While social networks have become a fundamental and modern vector of communication for large organizations, small and medium-sized enterprises are more cautious in the beginning. The main difference is that they don’t necessarily have the resources to assign one of their employees to manage these accounts. However, a company’s social media presence is essential, either to drive their national or even global growth, or to energize their local sphere. Explanations.
Benefits of social networks for professionals
Initially intended for personal use, companies have invested in social networks to develop their commercial activities with smaller budgets than other media.
First, social networks enable a very wide coverage of the population. For example, Facebook offers increased visibility to these internet users, of all ages and socio-professional categories.
Facebook figures in France
- 35 million active users,
- 73.3% of French internet users use Facebook every month,
- The average French user spends 12h54 a month on Facebook,
- 70% of community managers consider Facebook their favorite social network, and 83% of them use it to distribute advertisements,
- 52.5% of French users are women, compared to 47.5% men,
Source: We Are Social Report
Then, they work a bit like websites, but with ease of use and lower costs. Each company can therefore promote its activity, but also its promotional offers or its responsible practices, for example, through news feeds.
In addition to these aspects, social networks help to build loyalty thanks to the fantastic possibility of instant dialogue with Internet users, fans of the site or not. Although remote, the exchange offers a certain proximity that traditional channels do not allow. Therefore, they undoubtedly promote communication, especially with certain users who would not contact the company in the usual way.
Finally, company or brand pages on these networks enable opinion tracking.
Criticism of professional communication on social networks
Many voices condemn the restrictions on the presence of companies and brands on social networks. We can indeed hear, for example, that the sites ultimately attract only less than 5,000 internet users on average. However, the state of traffic on them is much more complicated to assess, because the calculations take into account only subscribers and not the number of visitors.
According to the latest report from Sprout Social, first and foremost is being informed that consumers are subscribed to brands (68%), access to good prices (46%), entertainment (45%), consumer community (28%) and company values (21%).
The keys to success come from the skills of professionals
And precisely, the main difficulty is knowing what to say and on which networks, and professionals often have no knowledge about this topic. They do not know how to use pages wisely, just like websites, which are certainly beautiful storefronts, but remain frozen in a given moment, without any simplicity or interactivity.
Indeed, a page on a social network must live. It should not consist of an act of presence like a contestant, but should be enjoyable, regularly updated, and not just focused on commercial news.
The site must humanize the company or brand, communicating solidarity or responsible action for example, to be close to the user’s concerns. The whole point is to attract internet users, verified or potential consumers, in a different way, and not through publications related to promotional offers, etc., with the aim of creating real interactivity between stakeholders. It is through this healthier relationship, based on thoughtful and less aggressive communication, that a company or brand can effectively build loyalty and recruit on social networks. And this act is simple and accessible to every entrepreneur.