social media for business can completely transform the way in which that business is viewed and how it operates. Here are 6 ways social media can shape a business’s core identity.
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Lets Businesses Piggyback on Trending Events
By using social media, businesses can “hijack” current trends and ride their wave of success. For example, if a business posts frequently about a current event that is totally unrelated to what they do, it can shoot to popularity if the event becomes a huge deal.
Before, businesses had to create their own success through hard work and making all the right moves. Using social media, though, they can harness the power of crowd mentality and might get lucky enough to be rocketed into the limelight.
Businesses can post on social media about causes or events to transform their own public image on a related note. For instance, a business that regularly posts about issues concerning wealthy lifestyles and wealth accumulation strategies will be seen as one that caters to the upper-middle class, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE BUSINESS DOES. This perception will shape what kinds of customers the business attracts and how people think of it.
Before social media became so popular, businesses were defined almost solely by their actions. It was tough for most businesses to associate themselves with certain causes or movements without some serious PR work. That’s no longer the case.
Social media has made the business world a lot more interactive because it’s easy for customers to reach out to businesses during the purchase process. The result is that businesses (at least, the good ones) are becoming very accurate reflections of what their customers want. This increases sales, but it also shapes the very core of the businesses.
It used to be that customers would have to go out of their way to pick up a phone or go into the shop to talk to an employee, and MAYBE that feedback would get back to a manager. Now, the customer can message the manager without having to get up from their chair.
Both consumers and businesses love social media’s capability to segment them into “niches effectively.” This is best exemplified on sites like Reddit or Linkedin, where different communities can join. Still, even more, general social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter show users ads and other content based on their specific hobbies.
This ability to target specific groups from far and wide allows businesses to market to a smaller niche than in the past.
It used to be that businesses had to stay a bit generalized so they could appeal to multiple niches. After all, they were unable to laser focus on one niche like they are now. But nowadays, if a business wants to cater to the legal bookkeeping community exclusively, they can do so and still have more potential customers than they know what to do with.
Thanks to the tremendous marketing power of social media for business, companies can operate 100% digitally. They do not need a storefront. They do not need brochures to get their name out there. They do not need an office space to work from. Instead, everything can be done from anywhere in the world.
This 100% remote lifestyle was possible even before social media, but it was a lot more time-consuming. Now that people can communicate, set up storefronts, conduct market research, demonstrate products, and make sales all from one place, an entire generation embraces working from anywhere. It’s arguably even easier to run a successful business if you restrict yourself to the cloud.
One of the most important steps to being a successful business is analyzing your competition. Finding what other similar businesses are doing right and where they lack offers a huge leg up, and it’s essential to becoming number one.
All this analysis has become so much easier thanks to social media for business. At any given time, you’re clicks away from information about what their business is offering, who their customers are, and what those customers are engaging with. That knowledge allows you to bolster or plug holes in your own business.
Here are more info and a free template for conducting a competitive analysis on social media.
Social media for business has changed the entire seller-consumer landscape. The changes are so profound that if your business is not on board the social media train, it is very unlikely to succeed. It may sound like a bold statement, but it’s the world we live in.
Do you run a business? What’s the biggest way in which social media has transformed your experience and opportunities? Let me know on the Bookkeeper’s Facebook!
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