Social media is something that we’re all told we should be using to promote our businesses. In fact, by now, you’re probably sick of being told that you absolutely must have a Facebook page or an Instagram account.

But how does social media really benefit your business? We take a look at how it could change things for you, with just a low amount of time and effort invested.

Finding new customers

The number one thing any business owner wants is more customers. If you don’t bring in new customers, and your old customers stop coming, then eventually you’re going to have to close your doors.

Social media can be a great way for new customers to discover you. So long as you’re doing all the right things – like using good hashtags, tagging your location, and posting great content – you will see your audience grow. Think of it as talking to the people who are already fans of your brand, which means that the new fans are a passive gain.

Social media can be effective at taking your brand from local to global, so if you sell online, this is a fantastic way to increase your customer base in ways you had never imagined were possible.

Making you discoverable

Social media doesn’t just help you to be found on social media. Interestingly, having active social accounts can actually make it easier for customers to find their way to your website.

This is all to do with SEO. If a customer was to search for your industry type along with your location, they might not find your website if it is not optimised well. However, your competitors, who do show up high in the results, might not be great at social media. This means you can jump right over them by having active profiles that link in to your website, which may show up at the top of results instead.

It also makes you more connected, with easier ways for customers to send referrals your way. If a happy customer wants to share their success with your products or services, all they need to do is tag you. Curious followers of theirs can follow the tag to find you – and it’s as easy as that.

Creating direct sales

All of this is fine, but you might be wondering how social media can actual contribute to sales – and if there is any way to measure that. You can use tracking links and analytics to see where your customers come from, but more interestingly, you can also create direct sales on social media.

Take Facebook Marketplace, where anyone can list items or services for sale. This means you can communicate directly with your customers there, arrange payment, and close the sale. There’s no need to send them to your website if you can get it done there.

You can also list items in an online store connected to your Facebook Business page. Then when you post on Instagram, you can tag your products – and you’ve got another easy sales funnel. If you needed proof that social media will increase your sales, then this would have to be it.

Showing your impact

Letting your customers talk about you on social media, and actually being in that position where you can see and respond to all of it, is very powerful. If you aren’t on social media yet but you have been making sales, do you ever get to see the results that your customers experience?

It can be a very empowering feeling to see a customer wearing your clothes, or using your products, or showing off what your services have done for them. What’s more, you now have easy access to some ready-made content, as you can share customer success stories on your social pages and website. That will help to convince potential customers, who may be unsure about buying, to get off the fence and place an order.

There is so much more to be gained from social media even than we have been able to list here. Communicating with your customers and hearing what they say back is hugely important for business success. With the right profile, your sales could skyrocket.