Okay so you’ve set up the social media for your business but now what? Are you using social media to the best of you’re abilities and do you know the benefits of doing so? For those business owners who have created their social media profiles, you’re on the right track but you may be unaware of the amount of time it takes to successfully manage your accounts and the benefits of expanding your social media budget -both of which are key factors to social media success.
The Social Skinny provided the top 10 reasons why businesses should increase their social media budget in 2012. Although this year is coming to an end, these are helpful tips that can also be used when focusing on growing your business in 2013.
I have chosen the top 5 reasons from this list that I believe businesses should focus their attention on when increasing their budget for social media management.
1. Earn Money back with ROI: It’s pretty easy to create a Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, etc. What’s not so easy is maintaining those accounts, which requires research and takes away time that could be focused on other aspects of your business. Lucky for you, there are businesses that specialize in social media management, but with any valuable service it can come with a hefty price attached. Developing a social media strategy for your business may not be cheap but you can gain 5 times more than you spend on management with the ROI. If your business’ social media is well managed, it can easily out perform some of your more expensive marketing techniques and grow customer loyalty.
2. Social Media Analytics: Social media gives you immediate access to important insights about your company. It gathers information about everything from how many people viewed your page in one month to the customer service skills of your receptionist. Many companies shell out large amounts of money to get these insights about their businesses when it’s really unnecessary- it’s provided to you through your social media mediums.
3. Engaging Conversation: To piggy-back off of No.2- If you took a second to think about some of the marketing efforts you have in place for your business, it’s likely that you will find that most of them are communicated in one way to your public through TV commercials, flyers and brochures or websites. As an owner, you have to make a difficult decision about what you believe you’re public wants to know about your business instead of letting them tell you. By using social media, it gives your business the opportunity to hear positive or negative feedback by engaging them in conversation.
4. Target Audience Marketing: By using more of the old-fashioned marketing techniques, your business, is forcing its products or services on its audience. By only using a couple techniques to marketing your business, it can be assumed that out of all the people you try to reach with print or television marketing styles, about half of the people reached will value and retain the information of your message. On the other hand, with social media, the people who like your Facebook or follow your business on Twitter are doing so because they have a standing interest in your products and services and want to continue to receive information. 
5. Company Awareness: Once your customers have connected with you through social media, it’s essential to continue engaging them and keep their support- social media helps in that way. Even on the lower side of social media usage- The Social Skinny explains that if your business posts social media at least once a week, thats one message your customers can expect to see a week directly from your business. So when the time comes that they need your services or products, they will immediately remember your business over others.
Don’t miss out on social media marketing for your business just because you’re resistant to change. Using social media is not a reason to abandon the marketing techniques that you already have in place. Instead, think of it as the missing key piece to a well-rounded marketing strategy your business.
By: Shaleria Faison, Temple Terrace Chamber Intern
templeterracechamber 