Social media, together with other digital platforms are undeniably here to stay. If their role should ever be substituted by another revolution, it will certainly take hundreds of decades considering the significant changes the world has seen over the years. Imperatively, systems and structures are migrating unto digital platforms and so, the prudent thing to do now is not to miss the bus [or the flight if you love heights]! Evidence abounds all over, particularly with how it has changed the way a lot of things are done; say, the way we communicate, interact, and also how we transact business.
Perhaps, the critical inquiry to make is, “Which aspect of digital media is for me and my brand?” The question as to whether or not digital media platforms are for you is one which has long been answered; jump onto that digital train!
Although some institutions took some time to come around, we are all here now. Banks started going paperless a few years ago and the idea was coupled with a gradual adoption of e-payment and other online transaction methods. Now, these financial institutions are in turbo-speed mode—gradually, almost every single transaction can be made without any physical interaction. The concern of losing human touch in this entire digital journey is one we will attempt to discuss in a sequel to this piece.
For the purpose of this discourse, the emphasis is on the adoption of digital platforms, particularly social media for personal and business purposes. With approximately 3 billion people utilizing one or more social media platforms over the world, it is a no-brainer to take steps to centralize your brand and business operations around it.
The effectiveness of social media cumulates in its function as an engagement platform, a place for consumer behavior survey, a content management tool, and more importantly, a haven for marketing options.
Our use of social media is generally informed by what our personal brand represents; that is, the kind of business we are in and perhaps the products and services we produce or render respectively. In whichever scope we identify with, our adoption and approach to digital media can be exponential if we clearly map out the numerous benefits we could derive from it, so as to leverage on them.
Publishing
Writing, as a knowledge merchant, comes with what I do. An effective way to manage my content has been to employ the use of social media. I post regularly on the platforms I am on for my readers and audience. For LinkedIn in particular, the feature that allows you to post articles is by far a very effective one, which I personally think a lot of users are yet to fully adopt; you get to gradually build and curate your content on such a platform. One of my books, ’31 days of Inspiration’ was refined from some of my posts on Facebook. It is available for free and can be downloaded on www.slideshare.net
For authors, this can be an effective way to test your content before you actually publish a full book out of it, whether it will be an electronic book or in hard print.
Free media
We get lots of people to refer to social media as ‘new media’, in the attempt to compare it to pre-existing media, but for me, not only is it new, it is free [Except for times where you have to boost posts, which is optional depending on the purpose sought to be achieved]. By far, you do not pay to own any social media platform, neither do you pay to make posts or share videos and pictures, at least not yet.
Every company attempts to create more visibility through brand awareness and for this age, especially for startups, this is our cost-effective way to be noticed and also get more customers.
Here, you go with the opportunity to leave your products and services in the minds of people without the thoughts of receiving an invoice from a TV or radio station.
If you get to design a solid strategy, then this free media is all you need to get your business on its feet gradually. At its unlikely ‘ineffectiveness’, it is your first free platform to market yourself and business.
Interact
Social media functions as an engagement tool to help us communicate with our customers. From the first person to the billionth next, you get to interact, engage, and inform users of your product and service offerings. The options are endless; Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and some others.
This engagement function is not only reserved for business transactions only; it also engenders conversations that bloom into social relationships and eventually build lasting bonds.
Consumer Behavior
Understanding customer attitude has moved from being only a topic in my economics class to that of an everyday social media user concern.
On Instagram and Facebook, for instance, the insight feature allows you to see the behavioral tendencies of your followers. You get to know what time of the day your followers are most active on the platform. Notable brands using this feature are Nestle Ghana and GTP. This becomes helpful to know the period for making a post. You get to know what times or the days you are likely to get the most customer interaction. In this sense, you are using social media, which is a faster and convenient means to gather user data for research and improve the user experience or customer service. It also helps you to know your reach, note actions are taken from every post and content created, and also know the number of impressions made. It goes further to provide demographics on your followers and other relevant details to help know how to address your niche in the right direction. It has also made promotions easier for businesses and other purposes.
Advanced features, and sometimes, detailed observation help you to know the preference of prospective customers. Who people follow, the kind of comments and posts people make has a way of telling you a lot about them.
The pin-hole camera of yesteryears has been replaced with high-focused ones and complemented by smartphones for a reason—innovation, convenience, and other textbook-lengthy numbers of reasons. The purpose of social media now in pushing personal and business brands is no different. Dare to swim along the waves of the third and fourth industrial revolution. Evolve!
