How to Effectively Use Social Media

With the buzz on the web about the rules of social media, it is easy to see why anyone with a new or small business may be feeling a bit confused about how to effectively use social media. Yes, we know that Facebook and Twitter are big on the web, but for many the real question is how does something like this translate into sales? The real answer is, social media is not like advertising, you don't look for actual ROI as much as use it to gain recognition of your brand. Still, even with that as a goal, many businesses are feeling the need to define the rules of social media in order to understand just what they can expect when they use it to promote their business. Because the reality is, even if a blog and social media does bring in new customers; they still need a compelling message to make them come back again.
Numbers Don't Lie
It isn't that surprising that many companies have been trying to get their hands on some hard cold numbers to give them an idea of how effective either a blog, social media or others media really is when used properly. Here are the results from three different polls that website socialmediatoday looked at when considering the effectiveness of the rules of social media.
Revenue growth for those who use social media was 19% versus those who didn't use it who saw a gain of a little over 5%. Those using social media had grown their client base by 21% more than those that didn't use social media. There was a clear gain of clients for companies that used specific social media tools.

• 61% for LinkedIn users

• 35% for Facebook users

• 47% for blog owners

As you can see the blog social media tool is one of the most effective and yet is often overlooked when deciding on a social media campaign. These kinds of numbers show that more and more the rules of social media has become an important tool to reach out and increase your client base.

Engaging the Brand

Using sites like Facebook and Pinterest to give your customers more investment into your business can increase both your visibility and your client base. Small businesses in particular can use a blog social media tool to connect their customers on a more intimate level, making that company a personal connection for their clients. Facebook, with 97% of the top 250 internet retailers remains the place to gain data and analytics on your client base while offering a payment technology that makes it easy for small business to move a portion of their marketing and sales onto the site.

The bottom line for any kind of rules of social media engagement is to connect with your clients at their favorite places. Having a page on Facebook if you target customer is below 40 will give them an easy place to discover you. Adding a blog, social media video, keeping your site current and up to date, answering questions on the sites as they appear are all good rules for social media if you want it to be successful.

Most of all, remember that any kind of blog, social media or other media is just one tool among many. Newsletters, email campaigns, and good customer service still make a huge impact in how your customers see and remember you business. Yes, adding in those social media platforms is a part of it, but they need to work with the rest of your marketing strategy to really succeed.

Need some help? Paveya is here to help you grow. Contact grow@paveya.com or call us at 855.372.8392.