Social media. Love it or hate it, the fact is that it's now an integral part of our daily lives. There are more than 2 billion active social media users on the planet right now - that's more than 30% of the global population. For this reason alone we were surprised to see that Lush Cosmetics has decided to call time on its social media channels.
We check our phones right before we go to sleep, and pretty much as soon as we wake up. It's like something out of a George Orwell novel. We use our phones to research, to talk to friends, to share our lives with and to make sure we're not missing out. Our phones are with us everywhere.
We've shared some key stats around social on the genie website but here's a quick reminder:
- 51% of people will unfollow brands with annoying social posts
- 75% of consumers will readily admit to being influenced by what they read online
- 44% of adults view social media as a source of news
- globally, more people have access to a phone (6 billion) than they do to a toilet (4.5 billion).
All told, there's quite a compelling case for social as a communications channel, yet it's something that businesses far and wide are reluctant to invest in. Quite honestly I have no idea why. Not spending on your social content and promotion is a visible own goal.
Done well, social has the ability to reach your target audience in a way that no other media can. Generally speaking, if people are looking on your social media pages it's through choice. Lush in the UK alone has an enviable 423K followers on Facebook and generated 10m video views in 2018. This audience has elected to engage with you, its an audience that's interested in what you've got to say.
So why do we believe businesses should invest in social?
You can strike up a conversation with customers in a way that suits their needs
It's cost effective - compared to traditional marketing channels it's as cheap as chips
You can target posts directly to your key customer segments
The data available from your posts will help you see what does and doesn't work in terms of both your products and your content
You can get insight into your customers and their buying behaviour
Use social to spy on your competitors to gain an insight into changes in your market place.
Most importantly, you should and can still engage with your customers through these channels. You should avoid using social media just to sell or advertise product and use the platform to tell your organisation's story. There are companies out there such as genie who can help you to build your strategy for social storytelling and there are tools that can help you to plan and manage your content more effectively.
How we can help
Watch this space for our upcoming blog on how to improve your social storytelling or contact gill@geniecomms.co.uk for more information.
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