Posts

, ,

Why Social Media Is Important for Businesses

Why Social Media is Important for Business Over the last decade, social media has helped a lot of entrepreneurs grow their company. In fact, it is now considered as one of the most powerful digital marketing tools for businesses. 92% of business owners reported that social media has played a big role in their business’ success.

Here’s a look at the top benefits of social media for businesses.

Brand recognition

Because social media is used by more than 2/3 of the population, this is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to introduce your brand to your target audience.

If used correctly, social media can help you build a strong social media presence and connect with your current and prospective customers. We can guarantee, it is worth the time and effort.

Save money

For small businesses that are looking to spread the word about their brand and promote their products without having to spend a lot of money, social media is your best option.

Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn allow you to share content to your fans and potential customers absolutely free.

Increased traffic

Sharing relevant and informative content on social media can help you generate leads. Here, you are not only limiting your content to people who are already familiar with your brand. Rather, your goal is attract people who may be interested in what you have to offer and encourage them to visit your website. Make sure you supply them with interesting content, so they’ll keep coming back.

Improved customer service

We all know that businesses have a dedicated customer service department that consumers can reach via phone and email. But because most people want a quick response, they still choose to connect with businesses through social media.

Here, you can see question, comments and complains instantaneously. Plus, answering questions and settling complains publicly adds a level of transparency to your business. Remember, all eyes are on you, so make sure you handle issues professionally, politely and in a timely manner.

/by
,

3 Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

3 Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

As a business owner, you have probably considered using social media to help you get the word out about your business. Building a strong social media presence may take a lot of time and hard work, but the pay off can be incredible.

Social media can be extremely beneficial to companies of all sizes. Here’s how social media can help grow your business.

Reach new audience

Sharing content to thousands of people at once is one of the biggest benefits of social media. But instead of trying to reach everyone, you need to find the right people to engage with. Social media provides the perfect opportunity to help you reach your target audience. Plus, it is one of the fastest and least expensive ways to connect with your audience.

Identify who your target audience is, and then determine which social platforms they spend most of their time in. If you share really interesting and engaging content, you are likely to reach thousands and thousands of people in no time.

Create meaningful relationship with your customers

Social media encourages two-way communication. It’s not enough that you share your knowledge or provide some updates about your products, services and upcoming events; you also want to communicate with your fans and followers.

Social media allows you to communicate with your prospective and current customers. Once you have earned their trust and goodwill, they would be much more willing to recommend your products to their family and friends.

Customer service

Providing stellar customer service is likely already a top priority for your business. Since most customers want immediate response, many of them would post their questions or concerns via social media. If they do, it is important that you respond and address the issue in a timely manner.

If you acquire positive feedbacks, ask the customer if you can share it on your page. People will trust and appreciate you when people say good things about your business.

 

/by
,

How to Handle Negative Reviews Online

reviewsBIMS_5.11According to Zendesk, a customer service software program, 88% of buyers rely on the opinion of others when making purchasing decisions. That said, you should always strive to get positive customer reviews. But sometimes, no matter how hard you try; bad reviews happen. There’s no way around it.

Negative reviews are one of the biggest nightmares of entrepreneurs and business owners. Any testimonial from unsatisfied customer can adversely affect your business.

While negative reviews are unavoidable, there are some things you can do to prevent them from ruining the image of your company. Here are some tips on how to handle negative reviews online.

Investigate before taking action

Before you formulate a strategy on how to respond to negative reviews, you should first determine whether or not what the customer said is true.

If you found out that it really happened, we suggest that you acknowledge the person’s input. Then, apologize, present your side of the sorry and then tell the customer how you plan to address the issue. If you found that the statement is incorrect, talk to the commenter privately and provide evidence that proves that the comment is incorrect. Once it’s settled, politely ask the person to delete the comment or review.

Cooler heads prevail

We know that you work so hard to keep your customers happy. That said, it can be quite frustrating to read bad and hurtful things about your business. Your immediate response is to react in the heat of the moment. But if you do, you will only make yourself look bad. The last thing you want is to become known for lashing out at customers.

Before you respond to the criticisms that are being thrown at you, you might want to take breather and formulate a polite response. Customers will gain your respect if you respond to a negative review in pleasant and helpful way.

Stay positive

People are not expecting you to be perfect. We are humans and we are all bound to make mistakes. Just make sure that own up to your mistakes and deal with the negative reviews in a transparent and polite manner.

/by
, ,

How to Motivate Customers to Buy Your Product

BIMS_8.4.15If you have social media buttons on your product page, we’re guessing that you added them because you wanted people to share your products through different social channels. After all, more shares mean more publicity, and more publicity can lead to more sales. But you also have to understand that people don’t just buy things they see online. They need a reason to visit your store or website and buy your products.

Here are 3 simple ways to motivate customers to want to purchase from you rather than your competitor.

Understand your customers

To increase sales, you have to understand the psychology behind how people make their buying decision. It would be extremely difficult for you to motivate them to buy if you don’t know their wants and needs.

Identify your target market and conduct a survey to help you find out the types of products they’re interested in or if your current products meet their expectations and some products suggestions that they would like to see in you sell in the future.

Feel good products

During the times of economic stress, the sales of non-essential items decrease significantly except for one: lipstick.

While people are looking for ways to put food on the table, lipstick sales were still skyrocketing. Why? For women, these tubes of colored wax are more than just cosmetics. When they’re feeling blue, lipstick provides confidence and represents happiness, hope and opportunity. If you think of it that way, then $8 is just a small price to pay as compared to the benefits they can get out of it.

Sell the benefits

You have probably heard of this a dozen of times before. When creating a product, be sure that it solves a problem. Most customers buy a product to solve a specific problem.

After a long day at work, this man found out that his dog chewed off his favorite pair of shoes. Now, he’s looking to buy a new pair of shoes. Now that you have a potential customer, the best thing you can do is to promote the benefits of your product. Don’t just stop at describing the product; provide them with additional information such as the price, features, awards etc.

/by
, ,

4 Ways to Enhance Customer Relationship with Social Media

BIMS_9.21.14

Your prospective and current customers are already online, and most of them are spending a few hours a day on social media. If your business is not active on social media, now is the right time to build a solid online presence.

Social media enables you to engage with your customer as never before. So, instead of relying solely on phone communication or email, consider reaching out to your target audience and existing customers through social media.

Here are a few tips on how to use social media to enhance client relationships, put smiles on customer’s faces and lead your business to growth.

Connect with your customers

If you are looking to build a social media presence, it is important to connect with your customers and make sure that you are having a two-way conversation with them.

Run polls. Ask questions. Turn your social media from a one-way channel into a two-way channel.

Encourage participation

Instead of supplying the information all the time, it would be a good idea to encourage your customers to share their photos and stories. As a way of saying thank you, take the time to come up with genuine individualized responses. This way, your customers will fee that you are truly interested in their experiences and are appreciative of their contributions.

Own your mistakes

Even big corporations are not immune to mistakes. So, when an unhappy customer tweets about a late order, take their complaints seriously, acknowledge the mistake and work on solving the problem fast.

Sincerity and humility goes a long way in social media in showing your customers that you respect and value them. While it is acceptable to make mistakes, owning up to your mistakes and saying “we’re sorry” is the best way to handle complaints.

Reward loyal customers

Highlight customers who take the time to consistently engage with your brand. Give them free merchandize or say thank you with simple personalized responses. By doing so, you can show them how much you appreciate and value their support. Mind you, that emotional component could turn a customer into a promoter.

/by
, ,

Social Media Marketing Strategies That Would Drastically Improve Your Efforts

Studies revealed that a huge percentage of American adults spend most of their online activity in social media sites, topping time spent on Google and email. Having this knowledge, marketers have decided to chase online users and focused their attention on social media. In fact, one study revealed that 97% of marketers use social media to promote their business.

If you have not yet taken advantage of the power of social media, then you might be missing a large chunk of your target consumers. Here are a few social media strategies that would allow you to take control over your social channels.

Create a game plan

Without an execution strategy, your content may begin to fall through the cracks. Set a limit on the number of tweets and Facebook posts you have to publish each day. If you are just starting out, you might want to check how often industry leaders are posting and take note of the ideal amount of content that should be published each day. You want to be active, but not overly active.

Treat each channel as an individual entity

Each social media channel should be treated as a separate entity. Make sure that the contents you share on each channel would appeal to the audience. LinkedIn caters to business-focused audience. So, you’ll have to provide them with educational contents. Instagram users, on the other hand, are in search for engaging visual contents.

Go above and beyond in customer service

Social media users today are expecting fast response from you. If someone posts on your Facebook page and they do not receive a response, the dissatisfied client may turn to your competitor and seek answer to their questions.

Taking time to respond to a personal inquiry is of great importance as it builds your authority. When you deliver a thoughtful and timely response, this will have a positive impact on your brand.

/by