The business community rarely use social media marketing services to find clients and believe the best advertising is word of mouth.
On the contrary, others have made an effort to create a showcase site to have a reference tool to present and are registered on many social media.
Very often, the results do not live up to their expectations. Let's see why?
SUMMARY: Social media, a real necessity to find customers?
· What is called social media?
· Social media for what use?
· Why use social media?
To find out whether social media can be of interest to your business, it's worth reviewing its definition.
In "social media," there are two words:
Media: Means of communication and dissemination of information.
Social: Who says "social" means exchange of tastes, points of view ...
As you know, a user no longer consults websites' content without being able to act or react. With Web 2.0, the user becomes active, can express himself, give his opinion, leave a comment ...
Social media, thanks to social media, the Internet has become more interactive and participatory. The Internet user is positioned at the heart of the system and becomes a real actor by sharing photos, videos, or commenting on others' content.
So we can easily conclude that the real benefit of social media for a business is being close to its customers and interacting with them.
So before thinking about improving your online reputation, visibility, etc., thanks to social media, you have to focus first on Internet users' expectations depending on the media used.
Each social media has its particularity, its usefulness, and targets a type of people. For example, if you are targeting individuals, LinkedIn will not help you achieve your goal, whatever it is.
They have revolutionized the way the web is used. Your presence on social media will be of real use to your business if you succeed in creating a strong social bond between you and Internet users, between you and a specific target.
Often when we talk about social media, we think of classic social networks like Facebook.
Social media is just one category of social media. For example, blogs and forums are social media without being fully-fledged social networks.
Social media, which brings together all broad social platforms, can be grouped into categories according to their usefulness.
There are some for all tastes and all uses. Here are the most famous by type of social media:
Facebook is a very popular social network that allows everyone to stay in touch with their family, friends, and professional sphere.
Facebook allows targeted advertising (Facebook ads) and access to applications aimed at selling products online.
define the ideal client
Even though Facebook is a BtoC-oriented social network, this medium is also suitable for companies :
- capable of producing shareable content (photos, videos);
- having an advertising budget to boost its content by targeting their audience.
As for Google, it announced its closure in October 2018.
LinkedIn is the most popular professional social network, the leader in the international market. It allows any business to get its business page, share content, prospect, and get in touch with prospects or customers. It also allows a company to recruit candidates for a job offer.
LinkedIn offers a diverse advertising program (banners, targeted emails, sponsored posts) extremely expensive. Also, on LinkedIn, the usage time is much less important than on Facebook
Like LinkedIn, Videos' helps find customers, partners, employees… and therefore facilitates dialogue between professionals.
Twitter is a social media that enables real-time monitoring and information sharing. Communication takes place through short messages (280 characters): Tweets.
define the ideal client
Twitter is, above all a social media suitable for companies :
- BtoC capable of producing virality with good content;
- BtoB wishes to interact with influencers in their market.
These publication platforms are used to publish and share all content types (articles, videos, audios). Users can leave comments for each post.
The most used social blogging media is WordPress, supported by a very large community.
WordPress is a very flexible CMS that adapts to our needs and desires. I wholeheartedly recommend it to you. However, it is much better to go through a service provider for its creation if you have little computer knowledge.
This media type will allow you to broadcast and share videos to your audience. Users can therefore view them, share them and leave comments…
YouTube is the most important social media for sharing videos.
social media videos
YouTube is especially suited to companies that know how to produce:
- videos creating emotion and also based on storytelling techniques;
- tutorials offering a solution to the problems of their audience.
This type of media allows the management and sharing of photos on the Internet. For example, with Pinterest, you can share your interests through photographs found on the Internet.
Any company can present visuals (photos, computer graphics, etc.) to promote its expertise on these social media. However, you should know that some activity areas are much more attractive than others: fashion, cuisine, design, luxury, etc.
SlideShare is a social media for hosting and sharing slide-type presentations. You can thus produce content in the form of a slideshow and widen your audience.
Slideshare is a suitable medium for any company wishing to demonstrate its expertise, its know-how by promoting their PowerPoint presentations. Bloggers can also use this medium to enrich their articles.
These social networks allow any user to ask questions and answer the questions of other users.
Scoop. It allows everyone to create an online journal on a specific theme and distribute it to their network to build their professional brand. Scoop. It is considered by many to be the most efficient and easy-to-use content curation platform.
In addition to your business blog, this social media can allow you to share and classify many sources of information to create an expert image on a specific topic.
With this type of collaborative communication platform, each company can create a private group, invite its employees or partners to share content, and interact with all registered members.
Trello is a very good tool for organizing your personal or teamwork well ... I strongly advise you to use it. Very easy to use, intuitive interface, this tool will allow you to boost your productivity!
Many trainers and freelancers have not taken the digital turn and continue to prospect their clients with traditional tools (telephone, email).
This type of prospecting requires a lot of work and ultimately brings little results for two reasons:
Today's consumers will search for information on Google and social media for themselves before making a purchase decision. This is why it isn't easy to get an appointment with a prospect who does not know you.
A company's success does not depend only on the quality of its services but also on its network and its visibility. Consumers trust companies that are recognized on the web.
Therefore, it is easy to understand the importance of making your business visible on the channels that your potential customers use. The visibility and notoriety of your company on the Internet will have a direct consequence on your turnover.
First of all, it should be noted that the use of social media affects your business's overall communication. Having your business on social media is very time consuming, and the expected results will last. Therefore, the time factor is an important criterion to take into account before establishing your strategy on social media.
The second important thing to understand is that your presence on a social network such as Facebook will not allow you to effectively differentiate yourself from the competition or set up a real independent social communication.
Social media Facebook, for example, since January 11, 2018, the significant change in Facebook's algorithm now requires companies to invest in Facebook ads to increase their publications' organic reach (and reach the majority of their fans…). In other words, a business that uses Facebook must accept this dependency, and any future rule changes.
At present, it is therefore essential for a company to have its blog (and not a simple showcase site) to be able to:
have control over their publication platform;
share his vision, his ideas;
produce high value-added content conducive to sharing;
interact with its audience and establish a concrete relationship with its subscribers.
The blog, a necessity
Therefore, the blog is the anchor of your strategy on social media, the "independent center" of your social communication.
Social media more relevant your content will be to your visitors; the more it will be relayed on its own on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
So your blog will allow you to reach the social circles of people who have shared your content. Of course, this virality cannot take place without a real content strategy, without an editorial line close to your readers' expectations.
The mistake is to want to use only social media as an additional means of communication to make sales. Internet users are present on social networks to be entertained, find specific information, share their opinions, and not hear a commercial speech.
Of course, you must share your knowledge and give useful information, but it is also important to know how to listen to your interlocutors.
Social networks are places of discussion, and we must not forget that. By remaining in a logic of sharing and conversation, you will increase your sympathy capital. Indirectly, sales will follow in a second step thanks to your community animation.
Listen to your interlocutors
By listening to your contacts, social networks will bring you:
Targeted contacts
Increase in the number of relationships
Building a community around your brand
Improving your online reputation
A real plus in terms of natural referencing
Creating backlinks (inbound links) to your blog
Improved positioning on search engines
Increase your blog traffic
The community should be at the center of your social media strategy. The more engaged your community is, the more likely you are to convert your audience into customers.
Otherwise, by rushing to be present on many social media without having the time to animate them, with the priority objective of selling, for example, your online training, you risk being very disappointed with your results.
In conclusion, having a blog and being present on social media (depending on your objectives) to establish your customers' proximity is essential.
If you do not use these communication channels in your strategy, you will lose the opportunity to acquire and retain many customers. Worse yet, you are giving your competition a huge advantage.
Ready to take the plunge, to develop a human and concrete relationship with your target thanks to Web 2.0?
But the difficulty in effectively gaining visibility and consolidating your presence on social networks lies in choosing a good strategy.