A few years ago, businesses actually had a choice when it came to whether or not they could prosper or even survive without the use of social media. This is not the case, anymore. Statistics show that the average person spends at least 30 minutes a day on social media. Sources also reveal that the average purchaser is spending more than 4 hours online. That’s a lot of time. Business owners have found that with this amount of time, if they could draw the attention of just a few of those consumers their bottom line could be increased significantly.
A wise man once said ‘You have to go where the consumers are’. Well the consumers are online and their online for hours and hours. Remember the door to door routine of trying to sell merchandise. Or how about the newspaper ads being stuffed in your mailbox. Even then the chances of someone actually answering the door were minimum and the ratio of the ‘head of the household’ actually reading through the ads were even lower. Many businesses survived and grew by word of mouth. People talked to each other back then and actually conversated, perhaps over Sunday dinner or a lazy afternoon.
Social Media Thriving in the Age of Online Business Marketing
Today as a society, consumers move much quicker, making decisions at a much faster pace. This possible, due to the availability of information. Online it is possible to locate the cost of the product or service, in addition to how to use, including all of it’s features. Social media allows the buyer to not only become aware of the product and service, but also to take a detailed tour to learn about it. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. all allow for extremely intense video imaging and audio in order to allure the guest. This can be extraordinarily enticing, which leads to a faster decision by the purchaser. The effect of ‘I have to have this right now – today’ kicks in via social media, especially when the video is surrounded by pleasant comments from those who already made the purchase. Though the testimony is from a person that the buyer does not know, social media has a way of making the validator appear exceptionally amiable and neighborly.
So the need to have the neighbor or co-worker to validate the product, as it were decades ago is now reduced or totally removed, replaced by hundreds of enthusiastic remarks and interjects. This technique has proven to be immensely successful in the business world via social media, which could account for the buyer’s quicker decision making.
What has really made selling such a success on social media is the ability to engage with the consumer within seconds. Different from the way it used to be when an appointment had to be made and the seller would come to your home with the product, engagement via social media occurs lightening fast. Not only does the potential buyer get to ask all kinds of questions and while strolling through pictures and videos, but they can also invite others to tour with them. Companies such as the Jacksonville Social Media Company and others has that engagement is a feature that social media has learned to master. With trained professionals at the buyer’s fingertips to answer any questions that may come to mind, along with a chorus of online well wishers, who wouldn’t make a purchase.
Engagement, convenience, beautiful captivating photos and music to help make the tour that much more enchanting, all is provided within seconds by social media. Is it better as an organization to join the millions of other businesses in the cosmos of social media? Many experts and consumers are saying that ‘Yes’.