Social Networks and their Impact on the Business

Social networks have been with us for a short time, but for most of us they are already an indispensable tool. It is hard to imagine a world without them, and for better or worse they have influenced all aspects of our lives, how we communicate and relate to each other.

Social networking platforms are not static sites, nowadays most of the content generated is generated by users, who actively participate and share their texts, images and videos.

What in its beginnings was only a form of communication between people has now completely changed the business world and of course marketing.

The user comes to your networks because he was attracted by a photo or video, by a recommendation from a friend or the platform's algorithm, because he was looking for something, or another reason. Once they interact with you, you have the possibility of converting their interest into a need or desire. For this you have to connect with their emotional side.

Rather than focusing on describing the product/service you offer, you must emphasize in your message the benefit they will get, not only that they see it but also that they feel it, so they will remember you. All the efforts you make on social networks should be directed to convince the user that they are making the right decision to buy from you.

Network users want to know who you are, what you do, your brand values, how to identify you and separate you from the competition. These are questions that you must answer all the time through the messages you share. Not in a boring way, but exciting them to take action, whether it is a Like, a comment, or a purchase.

Advantages of social networks for marketing

Increased opportunity to be seen: as a large community, customers use social media for everything, every day, all the time.

Level playing field: social media provides the same marketing opportunities for everyone, from small businesses to established brands. Everyone can compete, it just depends on the ingenuity and effort they put into their management.

Profitable market research: you can use your community to test the product/service before changing or launching it and to gather valuable information that can give you an idea of what will or will not work, in terms of improvements, novelties, their tastes, or price acceptance.

The power is in the hands of the customers: they can determine what is worth buying or not. If we face it as an advantage, it can have a direct impact on the increase of sales, people trust more in a product or service validated by other customers.

It allows you to create leads: that is someone who shows interest and leaves their data, from the traffic generated you can increase the possibility of conversion to customer.

Promotes brand loyalty: once they follow you and become customers convinced of your value, they are more likely to continue consuming your products/services despite other aspects that may arise such as a price increase or change in a service.

Opportunity for collaborations: with influencers or industry professionals, their influence or expertise can help boost your sales, grow your community and validate your brand.

We can learn from others: the best and most successful brands in the world are on the networks, it is an incredible opportunity to study and analyze best practices in real time, as well as to monitor the competition and adjust our own strategy.

Massive campaigns: thanks to its tools you can create and manage the campaigns you need with a worldwide reach and cost-effective power.

Selling your products/services: it is now possible to buy directly from the platforms themselves. You have to take advantage of the customer's buying decision and every click counts.

What to do on social networks?

Create a good first impression: your business profile on social networks is the first thing an interested consumer looks for, everything must be impeccable whether it is design, usability or customer service.

Repetition of the message: choose a theme and repeat the message by presenting it several times and through all your channels, but in different ways (text, short video, photo, infographic, etc.). This helps you to be recognized and remembered.

Use simple and natural language: short, clear and concise words that reinforce your intention and support your message with strong images. Adapt to the tone of the platform.

Go for visual content: visual appeal is very important, good images and intense or funny videos take precedence over text.

Involve your followers: this type of campaign helps to increase your brand recognition and promote your services/products. For example, you can invite them to a photo contest, to share their solutions regarding something related to your business (e.g. recipes if it's about food).

You get a lot of interaction as well as materials that you can use later. They even help you discover competitive advantages

A service mentality: build your brand image by prioritizing connection with followers, empathy, good treatment, enthusiasm and responsibility. Always adapt to meet their expectations.

Always answer: maintain constant communication and never fail to answer a question or offer a solution.

Focus the message on the benefit: How does your product/service solve their problem? How can you help them? If you succeed, the sale will take care of itself.

Follow the 20/80 rule: it is recommended that only 20% of your publications focus on self-promotion, the rest should be dedicated to creating engagement, answering questions, interacting and offering solutions and valuable content for your followers.

Use links: create links from your site to your networks and vice versa to drive traffic.

Be timely: it is important to post your content at the right time, when your audience has the most opportunity to see and react to what you do.

Spread your customers' positive reviews: if a customer made a positive comment or review of your product/service share it on all your channels. People are more willing to buy if the recommendation comes from another customer.

Reward your followers: create mechanisms to reward the followers who share and interact the most.

Measure results: it will always be the restart point.

Which social networks to use?

It is not necessary to be in all the networks, this does not guarantee good results, as everything in marketing you have to choose the one that best suits your objectives and needs.

To choose the most appropriate one you have to know your ideal customer (create your Buyer Person), and then locate it. Imagine being the consumer, which one would you choose? What are your objectives? Do you want quick or long-term results? What kind of content can I create? There are very popular platforms but to stand out they require sharing materials such as videos and photos of good quality and highly attractive. Do I have the capacity or the budget to develop them?

There are networks that concentrate the largest number of people, but the variety of purposes, tastes and interests is also greater. They gather all kinds of audiences. Among these the most popular are Facebook, Instagram, Twetter, TikTok, Youtube, Pinterest.

Others have a more defined objective and purpose and the market segmentation is greater. Their objective is to make new contacts and networking. Some of them: LinkedIn, Badoo, MeetUp, Airbnb.

There is plenty of information on each of the social networks that exist, the same platforms provide you with all kinds of reports and statistics: number of users, age of the audience, time spent on the network, their tastes, their interests, the best times of use. It is up to you to analyze which one suits your marketing strategy and which one you can make the most of.

Social media management tools

To improve engagement, you have to manage your social networks excellently. You have to be aware of notifications, create and schedule content, see all interactions, answer your customers, measure the reach, in short, follow step by step your business and marketing strategy.

There are many tools on the market that you can rely on, that increase your effectiveness and save you a lot of time. From free to paid options or a combination.

If you only manage Facebook and Instagram you can lean towards Meta business suite, it is free and available for PC and mobile. It allows you to manage all the activity of both accounts at the same time by centralizing the tools.

If your company has more than two accounts, you can opt for highly professional management platforms such as Buffet analytics, Hootsuite, Metricool, Sprout social, Stacker, among many others.

These allow you to integrate all your accounts, a centralized administration from a single panel, use analysis tools, publish your content, manage comments, and plan publications, as well as generate reports, choose the best schedules according to your audience, integrate with your sales channel, among many others.

When choosing, the cost and support service must be taken into account. They can be used at the same time by several community managers (professional network administrators).