Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and the list goes on. There are so many social media outlets your business could be utilizing on a daily basis to increase networking. Below I’ve given you a few reasons why I think having a social media presence is super Important for your business and customers.

5 Reasons your business would benefit from having a social media site:

EVERYONE HAS IT.

Everyone and their mom have social media.. maybe even their grandma. It isn’t just the millennials that have social media accounts. Social media has had such a dominant presence in all of our lives. Whether it’s Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or something else, social media is here to stay. Thinking about this from a marketing standpoint — if 81% of people have at least one social media account, according to statistics, what better place to get your business noticed? EIGHTY PERCENT. 80. Eight zero. That's a large number. I’m serious guys... ask your grandma. You may be surprised to hear she actually does know what a Snapchat filter is.

ACCESSIBILITY.

Social media is one of the easiest things for people to have access to. Unlike a phone book, social media apps are directly on people’s cell phones. Within two seconds you can literally unlock your phone, open an app, and start scrolling. If you have an account for your business, its extremely easy to add a photo and talk about what specials, deals, menu options, live bands, or whatever else your business has to offer with the click of a button (or a tap of the iPhone, either way). If social media is constantly with a person throughout their day — in their purse, back pocket, or briefcase — why wouldn’t you want your business to have a presence when it’s THAT easy for people to access.

HASHTAGS.

Guys — hashtags will become your best friend. If you’re reading this and haven’t ever heard of what a hashtag is I will do my best to explain briefly. Hashtags are words or phrases that begin with a pound symbol (#) and are used to identify pictures or messages surrounding specific topics. For example, if you’re selling furniture, you can upload a photo to Instagram with a series of hashtags such as — #furnituresale #newfurniturearrivals #furniturestore, OR if you own a coffee shop you can do the same thing with hashtags such as — #localfreshbrew #greenvillecoffee #coffeeshop. Once you add these hashtags people on social media can search specific ones and every post with that hashtag under it will immediately show up on their phone. So picking a catchy hashtag you could add to every photo is a good idea because then you create a personal hashtag that only will be identified with your brand! So when people search #greencoffeecouch every post you’ve ever put up with that hashtag will pop right up on customer’s phones. It’s really neat. (I know that wasn’t the best catchy hashtag example but ya know, hopefully, you get the point.)

COMPETITION.

If you haven’t taken a second to look up some of your competitors to see if they have a social media presence — you should. You may find yourself pretty surprised that most places do. Antique stores, coffee shops, pizza places, furniture stores, car dealerships, and many more businesses have prominent social media presences. Not having a social media presence will definitely put you as a runner-up in comparison to the competitors who are using it. You are missing out on a huge network of people by not taking a few minutes to figure out what social media is really all about. Instagram, for example, actually offers many really useful resources for business accounts. These include an immediate contact button at the top of your profile in which a person can send you an email inquiring about something on your page with the click of one button. They also offer a directions button for users looking at your Instagram account that will instantly put your business address into their GPS app on their phone to make it that much easier to get to you. Did you know about 50% of all Instagram users follow at least one business if not more? Around 60% of people say they have learned about new products through Instagram as well. I’m telling you guys, coming from me — someone in their early twenties — the businesses and products I have discovered through Instagram has been endless.  GET INSTAGRAM. Your business will thank you.

WORD OF MOUTH.

Whenever I find a new store, or coffee shop, or restaurant, through social media and it appears they have nice things, prices, and a cute shop? I always tell my friends and we all go and check it out together. If I do this, I can’t be the only person who does this. Online social networking gives you the chance to tell your customers a visual story about your business. You can share your company values, interests, campaigns, and so on, through social media marketing. For example, one of my really good friends is SUPER eco-friendly. So she’ll search hashtags for eco-friendly stores and restaurants and takes an extra initiative to check these places out. Whatever your business values are — you can use social media to express these values with customers who will connect with your mission as a company. When one person connects with your business, it’s only a matter of time before they tell people, who tell people, who tell their family, who also tells people, who tell more people, who tell their family….AND you get it.

So needless to say, social media is extremely important and will help your business grow a lot. Yes, it does take some time to effectively run a social media account but a lot of businesses these days hire a person to do it for them. There’s actually a specific job title out there called a “Social Media Manager,” that pays pretty well. There are many different social media apps with many different positive marketing features to help your business. SO — take a deep breath, and just look into it some. You’ll be glad you did. After a while, it becomes quite fun because people will begin posting about YOU on their social media accounts with thousands of followers and honestly, what more would you want?

Sending positive social media vibes your way!

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