How to use social media in business?

Social media is a great tool to use for any entrepreneur who is serious about reaching out to their clients. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, sometimes associated with such undemanding entertainment as posting your photos to the delight of friends and observers, generate huge traffic at the same time and are a great place to advertise almost any brand.

Here are five ways to use social media in business:

1. The blog helps to create an image of an expert in the industry.Customers are more likely to trust a brand they associate with reliable articles on a subject of their interest than one they know nothing about. In addition, blogs naturally attract people interested in an issue – if, for example, a person is looking for a solution to the problem “Is it better to choose an oak or pine door”, the door manufacturer can “throw in” the answer while presenting their offer.
2. With Facebook you can easily find out which groups are most interested in a brand, product or service. In practice, this means that it is possible to carry out a simplified market scan, e.g. by finding out that brand X is most often interesting to women aged 35-50. Such knowledge allows us to plan future marketing strategies that will hit the target more effectively or open doors to new customers.
3. Social media are great for building relationships with clients. People are more inclined to trust a brand with whose representatives they are able to have a dialogue: not only on the hotline or in the Customer office, but also on a fanpage or an event on Facebook.
4. Contests practically always increase traffic on the site. Every promise of winning lures the people who want to win. It is important that the contest does not rely on some difficult task or requiring special abilities, because such a task will tempt only a handful of enthusiasts. Contests can also be used to build brand awareness, for example by requiring some brand information or positive associations.
5. The use of current trends or events makes the information provided grow old faster, but on the other hand, it arouses more interest than universal content. In case of social media a fast “loss of relevance” is often typical. The user often has an aggregate containing only the latest content, because he or she rarely browses the earlier content or doesn’t do it at all. Therefore, the “ageing” of the message is inevitable, and newer content will always replace the old one. This is also a premise for frequent updates, otherwise traffic and interest in the brand will quickly decrease.

Of course, these are not all ways to use social media in business, but only an overview of the most important issues. In order to achieve success in social media, it is worth focusing on what distinguishes this form of promotion – the possibility of dialogue and gaining coverage not because of large financial outlays, but the effect of the viral and so-called “snowball”, when popular content becomes even more popular just because it is popular.