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Percentage social media

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The whistle’s blown on another football season and with it the Match of the Day pundits’ weekly serving up of trademark clichés.  To fill the void, some PR punditry, inspired by classic “percentage football” – here’s why every business should do more than take a punt on social media.

The fact you’re reading this blog post means you’re probably among the 80 per cent of small to mid-sized businesses who plan to get stuck into the social media game in 2013.

Perhaps you’ve already played on Facebook, but your customers are among the 52 per cent of users who have stopped following a brand like yours because of boring posts.

Or maybe you’re among the 34 per cent of marketers who have already set up positive leads on Twitter, but now want your sales department to hit the back of the social media net even more prolifically.

At the end of the day, whatever your experience in the social media game, give yourself a big pat on the back for getting chalk on your boots and taking part.

Those who turn their backs on social media are scoring a major own goal.

Your future customers are three-year-olds who already have mouth-watering iPad skills, but can’t read a book to save their lives.  And as for your current customers, the chances are they’re among the 1 billion Facebook fans or 500 million Twitter players.

Put simply:  if you give social media 110 per cent, you’ll soon be on the road to success with plenty of green grass in front of you.  If nothing else, your customers expect you to put in a good shift online.

Ignore fans at your peril:  about 80 per cent of consumers today prefer to connect with brands through social media.  Unbelievably, that doesn’t stop 55 per cent of customer tweets being ignored by companies.  These businesses are also probably missing the opportunity to attract new customers on social networks – not to mention the attention of journalists wanting to find out more about them, or their services and products.

Forget the offside rule for now, follow these five for your business’ social media promotion:

Invest time – be patient
Unlike Premiership success, you don’t need to be an oligarch or sheikh to succeed in social media.  Your most important investment is time.  You need this to build trust, friends, followers and visitors. Don’t convince yourself you have better things to do. Social media could be an untapped gold mine for your business.

Listen
Spend lots of your time doing this, so you can engage sincerely and at the same time, research your market.

Shout in the right places
Find out what social media networks your fans socialise on and what their online habits are.

Become the John Motson of your sector
Content is king!  If you endeavour to be the leading expert in your field, people will listen and engage with you.  Post useful comments and be available to answer questions to really stand out from the competition.

Invest in new talent
If your squad hasn’t got cup-winning social media skills, the hairdryer treatment might not be enough.  Sign up the right talent to influence the team and utilise social media to its full potential.  It’ll pay for itself in back of the net results.

To avoid a dip in your business’ or brand’s social media form, get in touch for the perfect team talk and winning tactics.