There are nearly 2.5 million social media users across the globe. And that number is growing at a rate of 25% every year. In the past decade, businesses have been noticing the runaway expansion of social media networking platforms. As a result, there are 40 million active small business pages on Facebook. With every company getting active on social media networking platform, the companies are witnessing an increased exposure and they are also saying that the social media efforts are boosting their business sales. But what exactly caused this level of awareness? How did companies know that the social media is going to take their business to a whole new level? To unveil that, below are the most successful campaigns that changed how businesses look at social media.
Tactics
Social media networking platforms such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are offering a big opportunity for companies right from start-ups to enterprises to grab the attention of their target audiences while simultaneously developing their brand image. There is a hell of a lot of tactics that businesses have employed and are employing to do this. And that includes the creation of company profiles on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. For example, in the festive season of Ramadan, Coca-Cola has brilliantly filmed about the cultural prejudices in the United Arab Emirates. Of course, the ad was a huge hit for the company. Later, it resulted in a nearly 50% uplift in the consumption of Coca-Cola in the region.
Word of mouth
Social media networking platforms offer the perfect chance to take advantage of word of mouth. With networking platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, people are connected worldwide. Simple things such as liking a company page whether it is related to cosmetic industry or IT industry, it can be easily spread faster. A glossy magazine advert comes nowhere near to this. Before purchasing at a physical store, customers first check the reviews and ratings the brand has got on their social media pages.
Communicating with the customers
It doesn't take much time for a negative review to spread around on social media. Customers give ratings and reviews about their products and services as in how bad or how good they are. Well, the situation becomes a bit problematic when the companies see negative reviews and ratings. Initially, it took time for the companies to understand the concept of the negative reviews but later they learned how to use it to their advantage. By using social media networking platforms efficiently, businesses can truly reach out to the unsatisfied customers directly and find unique ways of enhancing the products or services they offer. Developing mobile apps and publishing them on various app stores is another way to gather reviews.
Influence
While developing a social media marketing strategy, it is essential to understand who is being targeted. Lots of people within your social media reach who may not be your consumers or users but who however can have a huge effort on your marketing effort. According to research director, Augie Ray, There are three types of social media influencers.
- Social broadcasters
- Mass influences
- Potential influences
Nearly 75% of the population is made up of potential influencers. It definitely is worth a good shot to find who these people are in your social media network and connect with them to get more likes and shares for the post and that can ultimately help you in spreading your business and branding. Klout is one such great website that gives social networkers a score out of cent percent which shows how influential a person is on their network.
Considerations
For years now and in the future, social media will continue to have a big influence on companies, marketing strategies, and the way companies interact with their customers. The use of social media networking platforms to share on interact with their target audiences continues to grow at an exceptional speed. Henceforth, it would be wise for any company to build and execute an effective and sustainable social media strategy and take advantage of this swiftly evolving environment.