Blogs From the Ubik Studio

For many businesses, and individuals, the thought of using social media such as Facebook & Twitter may seem like just a fad or novelty for wasting a few hours. However, using social media to grow a local business is one of the most powerful marketing tactics that can be implemented at present.

For instance, as a local business or supplier you’ve already established a level of trust in your community and now you can use technology to help build direct engagement and deeper relationships with your customers that you already do business with.

Also, social media makes it much easier to build awareness with people in your community that you might never find, but who you could turn into a customer, because you could easily arrange a meeting through a few simple, concise messages.

Other benefits can be that you inform clients about new happenings or exciting projects within your business. Try running promotions and special offers direct to your existing customers, or entice potential clients with an introductory offer. Domino’s Pizza, in the UK and Ireland, where able to increase their sales by nearly 29%   in just four weeks through the use of social media.

Social media can also help you to generate new leads or potential business partners in your area. Social Media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are excellent search engines for building contacts.

3 Points of Benefit:

•The cost to join and participate in social media is minimal. Compared to other forms of marketing, such as print, Radio/TV and even online advertising, the cost to market your business and your brand in social media is extremely low.  The greatest cost will be time spent uploading concise, relevant and newsworthy information, as well as the human resources involved in doing this.

•Opportunities for providing customer service and feedback are extensive. Maintaining and improving client relations, conversing and pitching to potential customers create many opportunities to improve your company’s customer service reputation.

•Social media is a great place for free market research. Social media allows you to easily monitor what your competitors are doing and the service they are providing and what other people (potential customers?!) are saying about them.  Did they recently rebrand?  Have they launched a new service?  What feedback are they receiving?

For any more information or tips & advice on how to use social media effectively, please feel free to contact Gareth Waters at UbikDesign