Social Media is a relatively new kind of media, involving both listening and talking online. It’s about engaging strangers as much as it’s about engaging with friends. It’s done every day by many thousands of people in your area.
If you sell products you can be assured that your customers are using Twitter or Facebook right now, sharing tips and asking for advice on your products. They are even complaining about brands like yours.
Maybe you provide a service? Maybe you’re a lawyer or even a doctor. Your customers are online today – people in your area – letting their followers and friends know about their upcoming trip to your office probably before your receptionist even writes the appointment in your diary.
There are an endless number of ways that social media and business are coming together. The point here is that if you ignore these people, your business will suffer. Immensely. The only real choice you have right now is to engage these people, to meet them where they’re gathering. And if you want to your business to profit, you need to do it now.
To provide a better understanding of why you might need a dedicated Social Media Manager, here’s 8 reasons for you to consider:
1. The Penalty Box
In Rugby if a player commits a serious foul then the referee can penalise them and they end up in the penalty box. Their team is forced to go a man down for a while. If you aren’t using social media to engage users every day in multiple ways and on multiple social networks then you’re essentially a member of the penalised team. Compared to your competitors who are already using social media to get new customers, you’re already behind the 8-ball. And if you aren’t even a member of any of these highly used social media sites, how can you ever know what is being said about you or your business by your customers or potential customers?
2. Your Social Media Manager is your Extra Man
The reverse is also true – if you start using social media with a clear plan and strategy then you develop a major competitive advantage. It is now you who is playing with the extra man. You create the opportunity to be one of the first in your industry to build a loyal following. Yes, the technology is considerable, but it’s also young. No one owns the space yet. Now you have the opportunity to do what you know you should have done when the first wave of internet successes started coming into existence well over a decade ago.
You don’t have a choice about entering the game – it’s already started, but you’re just standing there watching the other players run rings around you. The only choice you really have is which team you want to play on – the one that is actually playing the game, or the one that’s just standing around doing nothing.
3. Developing a Community
The biggest benefit in using Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn is the ability for you to build a community around your service or product. If you sell products how valuable would it be for you to have tens of thousands of people excited about your product that you have contact with? What if you could even have them eagerly help you develop your new products, test them for you, and then spread the good word to their friends? If they all did that (and they likely will if you do this properly) then that would make you some serious money, and would do wonders for you brand reputation as well.
Community is about engaging with people. It’s about listening to them, and responding appropriately. It’s NOT just broadcasting about me, me, me or your new idea. It’s about caring for other people. Do this, and you’ll help your brand and reputation in ways that will always have people eager to help you accomplish your goals and build your business.
4. Your Reputation is Important
What have people said today about you, your company or your competitors on Twitter or Facebook?
What about this week?
When you use a Social Media Manager you’ll always know.
It’s incredibly valuable for your business when an annoyed customer complains about you online and you are able to spot it and respond constructively and positively within hours or minutes. Your relationship with them hasn’t just been preserved, it’s been enhanced. Being able to collect the things people are saying about you (good or bad), and magnify their exposure is very powerful.
5. You Have No Idea What You’re Doing
No disrespect intended, but it’s probably true that 90% of Australian business owners have little or no idea how to properly tap into and exploit using social media for their business – including those who are already playing with it.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Which platforms would you use as part of your social media strategy?
- How would you maximise the impact of your social media strategies?
- How would you build the right audience for your business?
- How would you use social interest to convert it into quantifiable results?
- How would you define your social media KPIs and how would you measure them?
A Social Media Manager can answer those questions and be a game changer for your business.
6. You have no time to do it properly
You can tweet a few times each day. You can add updates to a Facebook page. You can reply to a few comments here and there. But if you’re busy running your business the reality is that you don’t have the capacity to engage in social media in a way that will achieve results for your business. You will be unable to fully exploit the enormous opportunities that social media presents.
7. Your website isn’t very good
When you go to someone’s house for the first time, what do you do? You probably look around at their photos, check out any books and magazines you see lying around, and form a picture of who this person is by what you see and read. The same is true of your website – it needs to be a window onto who you are. People that come to your website need to feel like they know you and your business. It’s important for them to see pictures, learn what you’re interested in, and read all about you.
Here’s the thing – all you need to do is make sure you’re more interesting than an advertisement. You need to make sure your visitors get to know you just a little bit better than they know your competitors. That’s all. Make a personal connection with them via your website and they’ll trust you. There’s also a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) reasons why your website is important to your business. The bottom line is that you’ve got to have a great website for social engagement – and I would guess you don’t at the moment. A Social Media Manager can fix that for you.
8. You’re not keeping track
It doesn’t matter what it is – if you’re not measuring it, it’s impossible to know how well – or how badly – it’s doing.
Periodically, detailed reports should be provided. They can tell you exactly how you’re doing across the range of social media platforms you’re active on. Social Media Managers can track and report to you on your progress and relevant trends.
Social Media is transforming the way the world does business. The implications are huge and the rewards are enormous for those businesses with the wisdom and the foresight to get involved – properly.
There’s a window of opportunity open right now but which is likely to close in the future. You might be one of the minority of business owners who has enough technical knowledge to know what to do to properly use social media to build your business, but the reality is you don’t have the necessary time to devote to do it properly. You’re missing out. In a big way.
If you don’t know what to do, or you aren’t doing it, that’s why you need a dedicated Social Media Manager.
What next?
If you’re interested in discussing with me how I can assist you and your business as your Social Media Manager, please get in touch with me (contact details below).
I have over 7 years’ experience with social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn. I can set up professional pages and profiles for your business and brand recognition, and constantly update your social media profiles (via ongoing communications with your business representative/s) and monitor the social interactions across the networks, providing you with regular reports on progress.
How much?
My fees for this service will be up to you. Other Social Media Managers with my knowledge and experience usually earn from $60-$100 per hour or even more.
Every time I provide you with a social media progress report, I can include the hours I spent engaged as your Social Media Manager since the previous report, and you can provide a payment that you feel is appropriate.
Contact me today to discuss how I can help you as your Social Media Manager.