Why Should My Business Care about Social Media?

Michael Copeland is an online business consultant helping businesses get online and how to traverse the Social Media Landscape. His blog is @ http://SocialMediaLandscape.com

I get this question from local businesses and potential clients all the time.  After I take the time to explain the benefits of Social Media to them, they are awe struck!

Well I should say most of them are.  There are a few, a very small few, who only look at measurable results and measure things in ROI (Return on Investment).  The problem is, you can’t put a value on a conversation or a contact.  I like what Jason Falls had to say about it:

“The problem with trying to determine ROI for social media is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are not quantifiable.”

If this is true, then how can I bring a budget to the board, or to the CEO, or to the President?

Let’s start by asking some questions of your business as it is now:

1.  Is your business currently involved in conversations about your product or industry?

2.  What are people saying about your business, on the Social Media Landscape, vs your competitors?

3.  Does your business maintain a dialog with it’s clients?

4.  Do people know, like, and trust your business and employees?

1.  Lets look at what some of the companies who are embracing Social Media are doing.  Let’s look at Comcast.  Customers of Comcast can use the micro-blog Twitter to reach customer service.  Customers using this method of contact have seen their reported problems resolved within 24 hours!

2.  Motrin created a website which was targeted at moms.  The video at the site showed (in cartoon) a mom wearing a baby carrier and went on to say that it’s a pain and it’s time to take care of yourself with some Motrin.

However, there was a huge backlash from women all across the Social Media Landscape.  I joined the conversation on Twitter, and let me tell you, it was heated!  Women took multiple points of view on the subject but the backlash on Motrin was so great, that they removed the site that very day.
There were so many people talking about it all at once, it created a groundswell.  This registered on many of the web monitoring sites as a spike in searches and traffic to Motrin.com to see the video.  The problem is, Motrin didn’t enter the conversation.  It was more like they cowered in the corner and hid.  If they would have asked the visitors one question, things could have been a lot different.  Jeremiah Owyang had a great suggestion on his blog. He suggested that they ask the question: “What pains you?”
Something as simple as that could have changed everything.  But let’s not just look at Motrin here.  Where were Tylenol and the others in this conversation.  This was huge and yet none of them were involved in the conversation about mothers and their pain!

So are you keeping abreast of the conversations going on about your business or your industry or your targeted market?

Photo Credit: Kirsty Pargeter

3.  Just like in #1 above, maintaining a dialog with your clients is important.  What was mentioned in #1 was how customers could contact the business for support.  That’s great, but what about the company contacting its customers or clients on an ongoing basis?
Sites like Facebook allow “Fan Pages” to be built.  This allows people, who are a fan of your business or product or CEO, whatever, to say: “This is cool and I’m a fan!”
Big deal you say?  Well yes, it is a big deal.  Why?  Because you can communicate with all of your fans!  Your fan page keeps track of visitors, where they went and what they did while there.  On top of that, you can send an update to ALL of your fans.  So if you have 18,200 people who are fans of yours, you can send them a message giving them a coupon or special discount to encourage them to buy from you.
Remember though, Facebook is just one site on the Social Media Landscape.  There are thousands of other sites where YOUR potential customers and current customers are.  They are involved in conversations, maybe with each other, and could be talking about your product or service.
Creating an account on some of the sites on the Social Media Landscape is an easy thing to do.  Sending out a message to say hi to your current customers would make them more loyal.  The more loyal they are, the louder they get about how much they love your business.  These people will be your evangelists on the social networks.  All you have to do is continue to give them fuel to add to their fire and you have a great relationship.

4. Combining everything together will get people to notice you or your business.  Just by being where your potential clients hang out, will get you noticed.  By entering conversations, providing great content, and LISTENING, people will get to know your business on a more personal level.

When it comes down to it, people buy things from people.  If they know you, by interacting with you or just listening to your conversations, they may begin to like you.  If they like what you have to say then they may trust you.  When they trust you, they will buy from you.

But it’s not about the sale. – No!  It’s about the relationship you created.  Creating relationships with your customers is the key to long lasting return patronage.  Why do you go to the same hair stylist?  Why do you continue to go to the same store?  It’s because of the people.

I personally drive 30 minutes to shop at Best Buy.  I have a Best Buy 10 min from my house, but the customer service is better at the one farther away.  It is because people buy things from people.

This holds true no matter where the sale takes place.  With Social Media, you are able to reach people on a more personal level.  It’s not just about having a site anymore.  It’s about having a relationship.  When you have that, you will see amazing results.

So why should YOU care about Social Media? I’d love to hear your thoughts.