This week I read an article about a company that actually used Twitter to build their business & in doing so have completely eliminated the need for cold calling, surely a good thing! Does cold calling actually work? Well many salespeople swear by it, but the problem is you’ve no way of knowing how that person is going to react, when I get called in the evening by someone trying to sell me a mobile phone contract I’m really not very impressed!
So here’s one of the things I love about social media, it allows you to reach target customers without interrupting people when they’re otherwise engaged. It allows you to increase awareness of your organisation & increase traffic to your website, which in turn will hopefully increase sales. It also allows you to monitor what is being said about your company, which can only be beneficial.
However social media is no use on its own, it needs to be part of a wider marketing strategy, it’s just one part of creating your companies identity & brand. At this point I do need to point out that I’m not trying to set myself up as a social media expert, because quite frankly I don’t think there are any.
At this stage there is a real lack of understanding of the possibilities of social media, most companies are just experimenting with it in a measured way. In a report by Harvard Business Review only 12% of companies asked, actually thought they were using social media effectively, 45% felt they were getting there & 43% felt it was ineffective.
So my point is, if you haven’t started using social media yet then you’re not too late. The idea must be to start small & build it up gradually learning as you go. You will very quickly find that once you’ve begun using one social networking site that a natural progression follows and the great thing is there are so many ways of linking it with all your other marketing.
It’s time to start experimenting & enjoy the learning curve, I am.
If you need further help or advice then red desk VA can guide you through the process & show you where to start, contact me at lindsay@reddesk.co.uk
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