I had an interaction with a local business recently which really made me think about the messages businesses are receiving about the big Why. Why should a business be using social media if they have a consistent loyal customer base, or if other forms of traditional marketing work well for them.

Social Media is a time intensive investment and lots of businesses are rightly concerned about how to resource this online activity. So of course, it is very important to tackle the ‘Why’ in order to consider whether this is a business critical tool.

So we all know Social Media is a marketing, advertising and PR tool. We also know it is a social networking tool enabling us to have conversations and build relationships with other businesses and the wider community.

Let’s see the world through the eyes of our potential customers and imagine their decision to purchase journey.

A search query for a type of business or service will begin on a search engine, and bring up a number of listings and websites. A customer will of course look at a few websites and may then try to establish more qualitative information about why they should buy from a particular business.

A good responsive website will have social media links to various accounts from which a customer can then find out more personable information.

If you have not looked in your online mirror recently to see what your business looks like – now is the time to.

A few business critical areas to look at are:
• Is your website responsive for mobile devices?
• Are your social media links prominent on your website, email and other customer contact points?
• Is your information current online? Do you post blogs, special offers, new products and services, share information & advice?
• Is the quality of your visual brand reflecting your business values?
• Is your brand visually consistent across your website, social media, email marketing?
• If you have social media accounts, do you monitor them for engagement and post qualitative, relevant content consistently?

Social Media forms part of a businesses online real estate. If you have a Facebook page, does it look like a page you can be proud of? Or is it desolate, soulless and unkempt?

Another important point is increasingly the customer expectation IS to contact businesses via social media. Why would a customer wish to hang on to a call centre of leave an answerphone message, when a tweet is highly likely to trigger a faster response?
Social Media is fast becoming an extension of how customers communicate with businesses, local authorities and other organisations.

If we as business owners do not embrace this change, this will affect how our potential customers view us and ultimately whether they decide to buy from us.

How can I help?
I have a suite of training to go over both technical and qualitative content marketing coming up on 6th October. See: http://ditzymedia.com/social-media-training-courses/

I also offer one to one training, and social media consultations, designed to meet the objectives of individual businesses, charities and community organisations.

You can contact me by phone, email, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest if you need my services.

The post Why Eastbourne businesses should be using social media appeared first on Ditzy Media.

My technical Social Media Marketing workshops have been designed for businesses, charities or community organisations with little or no knowledge of how to use social media effectively.

The workshop can be purchased for a full day or half day as required.

The next workshop will be 30th April at the Cohub in Eastbourne.

The morning workshop covers: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn & Bufferapp.

The afternoon workshop covers: Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Content

Business breakfasts are also available starting every Wednesday for 5 weeks from 29th April at The Lansdowne Hotel, Eastbourne.

Each breakfast will give you the tools you need to get started on the following platforms

– 29th April: Intro to Twitter

– 6th May: Intro to Facebook

– 13th May: Intro to LinkedIn & Google+

– 20th May: Intro to Pinterest & Instagram

– 27th May: Content – Blogging & Vlogging

To book please click here: http://ditzymedia.com/social-media-training-courses/

The post Social Media Marketing training April – May 2015 appeared first on Ditzy Media.