Social Media: Worth the Hype? You Betcha.

Francesca Di Meglio

Social media – particularly reviews and user-generated content – is a necessity for small businesses. It fulfills the desire consumers have to engage with brands, helps build trust and respect, and can boost sales. Yet 34 percent of small business owners say they don’t think social media can provide value for their business, according to data from digital display software provider Enplug (source: Adweek).

For some, social media seems like a lot of work when there are so many other things to do. Yodle alleviates these concerns by helping small business owners build and maintain their Facebook business page. In addition, it helps them easily request reviews from happy customers and post them to their Facebook page and website.

Still, company owners have to first become believers. If you’re on the fence about whether social media can help your business, here are some reasons you should reconsider:

You’re missing a chance to build trust in your brand.
The study, for which Enplug commissioned the market research firm YouGov to survey 506 small business owners and 1,155 consumers, also showed that more than half of consumers said they would be somewhat or very influenced to think more positively about a company after seeing online praise. Apparently, social media is the new word of mouth marketing.

Consumers want to give you a standing ovation.
One in 7 customers only leave positive feedback on social media, according to Enplug. Similarly, our recent Yolde survey found that the customers who are most likely to review your business are the happy ones. So what’s holding you back from sharing all those sung praises with the world?

You’re denying your company the chance to improve.
Even the negative comments or customer service requests on social media can be helpful. It keeps you in the know and gives you an opportunity to scan feedback for patterns. If there’s a legitimate problem with a product or service, you can address it. If there are improvements that the public seems to want, you’ll be among the first to know.

It’s an affordable way to promote your business.
Most social media sites are free. It costs nothing to set up a page, which serves as another venue to help your business’ name rise in results pages on search engines, and makes it possible to share promotions, answer questions, and alert customers to relevant news.

While it’s sometimes hard to wrap your head around relatively new trends in business, it behooves owners to follow the customer. If consumers are putting an emphasis on reviews and user-generated content, then you need to make yourself open to it. Or else you might lose valuable business. And who can really afford to do that?

What kind of presence do you have on social media? How did you get started? Let us know in the comments below.

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