With thanks to Rachel Summers for this guest post about how social networks help your business to develop. She is a newspaper reporter and freelance creative writer and editor.
It’s a generally accepted fact that an online presence is absolutely essential for any business.
Simply staying afloat, never mind growing and building a solid foundation for the future requires some savvy use of social media and blogging, and this is one of the few truths that’s applicable to both small and medium sized businesses as well as huge conglomerates. Businesses can benefit from social networks and blogs for the following reasons:
1. Increase Your Visibility
Social networks can offer you a much larger audience than any other platform, and without doubt they are one of the most effective ways of building your brand and audience. You can target your audience much more specifically than by trying to place ads at the right times on various TV and radio stations – plus it’s a lot cheaper. With over half a billion users on Facebook alone, you’ll be able to find your customers for the next decade if you market yourself well.
2. Build Relationships
Social networks quite literally make networking easier – not only can you find your audience a lot easier but you can engage with them and build trust and rapport. Through sites such as Twitter, you not only share your information but can respond to questions and queries and establish a real relationship with your audience, which will increase their loyalty for your business.
3. Increase Your Traffic
Blogging in particular is amazing for your SEO, and improving your rankings can drastically fuel traffic towards your site. There’s no reason why you should be missing out on the benefits of regular high quality posts that utilize keywords and external links, especially considering the fact that you don’t need to devote too much time to a successful blog. Amazing professional writers and editors can be easily hired to produce or review content for a business blog, and they have the experience to know how to maximize SEO, and boost your traffic.
4. Find the Best Staff
All good Human Resources managers are already incorporating social networking and blogging into recruitment. Not only can they use a blog to entice the best applicants, by showing that they can offer an amazing place to work, but they can also cherry pick qualified candidates who are on LinkedIn. As college graduates in today’s climate are now more than happy to move for their job, you no longer need to restrict your search to your local area, and can instead find the best of the best from all over the country.
5. Use Multiple Formats
One of the best things about social media marketing is the fact that it is a low cost way to use multiple media options to promote your business. Your blog will largely contain written content, however you can set up an Instagram account if you feel that photographs of what you do or infographics for explanations would benefit your business. And you can either pay for a video ad on YouTube, or just set up your own YouTube channel altogether. Having a broad social media presence gives you the freedom to experiment with different content before you find what works best for your brand, without having to make costly investments in advertising.
By following the above tips to increase your visibility, employ the best staff, and offer excellent customer service, you should see huge increases in conversion rates, and traffic leads to sales. Your business’ bottom-line will be the ultimate benefactor of your efforts in social media and blogging, which is what most entrepreneurs really want to hear.
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