Hey Business Owner, Are You Using the Full Potential of Social Media Marketing?

Why Social Media Marketing?

Originally seen as a fad, social media marketing is now an integral component of 21st-century business. So, the crucial question – is your business on board?

Consider these highly relevant social media statistics for business:

• 69% of Americans use Facebook, according to the Pew Research Center.
• 54% of social browsers use social media to research products, according to GlobalWebIndex.
• 9 out of 10 people buy from brands that they follow on social media, says Marketing Dive.
• Social networks are the biggest driver of consumer purchases with 37% of consumers shopping through the channel, according to Sprout Social.
• 47% of consumers have a more favorable view of brands that respond to customer service questions or complaints on social media, says Statista.

You need to look no further than U.S.’s most successful companies and social media itself for proof. According to 2019 research from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 96% of Fortune 500 companies use Twitter, 95% use Facebook, 99% use LinkedIn and as many as 73% now use Instagram. Social media marketing works, and they know it.

These companies are building their brand by telling their story, networking, recruiting, stimulating word of mouth, and engaging with key stakeholders — all on social media outlets.

Yet, given this mainstream adoption and an emerging breed of social commerce, I see many business owners making this same critical mistake with regard to social media. They think they can simply ignore it.

Why Use Social Media for Business?

Social media is nothing more than a form of electronic communication where people go to share information, ideas, and messages on the Internet. That’s it.

Without getting too technical, the forms of communication (i.e., content that is shareable on social media) consist of many types. The range expands from articles, blogs, texts, messages, pictures, polls, sounds, surveys, and videos, to various file formats: jpeg, png, html, WAV, MP3, MP4, etc. And, if your business is international, you may even be looking into WeChat—China’s most popular messaging app—as a form of social media marketing and outreach.

The sheer variety of social media adds to its hypnotic charm and attractiveness. In fact, there is an entire social media universe made up of hundreds of social networks beyond Facebook where people go to connect, communicate, and form a community.

Check out Brian Solis’s Conversation Prism 5.0 to see if your business is visible in the social ecosystem.

Economically speaking, social media serves a fundamental purpose of bringing together:

• Buyer and seller
• Friend and follower
• Contact and connection

The size of these networks is growing. LinkedIn boasts more than 830 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. This includes more than 40 million students and recent college graduates — the fastest-growing demographic on LinkedIn. This is an amazing talent pool for businesses and firms.

The numbers for Facebook are even more staggering. The number of Facebook’s monthly active users (MAU) reached 2.93 billion as of Q1 of 2022.

Another interesting fact is that 100% of the 30 companies listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Average all have a Facebook Business Page. Do you? If not, why? If so, are you utilizing it to its full potential?

The Time to Act is Now

In today’s competitive landscape, business owners no longer have time to sit on the sidelines. Competitors and emerging players leverage the power of networks to grow revenue, market share, and influence.

It’s time to take a page out of the social media marketing playbook from America’s top companies and act. Granted, an effective social media campaign takes time, effort, commitment, and ongoing feeding. Clearly, this is a struggle for most business owners managing the daily demands of clients and attention.

However, continuing to ignore social media for business in the digital age we live in puts your business at risk. Avoid the most common of all social media mistakes—be seen and heard by the people who matter.

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[Editors’ Note: To learn more about this and related topics, you may want to attend the following on-demand webinars (which you can listen to at your leisure and each includes a comprehensive customer PowerPoint about the topic):

• How to Leverage The Power of Social Media Marketing
• SEO, Social Media & Other PR 101 
• Digital Marketing Tips for the New (or Old) Business Owner

This is an updated version of an article originally published on September 15, 2017 and previously updated on October 28, 2019]

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