What do Twitter and beer have in common? Plenty, if you love drinking. Take India’s Kingfisher Beer. In 2011, the company brewed up a social media strategy involving Twitter, targeting 50-80 registered tweeters on a first-come, first-served basis each Saturday. Those lucky enough to register received unlimited Kingfisher Premium Beer free.
By the myBusiness techblog team
The tweets soon became viral, and before long, #Kfbeerup” spread like wildfire as people retweeted about it. Today, Kingfisher has plenty to cheer about. It overwhelmingly leads among beer brands in India, with 53% of beer drinkers who are Internet users citing it as their favourite brand in the country, according to a 2013 finding.
More recently, US consulting company Princeton Review reported that 85% of people surveyed said they expect businesses today to be active in social media. So why aren’t more Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) getting on the social media marketing bandwagon?
To be fair, companies are trying – from justifying resources to put into their social media channels, to building up their social networks. But most either jump in without a sound strategy or are still figuring out how social media fits into their holistic marketing plans. For businesses that need to quantify ROI, the promise of social media isn’t translating into direct sales.
One SMB owner in the Philippines acknowledged that “in a market environment where service is now the single-most important competitive differentiator, companies need tools such as social media to build trust and long-term customer relationships to remain profitable”.
How then can one have a proactive plan to engage in social media and avoid getting left behind?
1. Learn from others
Some companies are clearly doing it right. Companies such as Malaysia’s Air Asia and Indonesia’s Surfer Girl have flourished by embracing the rise of social media strategies. These businesses collaborate with their customers in new ways that allow a two-way dialogue which benefits both parties. The customer gets a direct response and the company learns useful ways to improve. Other lessons to be learned are to monitor and quickly attend to bad viral posts on social media. A lack of response can negatively affect a company and quickly get out of hand. This leads to the next point.
2. Engage and empower your employees
Customer engagement has to become a shared responsibility across the enterprise and not just the sole province of sales, marketing or customer service. Every employee should be empowered to recognise a customer engagement opportunity and act on it quickly. Select tools for your business that your employees can use anywhere, and provide social media guidelines to prepare employees on appropriate responses.
3. Use your social media platforms to connect
Just having a Twitter account or Facebook page isn’t enough. You have to constantly utilise it, and you should use it to connect with your community. Customers are more informed today and have more choices than ever, so if their expectations aren’t met, they’ll move on quickly. Engaged customers, on the other hand, make influential brand advocates on social networks. Keep in mind, though, that social media is a two-way conversation that encourages engagement between the customer and company.
4. Shout out your marketing messages
Marketing is all about touting your goods and services. Your website, sales collateral, blogs, social media sites, print and online activities need to highlight your key marketing messages and unique selling point to raise your company’s visibility. Success stories also help instil confidence in your customers as they perceive your stronger market presence.
5. Be patient, be nimble
Done right, social media marketing can increase leads and traffic, enhance your business reputation, increase customer loyalty and, ultimately, build sales. SMBs do need to rethink their approaches in more innovative and personalised ways and social media is a very accessible platform to do so.
Here’s the catch. It takes time to build a following on social channels. But if like Kingfisher Beer, you learn to leverage the power of social media marketing, this may turn out to be the biggest competitive advantage your business could have over time.
So what do you think are the challenges that SMEs face in developing a successful social media strategy for their business? Want to learn more about what SMEs can do with Social Media, and how to get started? Download The Stand-Out SME Quick Reference Poster on Social Media for free today!