The importance of social media in today's market
The importance of social media has increased dramatically over recent years and should not be underestimated. Social media is a way for people to interact online, and provides businesses with an opportunity to engage with countless potential customers easily and at once.
Even the least technical person can tap into the pool of customers who are interacting and looking for information, recommendations and entertainment. If you’re not out there interacting with them, they will go elsewhere. Building relationships with customers is key as this will build loyalty and eventually result in customers becoming advocates of your product or service. This is priceless as information can be shared through social media at an amazingly fast pace, and people far prefer a personal recommendation than an impersonal advertisement.
The importance of social media cannot be overstated as the statistics are overwhelming. Twitter is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life with 15 million users in the UK, up from 10 million in May 2012. There are a staggering 9,100 tweets every second of the day worldwide! Half of the UK population have Facebook accounts, with just over 31 million users and although there were 1.5 million more last year, it remains the single largest concentration of consumers on any social platform.
Smartphone ownership is increasing all the time, with 51% of mobile phone owners in the UK having one. As people are increasingly using their mobile phones for internet access, (80% of Twitter users activate on mobiles), it is important that your website is highly responsive, which good website designers should ensure in any case.
Like an SEO plan, social media isn’t something you can add on at the end of your marketing and advertising strategy. It needs to be fully integrated. Make it a core part of your operations as early as possible to ensure you benefit from its meteoric rise and gain maximum benefit to your branding.
