10 seconds is all it takes. In that time, your prospect can reach into their pocket, pull out their smartphone, unlock it with face recognition, and then head to their favourite social media app to see what’s new and what’s happening. And wouldn’t it be great if your company’s latest social media post was at the top of their social media newsfeed?
Social media has come a long way over the last decade, with the mass adoption of smartphones and tablets driving force this growth. Having instant access to social media while on the move has made it an integral marketing channel. Now, social media is no longer something you should consider for supporting your business goals, but a necessity.
Following the launch of our Secrets of Tech Growth eBook, which reveals insights into the journeys and experiences of fast-growth tech businesses, it was pleasing to hear that some of the CEOs and CMOs interviewed called out social media as a vital tool for business success. In addition to their insights, three common goals emerged: make a splash in the market by generating brand awareness; sell, sell, sell; and, attract and retain top talent to secure further business growth. Social media plays a role a huge role in supporting and driving all three of these business goals. But how?
Generating brand awareness on Social Media
Although the average person has almost eight social media accounts¹, it doesn’t mean that a company should launch a social media strategy on every social media platform. Think about it logically and think about your target audience. What social media platform do they use, prefer, and spend the most time on? Putting a solid content strategy in place to capture and secure their attention will also put your company on their radar. If you’re looking to catapult your brand’s social media visibility, think beyond your corporate social media channels and identify key spokespeople to grow their online identity, consider introducing an influencer programme to bring further credibility to the brand and understand how paid social media tactics can ensure that your content is seen by the right target audiences. Awareness is, of course, a numbers game, but don’t lose sight of quality.
Driving new leads
There are simple organic social media tactics that you can implement to help secure leads, such as populating your social media bio correctly and providing a clear call-to-action so prospects can easily take the next step. But social media has also evolved into a sophisticated lead generation tool. On Facebook and LinkedIn, you can create paid social media adverts that offer content in exchange for their data. Seamlessly taking place in the social media newsfeed, when the data is exchanged, it also integrates with your lead generation platform. And when you couple this smooth data exchange with the ability to hyper target your desired audience or re-target website visitors, it’s a really powerful way to generate high quality leads and sales. In addition to using corporate social accounts, you can also train and mentor your sales team to understand and embrace social media selling – the art of an individual using their own social media channels as a way to enhance and grow their sales pipeline.
Acquiring top talent
Positioning your company as a desirable and credible employer is no longer just the role of your HR team. Social hiring can be achieved through showcasing a company’s culture, vision and values to potential recruits. This can then be taken one step further with an employee advocacy programme where the people from your company share and create authentic content about the business in a standardised way. Employees are arguably a company’s greatest asset, so by becoming a company ambassador, they can increase social media visibility, brand recognition and website traffic.
Social media can play a huge role in supporting ambitious fast-growth tech companies achieve their goals and objectives. And while the above gives you a flavour of what tactics can be used for specific goals, it’s important to note that solid measurements and metrics should always be used to showcase social media ROI.
10 seconds is all it takes to publish a social media post, and 10 seconds is all it takes for a prospect to find, engage and take action.
By Ross Walker, Head of Social & Digital Media
¹ https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/amazing-social-media-statistics-and-facts/
