Well, times have changed and the digital landscape has evolved to a point where social media now plays just as an important role in building your business as Google. Yes, it’s really vital to do SEO, but this should be in conjunction with your social media. They should both be a part of your marketing mix and focusing on one and not the other, is a recipe for disaster.
The emergence of social media and the popularity it now plays in the business environment is really the by product of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. These platforms have become so intertwined in everyday life and so part of the fabric that connects us, that to think of life without these social connections is almost unfathomable. I mean, how could you let a day go by without somehow getting on your Facebook page and seeing what’s happening. It simply doesn’t happen any more. People, and your customers live their lives through these social media channels and this trend is only going to increase.
As generations of kids grow up with an iPhone in their hands 24/7, surfing the net, checking out Instagram, the rise of social media will get to a point that if you are not on it, and actively engaging with people or businesses on this, you are going to be an out cast. Essentially, you are going to be off the grid and out of the business mix.
This is why all businesses no matter where they are or what they are selling or offering MUST be actively promoting themselves on all social media platforms. Without doing this they simply might as well shut their doors. Social media marketing is now as important in generating a buzz about your brand than ever before.
Working at Hopping Mad Designs, I have personally witnessed the rise in the demand and huge need for businesses to start a social media campaign. Previously, let’s say around 2 years ago, everyone I met just wanted us to handle their SEO and be as high up on page 1 of Google as we could get them. How times have changed! Now everyone wants us to manage their social media as well. This is great news as it opens up so many new opportunities for businesses who are finally seeing the light and realising the potential of social media marketing.
Social media strategies that seriously work!
I wanted to, in this blog article, to highlight how effective social media has been for a client of ours World Surf Adventures. The owners of this company approached us about 12 months ago to handle all their digital marketing. This included; web design (incl responsive), SEO, copywriting, content marketing as well as their social media marketing.
Breaking into the Australian surf travel market was never going to be an easy task. I mean the place is saturated with existing tour operators that have been dominant in the surfing space for years. Getting into this digital space required a very aggressive search engine campaign (currently the rankings are doing really will with over 20 main core ‘high traffic’ keywords on page 1) as well as a targeted social media campaign.
We knew our target audience well. Men aged between 25-55 who were Australian that had a high disposable income. The type of guy that was looking for a surf adventure and could afford to pay for it. These guys would either travel in groups or as singles and wanted to go for about 10 days. They would either go on a surf charter or stay in a surf camp of resort. We knew our customer base very well so in a way it made it easy to target them via regular posts on Facebook and Instagram. These posts showcase what World Surf Adventures was offering and the pictures were all of the fantastic surf breaks and luxurious resorts. Getting followers was the easy part. I mean all surfers wanted to be part of this and see awesome surfing pics from all over the world.
They also wanted to see the latest last minute specials and offers and this was all easily done through quick posts on Facebook.
The results through our social media efforts have been unbelievable. We have in the last 12 months managed to propel WSA to the second largest surf travel agency in Australia, with an average of over 3000 unique visitors per month. These results have all been achieved through our really hard efforts in SEO as well as social media. I know our social media team work incredibly hard on posting quality content, keeping the followers entertained and informed – the perfect social media mix.
So if you would like to see the same kind of success that our surfing friends have achieved for their business, why not get in touch with us here on 02 9360 8514. We will clearly define a social media strategy for you, all at business friendly prices. You will find that the world of social media is a great place to take your company and you will start to see the results fairly quickly. This is not a sales pitch to try and get you to call us, this is the reality of how it is now. So it’s really up to you. Either you step up and be proactive or you let your competitors take the initiative and get all those new business leads, begging to be had.