In a recent report, it was found that 65% of UK and Irish brands are using social media to help boost brand awareness. If you’re not on social media yet, maybe it’s time to jump in.
The report from Sprout Social revealed tons of interesting stats about how British and Irish brands are using social:
- 65% use social to increase brand awareness
- 45% use social media to boost community engagement
- 39% use social to increase their web traffic
- 36% use it to grow and diversify their audiences
- 30% use social to provide customer service and support
- 17% use social media to increase sales
The fact that just 17% of brands are using social media to increase sales seems extraordinary on first glance – after all, why wouldn’t you be using social to directly drive sales? However, this makes a lot of sense. Given the fleeting nature of social feeds and timelines, it’s unlikely that most people who see an organic post are going to dive in and make a purchase right away. However, by increasing brand recognition and building up your reputation, you’re more likely to gain follower trust, so they’ll come to you when they need you.
For customers, the most important aspect of a brand’s social media channel is getting quick responses for customer service, which is something only 30% of the brands surveyed said they actively focused on. Even if you have a B2B focus, having a variety of channels for customers to be able to contact you through can help to drive engagement and ultimately sales.
It’s unknown whether the brands questioned were talking about organic or paid social or a mix of both, although it’s likely to be mostly organic – paid adverts indicate a need for direct action, like a sale or enquiry. Nevertheless, shifting your focus away from salesy organic posts and onto content that your customers can relate to can be highly beneficial, so before you start hammering your feed with product posts, consider how you can put your followers first and think about what they’ll find most useful.
Need some social strategy advice? We’re here to help. Have a chat with our team today and find out how we can help with a variety of social media services, from day-to-day management to highly targeted ad campaigns. Visit our services page to find out more.
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