Having a presence on social media is a must for businesses in today’s world. Society accesses information and makes a majority of its judgments of businesses from information read and witnessed on social media. Of course, customer reviews and Better Business Bureau reports still matter, but real-time interactions are taking over. Social media is where brands need to be active and interactive to be successful.

Scaling Exposure with Expansion

Social media can be used to continually engage with an existing audience. At the same time, it can grow an audience to expand business operations. Consumers may request that brands be present on multiple social media channels as some only pay attention to one or two social media networks regularly.

It doesn’t hurt to share something a little light-hearted and off topic sometimes. It shows the audience that the brand knows how to have fun and that life can’t be serious all of the time. A little humor once-in-a-while is a good thing, just be sure to use it tastefully.

Build Trust with Followers

As a business becomes a trusted entity in an industry, consumers rely on the information shared by that brand to be the truth. In times of tragedy, major disasters or serious events, social media is the easiest and fastest way to get information to consumers. In some business structures, posting on social media is a part of the company’s disaster response plan, according to this infographic by the University of San Francisco.

The quickness of social media posts reaching the masses allows friends and family members to check on those in an affected area. It also helps those directly affected to know where necessary resources can be located.

Create Trending Behaviors for Charity

Major brands and charitable organizations can leverage social media channels to begin a trend for a specific event. The infamous “Ice Bucket Challenge” for ALS was a way for brands to participate in a major, trending event while growing their audiences. These trending behaviors often go global as followers “call out” or tag their friends as a request to partake in the trending behavior. When brands offer donations to charity for participation, the participation numbers grow quickly.

Strong and Informative Company Bio

Your company’s bio must be complete and informative. Essentially, all of the necessary information, location information and hours of operation should be listed in a social media company bio. Try to keep the information about who the company is and what it does as short as possible while providing the most information possible. Consider using a brand motto or slogan to drive a major point across instead of long paragraphs of information.

Lower Costs for Marketing

If you are advertising on a business social media account page, it costs nothing but an employee’s time. A business can opt to use paid social media advertisement campaigns and sponsored posts as well. These campaigns are seen by more members of a social media platform than just those that are directly connected to the brand. The lower cost of advertising may make it possible for a brand to offer more promotions.

Brands will have a larger audience for promotions and special offers. The ability to offer digital coupons tends to lead followers to share that information on personal pages. Those shares lead to more participation and more shares. The amount of revenue a company receives from these promotions alone can help expand a business’s audience. The larger audience potential combined with more purchases being completed from promotional materials far surpasses any cost of marketing via social media.

Digital Takeover

A major digital takeover of social media has started major videography-related trends. The creation of platforms like Periscope, Snapchat and Facebook continuous live video streaming allows brands to share live stories, live coverage and pertinent information immediately with its audience. In today’s technologically advanced world, being this informative does appear to be necessary.

Closing Thoughts

It is important to be present on social media, but do so tastefully. You can easily offend an entire audience by pairing the wrong quote with the wrong photo. Items posted on social media go viral quickly. It can make a huge and positive impact on your business driving your sales numbers up, creating a trending topic, and building a stronger and more loyal audience.