For marketers, social media represents a powerful distribution tool. In addition to making it easy to push content through to followers, it also offers a high potential for conversions, leads, and engagement. But did you know that social media for business can be much more than just a marketing tool? To learn more about the multiple uses of social media, read on.
How Can You Use Social Media For Business?
If you’ve been using social media as a marketing tool and nothing else, your world is about to get a whole lot bigger. The benefits of social media are nearly limitless. Some of the most popular alternate uses for social platforms include the following:
1. Content Repurposing
Content is tough to create. Once you’ve put out an extensive blog post or a labor-intensive video series, the last thing you want to do is let it waste away in the dredges of your website. Luckily, social media is here to save the day. Because of its large user base and potential for broad exposure, social media is the ideal place to repurpose old content.
Consider breaking a fact-dense blog down into a week-long series of Tweets, converting a whitepaper into a SlideShare presentation, or simply sharing a piece of evergreen content with your followers. By using social channels to repurpose your content, you extend the life of your material while also providing value to your social followers.
2. Polling Your Readers
One of the best ways to ensure you’re meeting your viewers’ needs is to ask them. Luckily, social media is a perfect place to do this. Are you struggling to come up with content topics or wondering if your new website design is working for your followers? Your social pages are a wonderful place to harvest feedback. Simply use a polling app like Poll to set up easy surveys and gain additional information about your fans.
3. Product Insight & Development
If you sell a physical product, your social interactions with customers will be a fantastic litmus test for whether the product is working and how you could improve. This is especially true since Facebook introduced “Reactions” earlier this year, an emoji-based commenting function that allows followers to react to your posts in a variety of visual ways. Pay attention to these and written comments to adjust and develop your products accordingly.
4. Customer Service
In recent years, companies around the world have started using social media as a platform for customer service. In addition to being simple for the client, this is also an effective way for a company to build a rapport with users. Beware, though, if you decide to take this step, that 42% of customers who lodge a complaint on social media expect the company to respond within 60 minutes. It’s wise to check in as frequently as possible.
5. Hiring
Ever thought of hiring on social channels? Now may be the time to consider it. Sites like LinkedIn have long been used for networking and recruitment, but platforms like Facebook are becoming popular for the purpose, as well.
Social Media: So Much More Than a Marketing Tool
While social media is a powerful marketing platform, it also has many other benefits for marketers in all industries. By exercising these things accordingly, it’s easy to make your social platforms work for your company and increase your closeness to your customers.
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