You can’t go anywhere these days without being reminded about Social Media. Adverts and TV shows invite you to interact on Twitter and Facebook, online publications and newspapers allow you to share stories on Social Media networks, and of course we can access them on the go from all Smart devices. Social Media has become such a big part of our lives that many of us would struggle without it. It lets us communicate thoughts, messages and opinions instantly to anyone around the world, as well as giving you the power to shape opinions and actions. Why am I repeating what you probably know already? Because it emphasises the importance of well-managed Social Media in your business.
As well as communicating much more effectively with friends and peers, you can promote your business through the clever use of interaction; such as posts and links in the right places at the right times.Businesses in all industries and of all sizes are trying to do this in-house to keep up with changes in consumer behaviour. But despite their intentions, a large amount of businesses just aren’t using Social Media enough to realise its true potential.
Here are some stats from Digital Insights in 2013, to give you an idea of the scale of Social Media:
- 751 million users access Facebook away from the PC with 7,000 different devices
- 40% of marketers use Google Plus and 67% of them plan to increase activities
- On Twitter, user activity increased by 79% last year as the 55-64 year old demographic increased
- There are over 1 billion unique visitors to YouTube every month
It saves you time
As crucial as Social Media marketing is, a lot of businesses still don’t want to spend too much time on it when there are finances to look after, employees and customers to take care of and other daily activities. Outsourcing Social Media management is a win-win situation where saving time is concerned; you can focus on running a business while your Social Media presence improves.
A great outsourcing provider can be confidently relied upon to run every aspect of Social Media without needing constant input and help from you. Monthly reports and updates will keep you informed of what has been done, so any issues can be addressed immediately and at the same times.
Take advantage of new features
It’s the job of a marketing agency’s Social Media team to stay at the cutting edge of new features, so that you don’t have to. The world of Social Media is vast, instant and therefore constantly evolving, so outsourcing management will stop your business from getting left behind. Understanding the latest features will elevate your marketing strategies above the competition. Here are some of the new innovations that have appeared on Social Media over the past year:
- Instagram launched video sharing in June 2013. Vine sharing on Twitter dropped 40% within just 24 hours of the launch.
- Facebook introduced Graph Search in January 2013; a fantastic marketing tool for searching people, places, photos and interests.
- Instagram released the Direct Messages feature in December 2013
- LinkedIn acquired Pulse in April 2013, the professional news and insights app that is customised for you and your social circle.
- Twitter’s ‘Nearby’ feature was launched in January 2013 to let users see tweets in their local area, without following them. This is ideal for local business marketing, by promoting sponsored tweets within the ‘Nearby’ map.
- In April 2013 Twitter released a Keyword Targeting feature to let marketers promote tweets based on the keywords in users’ timelines.
Get better results
Ultimately you will get significantly better results by outsourcing the management of Social Media marketing – providing the agency is a good one. When it’s done right, Social Media has been proven to generate almost twice the marketing leads from PPC, telemarketing, trade shows and mail. This is because people love to share experiences and feel involved in a community. 60% of consumers say when a company uses Social Media, they are more likely to share their products/services. This has led to 46% of people buying through Social Media.
An outsourced marketing agency will work hard to do the following, then regularly monitor results and act on them:
- Gain an understanding of your business and its Social Media goals
- Increase profit for your business by implementing solid strategies
- Encouraging current and potential customers to interact
- Building a presence on your targeted Social Media platforms
- Growing credibility by networking in niche forums and groups
The combined effects of time saving, utilising the latest features and getting better monitored results all add up to one thing; more profit and ROI for your business! Outsourcing Social Media marketing is having more impact on business profit than ever before and its influence is growing fast. As a lead generating strategy, you will get double the amount of potential customers compared to many common forms of marketing.
At The JDR Group we provide a specialist Social Media management service that will maximise your business’s performance for the future. Sign up for your FREE marketing audit below to find out how we can improve your Social Media marketing.
Article by Laura Wootton
