For the past few years there has been a massive rise in the use of social media not just for personal use but increasingly it is a vital tool for any business to target all of their customers and not just the young and trendy ones. If we had a &1 for every time someone said to us that they don’t use social media as it’s only for young people. This has always been a myth, social media has since the early days been used by all age groups and that includes the over 65’s and this is increasingly the case. Here are some recent stats for usage in 2014 from Ofcom some of which may surprise you:

THE HARD FACTS
Most popular UK social media sites:
40 million YouTube.
35.1 million Facebook
11.9 million Twitter
11.3 million LinkedIn
8.8 million Google Plus
0.9 million Myspace
0.4 million Friends Reunited

Did you know?
Social media usage in the UK has increased from 30% of all adults in 2009 to 54% of all adults in 2014.
On average UK adults spend 51 minutes a day using social media.
There are 83.1 million mobile phones in the UK.
8 hours a month on average is spent on Facebook.
77% of all UK households have broadband.
79% of homes have a PC or laptop.
61% of all adults own a smartphone.

Adults over 65
50% overall have internet access at home.
66% of adults 65 to 74 have internet access.
19% play games on social media, the highest of any age group.

We think these stats speak for themselves as to why businesses need to be on social media but we thought we would give you 5 compelling reasons why your business needs to be pro-active on social media.

WHY BUSINESS SHOULD USE SOCIAL MEDIA
1. Word of Mouth – Word of mouth is the best way of getting new customers right? Yes it is but the power of social media is that where as word of mouth recommendations can maybe reach up to a dozen people. If you effectively use social media you can reach thousands of people and if you are lucky enough to go viral millions. Just one retweet on twitter can get to a much wider audience than traditional advertising or someone sharing your content on Facebook. Much more than that though the people who then see it trust it and are therefore far more likely to buy from you.

2. Small businesses can compete with large – In the past small businesses have struggled to get seen by their customers or potential customers as they are simply out spent by the big brands and it was hard to be visible in the marketplace. This has changed with social media and if you do social media correctly you can interact with your potential customers just as effectively as the big brands. And with people losing faith with large brands they are more likely to interact with a small business than a large one.

3. Increase traffic to your website – The search engines love social media, where using social media effectively will draw traffic to your website and you can measure this using the likes of Google Analytics. But more than that, if you use social media and promote your website more you are more likely to draw additional traffic to your website and research shows that people trust companies who use social media more than those who don’t.

4. You are visible daily – If you use social media effectively you will be seen by your existing and potential customers more regularly, reminding them that you are there and giving them reasons to visit your business or go on your website. More than that you go from being a faceless company to one with personality which makes it much more compelling to buy from you.

5. It won’t break the bank – Social media doesn’t cost as much as traditional advertising and we would argue it is much more targeted and measurable than traditional advertising. If you do it yourself it won’t cost you a penny, that said Facebook and Twitter advertising is worth considering as you can do it from &3 a day and the tools are so targeted that you can pin point the customers that you want for your business. In order to get you started it is worth commissioning a company like Bright Light Marketing to start you off on your journey. But all in all social media marketing is just a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

TAKE THE PLUNGE
If you don’t use social media to promote your business we would recommend that you do and if you are only doing it on an ad hoc basis we would recommend that you communicate with your audience on a daily basis. Bright Light Marketing can help to start you off on your journey or we can handle your social media account for you.

But don’t just take our word for it; here is what client Eileen Pheasant from Reiver Recruitment said on the subject:

“For quite a long time, Reiver Recruitment had been looking to take the step (or leap) into the social media forum, but literally had no idea where to begin. Enlisting the services of Bright Light Marketing has given us the focus and realisation of where this medium can take us, as well as giving us the push to step out from behind our ‘corporate’ identity and align our individual personalities with our already engaged audience. We aim to continue the trend established by Bright Light Marketing, and continue to grow our social media presence.

Thank you Bright Light – thanks to you it is now onwards and upwards from here!”

For an informal chat about how Bright Light Marketing can help you to grow your business using social media, give Fiona Drane a call on 01750 505052 or email fiona.drane@brightlightmarketing.co.uk.