I work with a lot of businesses who struggle to answer this question, and we have to explore it quite openly before we can really get in to the bones of the training.
There has to be a reason we do everything in business. An end purpose. And I’m finding a lot of businesses just don’t know what that is when it comes to social media. They want more business. That goes without saying. I haven’t met many businesses that don’t want to grow! But beyond that, many feel they are doing it because they ‘should’. That they don’t want to look old-fashioned.
So, why are you using social media in your business? It could be one big reason. Or it could be many. There are about a thousand different reasons you’re doing it, but here are some of the main ones.
- Brand awareness
- Web traffic
- Lead generation
- Customer service
- PR opportunities
- Networking
- Wowing customers
- Reputation management
- Thought leadership
- Knowledge sharing
- Increase footfall
- Local community involvement
- Advertising opportunities
- Event promotion
- Research
- Increase web sales
- Release new products/services
- Gain speaking opportunities
- Become a key person of influence in your industry
- Generate higher levels of repeat business
Yours might not be on the list. Or you might have a few on the list that you’d like to meet. In fact, you probably want to hit all of them. In which case, I’d try to pick your top three reasons. These form your objectives, which ultimately guide your activity and allow you to measure it.
So, get clear on why you’re using social media and the impact you want it to have on your business. Then get implementing!
