Recently, I was asked to write a case study for a company that was considering integrating a social media presence into its marketing strategy. The challenging part of this request was that the executives weren't really sold on the idea of social media. Their industry isn't exactly what some might refer to as a "natural" in the social media world.
We've probably all noticed that the restaurant, bar and general entertainment industries have had big success with social media. In every city in the world, thousands of people eat at restaurants, watch sports in bars and attend comedy shows in nightclubs. And guess what? They talk about it in the social media space. Below is a perfect example I came across on Facebook today (names and avatar images have been blocked out to preserve anonymity).
This is an example of a bar that has a business page on Facebook. A random customer reached out to them on Friday and, within two days, the venue agreed to open earlier (and provide free food!) for him and his friends so they can see the first pitch of a baseball game.
What did this do for the business? I bet that customer will now visit this venue even more frequently. I bet he told his friends about how he convinced a bar to open early for the first game of the season. I bet their friends told more friends. I also happen to know that this particular bar has only been open for about a month. Talk about great customer service right out of the gate!
One of the points I made to my hesitant potential clients is this: Social media is word of mouth on steroids. It doesn't matter what industry you are in as a business owner. If your customers are in the social media space, you should be too.
From my research, consider this:
- 1382%: The growth rate of Twitter users in one month (Jan-Feb 2009)
- 3 million: The average number of tweets sent via Twitter every day in 2009
- 5 billion: The average number of minutes spent on Facebook every day in 2009
- 100 million: The number of YouTube videos watched every day in 2009
- 2/3 of the global internet population uses social media
- Right now, time spent on social media networks is growing at 3x the overall internet rate
Yet, people still ask: Why is social media important?
Let's put the stats aside and say you own a small local bank. You can bet your bananas that 75 percent of your customers are probably talking on social media in some form. If one of them has a bad experience at your bank and posts this on Facebook or Twitter, this is potentially a loss of customers for you simply through negativity. However, what if you saw this negative post? What if you were able to respond to it and make right what went wrong in a public forum? Think of the respect you'd garner by not only the customer who had the bad experience, but other potential and current customers as well.
Social media is an outlet for public relations, customer service, loyalty building, collaboration, networking and customer retainment and acquisition.
Social media humanizes businesses and builds credibility. It fosters relationships we already have and creates new ones. Social media use is increasing every day. Why wouldn't businesses be communicating with people in the places where the conversations are taking place?
I don't yet know if the case study I wrote helped me win a new client. Either way, it was a great exercise, because it reminded me why social media is so important in the business world.
