Could Social Media Drive Business to Your Company?

At first, it can be difficult to see how social media can translate into actual business for a company. However, you have to realize that social media is where the customers are – and where they are likely to interact with the brands they love.

If you want to see an increase in business, and particularly an increase in loyal customers, it’s a good idea to incorporate a social media strategy into your campaign.

Viral Video: Old Spice

One of the most famous company turnaround cases is that of the Procter & Gamble brand Old Spice. Many people thought of Old Spice as their dad’s deodorant. However, all of that changed with the social media strategy employed by Old Spice in which actor Isaiah Mustafa responded to fan questions in a number of videos.

The 2010 effort was a real-time social media campaign that even included a personal video message to Digg founder Kevin Rose. The video campaign followed the footsteps of successful commercials featuring Mustafa talking about smelling like a man. P&G followed the commercials with the personal response campaign, including 150 videos, and really got people excited about interacting with Mustafa and watching the videos.

Social media success wasn’t just about the video views, though. Marketing firm Wieden+Kennedy put together a successful social media campaign for P&G and Old Spice, and the sales showed the results. Over the course of a month, the campaign helped sales increase 107%.

While you might not see such dramatic and fast results, you can still get help from a well-executed social media campaign.

Small Companies See Results from Social Media

Even small companies can see results from social media campaigns. Tech Crunch found some rather interesting results for smaller companies looking to drum up support, including:

• Crème Brûlée Cart Man: In order to find him around San Francisco, you need to follow him on Twitter. In a little more than a year, he managed to get 12,000 followers on Facebook. His secret is that his followers have to take action to find out where he will be. You can use social media to encourage customers to take action.
• Joie de Vivre Hospitality: By offering special hotel deals on Facebook, this luxury hotel chain managed to book 1,000 room nights in less than a year that would not otherwise have been booked. Joie De Vivre partnered with other social media outlets like Foursquare. Through partnerships and special promotions, this hotel keeps customers interested and looking for deals.

With the right strategy, it’s possible to translate social media activity directly into sales. Consider how you can use social media to your advantage. You can put together effective social media profiles and offer various deals to attract customers.

It also helps to interact with your customers and potential customers. Make it a point to answer questions on your social media profile, and try to include your customers in the process. Partnerships with other social media outlets, as well as deals and promotions, can get customers interested and spur word-of-mouth interest as well.

What have you tried to drum up sales using social media?