1. Benefits of social media for business to an organisation LO3 P1 Florence Morris-Duffin9406The Blandford School

2. Improved sales, reduced costs Keeping the brand new and fresh in the eyes of a customer leads to improved sales Repetition of advertising is the best way to get a brand name across to the customer. Social media makes this easy by allowing you to post updates and messages as much as you like To post a tweet or share a link on Facebook is free, making advertising this way a lot more economical than paying for an advert in the form of a flyer or TV ad. Even if a company brings in a social media advertising expert, it is still usually less expensive than paying for adverts, and ends up much more beneficial to a company Florence Morris-Duffin9406The Blandford School

3. Wider market place Social media is used all over the world, it is not specific to one area that an advertisement in a magazine or TV advert would be. Allows for networking between other entrepreneurs and businesses that would otherwise be geographical unsuitable Florence Morris-Duffin9406The Blandford School

4. Better customer and product awareness With social media, you can provide better customer service – Customers can easily ask use social media to ask questions, comment or voice concerns on a product – This allows for the organisation to respond to the query and also predict future trends (e.g. if there is a bad response to a product in the first few weeks of it’s sale, they may need to repackage and rebrand it, or if a product is causing concern among users, remove it from sale) Florence Morris-Duffin9406The Blandford School

5. Reflects the business/brand Allows the brand to be portrayed as the brand want it to be – E.g. an organic baby food brand would want to show they are family friendly and down to earth, so might give out vouchers for family amusements, or Allows businesses to ‘humanize’ the brand – To make the brand connected to customers because there are real, relatable people behind the organisation – Show ‘behind the scenes’ looks into the business and employees, and communicate with customers in a more relatable way – People don’t want to buy from a business, they want to buy from a person Florence Morris-Duffin9406The Blandford School

6. Gains loyalty between customers and brand A strong social media presence makes customers feel more loyal and comfortable with the brand Organisations can post updates and information that customers may find interesting – Engaging content is a step into customers using and interacting with the brand, and therefore feeling comfortable with it and possibly recommending it to others – Word of mouth is a great way of advertising, and having a great social media base helps with that Florence Morris-Duffin9406The Blandford School

7. Sources of information http://www.business2community.com/social-media/5-undeniable- benefits-social-media-businesses-maximizing-0853937#!T0OU8 http://www.business2community.com/social-media/5-undeniable- benefits-social-media-businesses-maximizing-0853937#!T0OU8 http://adsolutions.yp.com/small-business-marketing-center/small- business-marketing-articles/8-benefits-of-social-media-for-small-business http://adsolutions.yp.com/small-business-marketing-center/small- business-marketing-articles/8-benefits-of-social-media-for-small-business