New Report Highlights the Power of Social Media for Businesses

A new Harvard Business Review report details how social media has evolved and become a place for companies to find customers and connect with peers. The report, Social Media Marketing Leads to 72% More Leads for Businesses, follows on the heels of last week’s report, Facebook Leads to 42% More Leads for Businesses, which highlighted Facebook’s growth as a way for marketers to acquire prospects. The Harvard report points out that social media is a “new” channel for businesses, but continues to grow at an exponential rate — with consumers connecting to brands online at a phenomenal rate. The Harvard Business Review examines the marketing tenets of making the biggest impact in social media and points out that a company’s reputation affects the number of leads it receives, as 97% of consumers have said they trust online recommendations and 78% have relied on online reviews to make purchasing decisions. Whereas traditional marketing might rely on cold calls and in-person engagements to connect potential customers with a product or service, Inbound Marketing takes a different approach. New research shows that networking and social media plays a vital role in increasing employee engagement and increasing job satisfaction.Collaboration Inbound Marketing to growing businesses should be as collaborative as possible because when social networking takes place, where does business come in? The ultimate goal of the interactive team is to promote innovation and get new, big ideas from different perspectives so that business and consumers benefit. Consumers want a customer experience that is social, engaging, desirable, and transparent, People may not fully understand the benefits of social networking but they are likely to use the technology at some point. 52% of them reported that it will have a direct benefit to them and their company by increasing their engagement with their customers. The answer is clear, small businesses should be participating in networking and Internet marketing. Use Social Networking Marketing to engage potential customers and prospects “Meeting new people, getting out to different events, being active and in some cases sharing ideas and research online are important when it comes to customer understanding and effective marketing. Many small businesses ignore the new marketing tool of social networking for fear of being left behind or even overlooked by the competitors. Social networking is the primary tool for finding new customers, thus making it the first step to attracting a new prospect. Larger businesses already use this kind of marketing to build relationships and relationships with their customers and prospects. Social networking marketing helps any company do that by letting their customers talk to them. Social networking can be done online, but it has much more potential with small businesses in front of people to promote cooperation and exchange of ideas.