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Ozone Inbound Marketing Blog

Social Media For Business | 7 (Free) Reasons Why You Need It

Image credit: Jason Howie Flickr CC

"You're NOT using social media for business!? It's time to change, and there's no time like the present!"

If you're doing business today and not taking advantage of at least two or three social media channels, thenyou're missing out on the chance to get more sales, develop new customer leads, and foster better relationshipswith those that you already have. This goes for anyone planning on doing business in China,or for Chinesecompanies marketing to the West.

Best of all, you can do all of this for free. Yes, that's right; zero, zilch, nada, nowt, zip.

The team here at Oxygen 2.0 are going to guide you through the 7 totally free of charge reasons why you needsocial media in your life!

There are so many great social media platforms that you can harness to get extra leads, contacts, and sales foryour business! These include, but are not limited to, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Google +, and Twitter, toname some of the largest and most popular. However in the case of China, an important market, they have theirown social media channels that you may not be so familiar with. Learn about Chinese social media channels inthis blog.

Still unsure? Let's look at why social media is great for your business!

1. Good For Customer Service

If you're where your customers are, and believe me they're using some kind of social media channel, you givethem more opportunities to speak with you to resolve any questions or issues that they may have.

Not only is replying to a post or tweet very fast and easy for your staff, but it also means that customers orinterested parties can get an answer very quickly!This will get you much love, and lots of karma; it's also much easier than using a cumbersome and slow emailCRM system all of the time too.

2. Builds Your Reputation

There are two ways that social media can bolster your reputation:

1. You can show more people that you are the experts in your field . By regularly creating great contentlike a blog, you can enhance your reputation as 'knowing your stuff,' thereby gaining more trust and sales.It's so easy easy to create everything from books, podcasts, videos, to images these days for nothing, thatyou'd be crazy not to give it a try!

2. You can deal with issues in a public, honest way. Imagine that a customer has posted a complaint onone of your social media channels...don't worry, we all get them sometimes! Actually, this gives you a greatopportunity to deal with them in an open and honest way. When other customers see that you've tried hardto help someone that was disastisfied they will gain respect for you, and once again this will enhance yourtrust.

3. Drives Traffic To Your Website

Social media channels are already on the internet, and with their huge popularity ( Facebook has 1.3Billion activemonthly users at present), you can leverage them to send users to your site and so get more leads and sales. Bysetting up your own accounts in places like Facebook, Pinterest, and Linkedin, and posting regularly there,anyone who clicks your posts or visits your page could go straight to your site...for free!

4. Puts Your Products & Services In The Spotlight

If you rely only on your website then people have just one chance to see your products and services when they'reonline. By showcasing your offerings in more places they're going to be seen by more folks, and that means thatyou'll be getting more leads and sales.

By the way, don't think that just because you offer a service, and not products, you can't still showcase what youdo.

You could create a case-study about how you have helped clients achieve their goals, an e-book about what youdo, a slide-show outlining how you operate, a regular blog update, and many other cool things that can be sharedand posted on social media in just the same way as an image of a product could be.

5. Builds Your Brand

Since you have total control over what you can show or tell people about your business, social media is perfectfor building a brand. If you're a law firm you would perhaps like to come across as knowledgeable, trustworthy, and professional;however if you're a childrens' toy maker, you'll likely want to have a fun, jolly, and friendly outlook.How do you enhance this?

Content.

You create the right content for your business, and use social media as your shop window. By being able to showthe right emotions, and connect with your ideal customer, you'll have a good brand built up in not time.

6. Gets You More Sales

You can use social media channels as a virtual store. If your website is already a store, then this means thatyou're doubling up and have twice the chance to sell! It's possible to add 'shop' functionality on certain channels,such as Facebook, or Pinterest.

This is brilliant for small businesses esepcially, as your social media channels will act as a 'silent salesman,' beingactive and selling 24/7. Your customers are already there, and so if you combine them the ability to not onlydiscover your products and services, learn about them, and make a purchase, you're taking advantage ofeverything social media offers.

7. Gives You Insight Into Your Customers

Imagine if you have a physical store (or perhaps you do). There are a certain amount of customers who come in, but then leave without buying anything. There are alsocustomers who do buy something, but never return. Finally there are repeat customers, who return time and timeagain.It's unlikely you'll know much, if anything, about the first two types of customer, only having time to perhaps strikeup a conversation about the latter who you meet fairly often.

Social media learns everything about your customers, and can report it to you in an instant.

Because every person who uses social networks will have their own account, this means that the platform, likeFacebook for example, knows who is visiting your page, when they visit, what they click on or buy, and where theyare from. You can get this data regularly using insights, and this is so powerful because:

It builds up an accurate picture of the customer demographics who visit you.

You can use this information to help you sell more effectively.

Helps you develop new social media and marketing campaigns that are laser focused.

Is free information!

8 (Bonus Reason). Spend Some Money On Advertising and get Eye-CatchingResults!

Up until now I have been discussing the free ways that social media for business can help you grow, but ifyou do have a budget you can spare for advertising then you may well be surprised at the results you can get for arelatively modest cost.

Discussing advertising on social media is something we'll cover ina a different blog, but even for, say, $20 permonth, you could attract hundreds of new fans to a Facebook page. Each of these fans is interested in yourservice or product (as you will have been able to advertise only to people with related interests), therefore you aregiving yourself a chance to get more sales as long as your ad campaign is supported by a steady stream of goodcontent and useful information that can then prompt them to buy.

If you're not ready to spend money yet that's fine, just concentrate on following the the prior 7 steps consistantlyand you'll be getting free results from using social media for business. As things mature then later you can look

into spending a little and turbo-charging those results!

Your Turn...

How do you use social media for business? Which are your favourite platforms? Are there any platforms thatyou're interested in, but haven't tried yet? What do you do on social media to get results for your business?We're really interested to hear your feedback, and any tips that you share can help the rest of our community, soplease leave a comment!

Need Help With Marketing Your Business Online?

I know that social media can be complicated, and there are so many platforms that knowing where to spend yourtime, and what to create can leave you in a tangle. That's where Oxygen 2.0 can help! We are a full servicemarketing agency primarily helping Western companies market into China, but we can also support any businesswith their social media efforts!

Don't miss out on the massive benefits that a rock-solid social media marketing plan can give to your business,get in touch with us by clicking below and we'll consult you on the move that's best for your business: