Finding Customers and Creating Loyalty through Social Media

Social Media has revolutionized marketing. The old methods of putting your product in front of customers (television ads, phone book, print advertising) is falling away. The new dimension in capturing customer attention and spending is happening through social media sites. The most popular, Facebook is revolutionizing the way we connect with friends, groups and businesses both locally and globally. Statistics from Facebook (August 2011) regarding people or "Users" of Facebook Interface:

• More than 750 million active users
• 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• The average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
• Average User creates 90 pieces of content each month

If you are not participating in these social websites, you are missing out on a big opportunity to connect and stay socially engaged with your customers.

Social Media is an excellent way to define, discuss and promote your brand on the internet. But it does require you to have discourse, interaction and create a connection with your customer base. The operative word in social media is, well, social.

The key players in social media, to name a few (though this list is bound to change as social media megastars emerge):

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Foursquare
• Google+
• StumbleUpon

Undoubtedly two questions are popping into your head: Can I profit from social media and how much time is this going to take?

First, each business is unique in the benefits derived from social media. It is important to weigh the benefits and cost when beginning a social media campaign as well as tracking your results.

There are several benefits of social media that are relevant:

• Internet advertising rates in pay-per-click (PPC), even with the current economic climate are continuing to rise. A social media strategy has lower costs associated with it (mostly time and labor) and advertising on these sites and making social connections (creating loyalty) is a relative bargain compared to pay-per-click. In the current economy, cost per new customer acquisition is favorable and less expensive with social media sites.
• Organic search engine rankings increase as your social media connections share links to your site and "tweet" about your promotions. Sharing with your fan base has never been easier and increases the numbers of visitors to your site.
• Real customer loyalty and participation. This is an amazing perk when socially engaging with your customers. Get a feeling for which products are working and where to make improvements. Receive instant feedback and address concerns in real time.

Clearly, profiting from social media is one benefit of connecting with your customer base. Increased page rank, building customer loyalty and a sales force of fans will keep you ahead of your competitors and in front of your "friends".

As a business owner or manager, taking time to "tweet" or update multiple social sites regularly can take away from running the business. Call today to learn about the best social media strategies for your business, and leave the tweeting to us.