Youve heard it before.
Its no longer acceptable for small businesses to forego activity on social media.
But chances are, as a business owner with a vast array of responsibilities, writing tweets and posting photos to Instagram isnt high on your priority list. And thats okay because with the help of a seasoned social media manager, you can strengthen your businesss online presence.
A social media manager can be an invaluable addition to your small businesss marketing team. Having a social media marketer on staff can help your businesss operations improve in a variety of different ways, and its more than worth the recruiting and on-boarding expenses.
1. A Professional Managing Social Media
While its great to have an existing employee pitching in with social media efforts, youre better off hiring a social media expert to manage these tasks. Instead of just posting at random, this individual can create a strategic plan to help your business get the most out of your social presence.
If you and your other employees dont have any social media marketing experience, the time that youre spending posting to these channels may be a waste. By hiring a professional, youll be confident in the time and resources that are being spent in this area.
During the interview process, ask them to produce a sample social media plan, so that you can see what their vision is for your business. As an experienced social media marketer, they should know how often to post on each platform and the type of content that performs best. This exercise will help you determine if candidates have a grasp on your business and how social media can increase sales and elevate customer service, to name a few goals.
2. Have Time to Focus on Other Initiatives
If you or your employees have social media on your to-do list, itll be a huge relief to give up this role to someone else. Maybe youve been trying to build your social presence, and due to this, other aspects of your business have been put on the backburner. By hiring a social media manager, youll have time to focus on new projects and leave the social media work to your new hire.
3. Consistent Social Content
Theres nothing worse than searching for a company on social media, only to find that their page hasnt been updated in ages. A social media manager will make it their main priority to post consistently on each platform. Theyll also know what type of content will be best received on each platform instead of just posting the same message on each profile your business has.
Posting consistently will help you build your social media following. If youre currently having a difficult time attracting new followers, posting on a regular basis could be the change you need to make. For instance, Google+ users who posted consistently and then decreased their frequency saw their traffic drop up to 50%. This is why it is important to stay steady when it comes to social!
By posting consistent social content, youll also have another way to drive traffic to your businesss website. Your new manager will be able to do this by sharing blog posts, exclusive offers, and other links that will lead followers back to your website. Think about it having these social posts is another way to convince prospective customers to check out what your business is offering.
4. Someone to Respond to Social Messages
It can be difficult to respond to customers on social media, in addition to other platforms like customer relationship management (CRM) programs, email, and voicemail, to name a few. A social media manager will be responsible for handling social media messages, so you wont risk ignoring customers or waiting too long to respond.
Many business owners dont realize that social media isnt just for advertising products or services its a customer management tool, too. You may not realize it, but customers expect your business to provide customer service through mediums like Facebook, but only 23 percent actually deliver it. This also goes for Twitter 70 percent of customer service complaints go unanswered by businesses.
If you ignore feedback on social media you may lose them as a customer. According to an Forbes, 66 percent of consumers stopped doing business with a company after receiving poor customer service on social media. Neglecting social media in your customer service efforts could risk customer retention, and lessen the likelihood that you acquire new clientele through this medium.
Thats why your social media manager should interact daily with customers through social media; youll likely see your customer satisfaction rise. Using social media for customer service will allow you to quickly respond to customers, and will also serve as a good PR opportunity.
Think about it if a customer sees that your business is dedicated to promptly responding to customer questions and concerns on social media, theyll see that you value each and every one of your patrons. They will also appreciate that you arent just utilizing social media to promote your products or services youll also be using it to meet build relationships.
5. Boost Brand Engagement
If you arent currently using social media to its full potential in terms of branding, thats where a social media manager will be of benefit. Hire a social media manager whos creative and can bring fresh ideas to the table. Theyll be able to ensure that your businesss brand is well represented on each social media platform.
This can mean sharing customer testimonials, promoting company culture, or simply better reflecting your companys brand. Think about it how do you want to represent your business on social media? And what do you want potential customers to see when they visit your profiles?
It is vital that they get clear insight into what your business does, and how it stands out against competitors. Your social media profiles are the perfect place to refine your brand experience, so make sure that this is a project that your new social media manager focuses on.
6. A New Avenue to Generate New Customers
Your social media manager will know how to post your businesss newest offers on social media, through both paid and organic efforts. Through social media you can connect with new customers, and now youll have someone fully focusing on this initiative.
As we mentioned, social media is a viable way to master customer service and branding. But ultimately, remember, you should always be looking to obtain new customers through all your marketing efforts.
How your social media manager does this will depend on the type of business you own. For example, if your run a restaurant, your social media manager should focus on promoting images of your restaurants cuisine and ambiance. In comparison, a business in the service industry will benefit from sharing customer testimonials.
Of course, as with any marketing idea, your social media manager will need to try different sales tactics to see what works. This means they should be set up with appropriate analytics tools, so that they can examine how many leads your efforts are producing.
