Social media marketing enthusiasts tend to be enthusiastic about just how effective their efforts are. Not all business owners who hear the pitch can immediately understand just what Facebook "Likes" and Twitter "Tweets" can do for their business. People engaged in business tend to want to hear specifics that relate to their bottom line. Focusing on ROI and other metrics is a great way for social media marketers to help justify their expense. But focusing metrics only on sales and revenue could cause you to miss the boat when it comes to finding out what your clients really want.
One fact that small business owners might overlook, but really shouldn't, is that social media is the perfect place to get feedback from clients and prospects.
Business Exposure
Social media marketing serves the general function of helping to promote your business to existing clients and to prospective ones. Social media marketing is cost-effective and is extremely common among organizations that want to sell online. Many people who use social networks extensively can no longer be marketed to by traditional means, so reaching them on this channel is critical.
Building Strategic Relationships
Social media marketing is great for building strategic relationships. When all is said and done, social networks are excellent contact managers. People update their LinkedIn profiles and Facebook pages, which is great for businesses who need to keep in touch with them. Using these systems for contact empowers small businesses to build strong, lasting strategic relationships.
Understanding Your Customers
The most important function of social media marketing is it gives your business or organization a real chance to glean insights from your customers. Never before has it been easier to poll them or to directly ask them how they feel about your products or services. If you view your social media efforts as one dimensional and just broadcast your thoughts to the public, you miss out on the key element of engagement. Engaging with your clients gives them a chance to tell you how to make your products or services better. Using social media marketing tactics, you'll be able to get enough information from them to build the 'perfect' product. With tons of feedback, you're bound to have a lot of satisfied clients and enough ammo to hunt for even more.
Social media might be a direct sales channel for some companies, but likely won't be for most. Instead, savvy organizations are using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ in order to learn everything they can about their clients and what they want. Using social media tools to learn more about who your perfect client is and how you can help them is a low-cost way to increase sales and customer satisfaction.