The Disruptive Power Of Social Media: Here’s Why We Love It – And You Should Too

Nothing Works Harder, Faster Or More Effectively Than Social Media To Generate Massive Exposure For Your Brand

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. July 2018. What do we mean when we talk about “disruption?” These days, the word has shrugged off its traditionally negative connotations and has morphed into something we all strive for. Because disruption challenges the status quo. It’s doing things that no one’s ever done before. It’s changing the way people think and behave. Social media knows this well, and could actually be the poster child for disruption. Because if anything has changed the way people engage with people, and businesses engage with customers, it’s social media. Doing things the way they’ve always been done isn’t the way to build brands and gain customer attention. Social media is.

Social media is so ingrained into virtually every facet of modern society that we can’t imagine what we’d do without it. Younger generations have, in fact, never lived in a social media-free world, so they literally have no idea how life works outside its walls.

Such is the power of social media that it has not only changed the way we live, but also the things we do. Hashtagging, taking selfies, trolling, and live-streaming, are just a few new social media era activities. And what about the way we speak.? Pre-Millennial generations may remember a language without words such as “unlike,” “meme,” “gif,” and “Twitter handle,” but no one else does.

Social media has disrupted the way we do things. It’s changed the how we interact with people, look for and share information, express opinions and voice complaints, shop, and even how we handle emotional relationships. This is why we love it.

Consumers Love Social Media – So You Should Too

With huge apologies to John Donne, no brand is an island. Or, perhaps more accurately, no brand hoping to survive in Forrester Research’s famously coined Age Of The Customer can possibly be an island. Thanks to a paradigm shift in power, customers – not brands – control the marketplace with frightening force. They are empowered and entitled, they know what they want, and they expect to get it – on their terms. This leaves brands with only one of two options – adapt or die. It’s hard to influence a world of potential customers using a loudhailer at the bottom of your driveway. You have to meet your customers where they are – on the Internet. Specifically, on social media.

There are many reasons to love social media, but one of the biggest has to be the ability it gives you to humanise your brand. Customers don’t want to deal with anonymous, faceless entities. They don’t want to be preached at or sold to. They want authentic engagement. Social media gives you this, letting you showcase your brand’s personality to bring you closer to your preferred customers than any other marketing platform could ever hope to do.

Need More Convincing?

Did you know 75 percent of customers say they feel positive about a brand that makes a meaningful connection with them on social media? Of these, 70 percent are likely to make a purchase.

In addition, feast on these facts from Hubspot:

• Over 50 percent of brands who’ve use social media for two years or more say that it has helped them grow their sales.
• Ninety percent of companies say their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their business.
• Over 60 percent of businesses that spend at least six hours a week on social media marketing see improvements in their search engine rankings.
• Two-thirds of businesses see lead generation benefits from just six hours a week on social media.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility – Just Ask Spiderman

Of course, it’s all very well leveraging the almost unlimited power of social media, but, as any Spidey fan will tell you, the power works both ways. Social media may give you unprecedented access to, and engagement with, your customers, but it also creates expectations of exceptional levels of customer service and response.

Did you know:

• 30% of people will go to a competitor if a brand doesn’t respond to their social media query within a reasonable amount of time (about four hours)?
• 36% of people have used social to shame a company for poor customer service?

Speedy customer response times are no longer optional. If your customers have a problem with your product or service, they expect you to solve it immediately. It’s a tough expectation, but meet it, and your customers will reward you. A recent Twitter study, for example, found that customers are willing to pay considerably more for future tickets when airlines respond to their Tweets within six minutes.

At Digital Coach, we love Social Media. A lot. And we want to share this love with you. If you know you should be doing more to harness the disruptive power of social media, but have no idea where to start, let’s talk. If you can’t devote the time you know you should to managing your social media marketing efforts, chat to us. And if you simply don’t know where or how to begin creating a workable, affordable social media marketing strategy, we can help with that too.