Summary of Findings and Analysis
Why Businesses use Social Media
If Facebook were a country, it would be most populous country on Earth. With over 1.39 billion people logging in to Facebook each month to scroll through their News Feeds and communicate with one another, targeting consumers using online platforms is an effective strategy to disperse messages quickly and efficiently (Stenovec, 2015). Holding such a huge network of people around the world, other popular platforms such as Instagram, an app that is estimated to upload 5 million photos every hour (Folger), have also gathered a community of followers of various types of users. Evident by the copious amount of users utilizing social media, these online platforms are great ways for businesses to reach a mass crowd and potentially expand their business. WIth so many people logging in to social networks, the potential for something to go viral is very probable and instantaneous thus allowing small businesses to develop at a momentum never like before. According to Wordstream, a search engine optimization company, an online advertising, small business can use social media to track website trafficking (Wordstream). The term “traffic” in digital marketing refers to the number of visits seen on a post. Using social media trackers, businesses are able to quantify the effectivity of the contents they are posting online thus gaging a better understanding of the brand awareness of the company. Social media not only affords marketers to be more data driven in their marketing campaigns, but more importantly, allows businesses to shed their corporate stigma and advertise through a more emotionally compelling strategy.
The peer-review source, Companies on Facebook and Twitter, Current situation and communication strategies states, “The internet has become a channel that allows people to increase "social capital" or "identity capital" of a brand or person” (Dasilva, 2013:2). With this in mind, businesses have been able to capitalize off different networks to personalize their brand to each consumer. According to the peer-reviewed article, Chinese Social Media Strategy: Communication Key Features From a Business Perspective, “Social media meets the need for young generation because they are inclined to focus on individual character development and a certain kind of freedom of expression” (He, 2015:3). This indicates that business are able to refine and personalize their adds to their target audience based on the psychographics of the intended user. By strategically creating content to attract different types of personas, business are able to communicate more effectively to its audience. Furthermore, social media also allows businesses to build credibility through online measures.
Social media platform invites consumers to give feedback to the company and further emphasizes the transparency between businesses to consumers. By building this transparency in this relationship, consumers are more likely to trust a brand and become loyal customers thus growing the network of the company. Kimberly Reynolds from Social Media Examiner comments, “building trust through open communication is the best way for small businesses to thrive” (Reynolds, 2015). The food-reviewing platform, Yelp, exemplifies how businesses have been able to establish transparency with its consumers. By combining local reviews and social networking functionality to create a local online community, it has created trust with customers and businesses.
Online reputation management, making sure that business owners know what their customers are saying about their brand, is not only vital for prospective customers but also to its loyal customers. In the research, Selling Your Self in the United States, “To brand oneself as a corporate person these days entails new media practices—orchestrating a single self-presentation across a personal website, Facebook profile, Twitter feed, blog, and so on—which ideally demonstrates that one is a recognizable, consistent, and employable self” (Gershon, 2014:285). The consumers likes and dislikes are very helpful to know because it allows companies to improve. Word of mouth especially plays a role in companies that are in the early stages of development. A report from Nielsen Online concludes that Internet users often do not access online content through search engines, but through the recommendations and links posted by their friends and families in social networks (Nielsen Online, 2010). They also follow recommendations from family members and friends. If friends and family have good reviews and thoughts about a business, they are more likely to present and recommend the business to their peers. That way, it can build traffic for a business because people trust people and therefore will make businesses expand because it is being recommended from a person to another through the word of mouth. Consumers not only purchase but also recommend: they comment, assess and value. Clicks from shared content are 5 times more likely to result in a purchase (NewsCred). This further reiterates why social media engagement is integral for businesses gain credibility. Most consumers trust the referrals made by their network thus enables them to have some form of online reputation which allows businesses to expand to new markets from their previous ones.
Advertising through social media has also made it easier for small businesses to save money on marketing. It is much cheaper to advertise through social media than traditional ways of advertising because business owners have the power to market their own content to a mass crowd. Through online platforms, a new way of customer service and public relation is created which in turn creates a more direct communication from business to consumers. After interviewing a group of online marketers, many have noted that social media gives consumers the satisfaction of instant feedback by Tweeting, commenting, or posting on the company’s social platform. This method of communication shows how quickly business-to-consumer relationship has evolved, therefore showing why social media has become popular among business.
Strategies to Convert Followers into Consumers
Evident from the case studies presented above, there is a new age of brand strategy challenging conventional marketing tactics. Through the use of social media, small businesses are able to leverage themselves and compete with bigger companies. According to David Moth, a Social Media Manager, “71 % of companies planned to increase their digital marketing budgets this year (2014), by an average of 27%” (Moth, 2014). In order to effectively use social media, a company must not solely focus its content on product or service advertisement but ways to interact with the consumers. Using social media to tell stories about the brand is an effective way to do so. For example, Everlane, an independent clothing boutique, attracts its followers through the use of Snapchat Stories. By filming short clips of behind-the-scenes work, customers are able to see the culture of the company and learn about the products they wear. With so many posts bombarding a newsfeed, it is important that the content being post is eye-catching and relevant. From the interviews that were conducted with digital marketing professionals, all have emphasized the importance of market research prior to posting social media content. Dave, a content marketer, comments, “people often consider social media as a silver bullet. But it’s not, you have to find your community and know exactly what they want.” Further highlighting the importance of research, another interviewee adds, “the best marketing strategy for small business is to research their target markets- you have to really know who you are aiming for in order to grab their attention.” After a research has been conducted, it is vital that the company remains consistent with the brand it is trying to promotore. Keeping its mission and value statement in mind, social media can further connect your consumers with what the company is able to offer thus trusting the brand. By posting emotionally compelling content, followers are more like to tag or share content to their friends and family, thus creating more exposure to the brand. While interviewing a local business owner, she stresses the importance of networking and collaborating with popular social media accounts, “network with other accounts that have a large follower bases. When they post a content that you were a part of, the “tags” will your page to a wider range of people thus creating more exposure to your brand.” Perhaps, the most important advice given by the group of professionals, was the importance of relevant content. Nowadays, marketing is no longer about promoting why a consumer should purchase from the company, but how potential customers can be empowered by the company. One of our interviewees, an Emmy-Winning Journalist and Social Media Strategist, advices, “give knowledge and people will come to you.” Instead of pushing people buy into the company, give solutions and show consumers that the brand is willing be a part of the conversation by sharing helpful and relevant content to the world. This method draws people in and helps both the business and customers.