SOCIAL MEDIA

The use of social media has exploded in the last several years, so much so that it now touches almost every facet of our lives. Friendster, the first social media site, was launched in 2003. Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter soon followed. Facebook, the most popular of the social media sites, currently has over 500 million users. It is the second most popular website behind Google.

Social media workplace opportunities:

1. Promote your company’s brand—sales and marketing professionals can use social media to introduce and promote new products and services in a way that increases a potential target market exponentially. Social networking sites allow consumers to communicate with each other and to share their thoughts and ideas about your company’s products.
2. Engage your customers—whatever your company sells, whether a product or a service, it has a customer base that can be engaged through social media. But the manner of engagement is unique because social media has revolutionized the style of business-to-customer communications. Customers no longer want to be talked at. Instead, they are looking for organizations to listen, to appropriately engage, and to respond to them. Companies that join social media sites are able to create stronger relationships with their customers and are also able to improve customer service by utilizing social media to address customer service issues.
3. Employee engagement—Social Networking tools allow organizations to improve communication and productivity among employees. Professional social media sites such as LinkedIn, allow your employees to join specific work groups in order to engage in conversations with other professionals in similar industries. This kind of participation can broaden the employee’s knowledge base and help to generate new and innovative ways of meeting business challenges. Employees can also use social networking sites to build targeted professional networks that can help them stay current with market trends.
4. Cost effective—using social media as a sales and marketing tool is a very inexpensive mode of advertising because it reaches a vast audience for a marginal investment. Instead of spending large amounts of money on marketing and advertising campaigns, let your happy customers advertise for you. Many consumers are no longer going directly to the source for product information; they trust their peers to fairly review products for them. Therefore it’s a good idea to encourage your customers or clients to check-in at your business, or direct them to review your product online.

Share information about your company—both customers and potential employees use social media to research companies that they have an interest in knowing more about. Social media sites provide an excellent medium for companies to share positive information. It is important to leverage sites such as Facebook and Twitter to your advantage. If your company doesn’t already have a Facebook page you should challenge your marketing team to create one. Posting a Facebook page will allow your company to generate an online community of clients or customers that are familiar with your product. Encourage your customers to like your Facebook page. Each time an individual “likes” a page; all of their friends see that endorsement and may become motivated to visit your site. If you have a new product coming out or maybe you’ve been recognized for a current product or service let your customers know via Twitter.
   By Mbogo Tausi
           BAPRM 42611