Picture Better Options with Social Media

When it comes to social media in 2015 and likely beyond, both businesses and consumers need to be social butterflies.

For the business owner, social media is a great and relatively free means of promoting one’s brand.

Companies can use social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, You Tube and countless others to push their brands without sounding like a sales commercial. With an emphasis in recent years nationwide on “do not” call lists and restricting other ways of businesses going after potential customers, social networking is a valuable weapon for the business owner.

Meantime, consumers stand to benefit when they are socially active because they can review a company’s social activities. From offering promotional items to seeing how a business interacts online with other consumers, the individual looking to possibly do business with the brand can learn a ton of information.

Make Social Networking a Win-Win Scenario

In order for both businesses and consumers to get the most possible out of social media, here are some tidbits to remember….

For the business owner:

• Be pro-active – Whether your business sells real estate and you want to provide more information on upcoming listings, different coverages for insurance that consumers need in their daily lives, cable TV packages that can present a better home entertainment experience, or household furnishings to brighten the home just to name a few, make sure you are pro-active and not reactive on social media;
• Avoid confrontation – Nothing looks worse for a business owner than when they react to a consumer in a negative way. Face it; some consumers (current or potential customers) will turn to social networking sites when they feel they have been wronged by a business. If the business then engages the consumer in a negative manner, it makes him or her and their business look unprofessional;
• Lend a hand – More and moreconsumers are going social in order to learn more about a business of interest. Your business can stand out from the crowd when you quickly and accurately respond to the consumer’s needs. Don’t wait a few days or offer an unhelpful response, one or both of which could close the door on potential sales.

For the consumer:

• Ask questions and make comments – One of the reasons businesses have social sites like Facebook, Twitter and others is to use them as information highways in their overall marketing plans. Take advantage of this fact by socially engaging the business. From questions about products and services to leaving comments on customer service and more, be active when visiting a company’s social offerings;
• Compare and contrast – Along with traditional means like sales pitches and putting products and services up against one another, use companies’ social media sites to compare and contrast their offerings and how quickly/accurately they respond to consumer questions and comments. You can learn a great deal about a business and its brand by how effectively it uses social networking.

When it comes to social media, both businesses and consumers should picture all the options available to them.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1NAGR2y via transformational marketing
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