Using Social Media To Increase Sales And Brand Awareness

Wherever you go it is impossible not to come across a marketing campaign by a large company. These campaigns vary in how they are perceived. One example of a company which has been extremely successful in a campaign is Carlsberg's 'probably the best lager in the world' slogan. A significant amount of brand awareness was created, along with an excellent reputation being associated wit the Carlsberg brand. All this has led to increased sales and profits. However, a very large multi national company like Carlsberg has a huge marketing budget, how is it possible for smaller businesses to compete with this? Social media is an avenue which puts all business on an equal footing, whether you are start up business or business as big as Carlsberg. This is because social media tools are free to use, the size of the marketing budget is far less relevant. The purpose of this article is to explain how using these tools can result in increased sales for your business.

First though, let's look at three examples of where social media marketing has led to a direct increase in sales. Firstly, Sony reported in February 2010 that Twitter had boosted their sales by 1 million. Then Dell announced in June of the same year that their sales and had increased by $3 million through Twitter. You may argue that these two companies are well established brands and that these figures are insignificant. However, social media marketing works for small business too. John Fluevog's business, John Fluevog's boots and shoes Ltd announced that through 2009 their sales increased by 40%. Coincidently, this was the same year they introduced a social media marketing plan, there is no doubt this played a huge part in increasing the sales that year.

We now need to look at how social media can indeed boost sales and brand awareness. Firstly, it is important to note that there are millions of users of social media. An advert on television will only be viewed by those watching at a particular time, plus there is no opportunity for them to interactively engage in the ad. Contradicting this, one single tweet can potentially reach millions of people over a much longer period of time. Let us use the example of Sainsbury's supermarket. Whenever Sainsbury's has an offer or promotion, they tweet it. Anybody who follows Sainsbury on Twitter is made aware of these offers and promotions. A customer base is able to be formed from these followers, with brand awareness and sales also increasing. What is highly significant is that Sainsbury's followers can respond to theses tweets, providing interactions and engagement between Sainsbury's and its customers. Sainsbury's are then able to use this feedback to influence any future promotions they may have. Your business should have a designated aim to try to gain these same benefits. A creatively written tweet can act as free advertising, when this is done thoughtfully, sales and brand awareness will naturally follow.

Social media marketing works in a similar way to other forms of marketing; it is viral. A small company initially works on a word of mouth basis, people tell their friends. Social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, work with this 'friend' concept. People can give you positive reviews, recommend your product and tweet about your company. This whole social community allows your company's name and brand to be viewed by a significant amount of people. Continuous use of social media over time creates brand awareness and thus helps to increase sales. One of our clients, PeachorLemon, a car review website, gained over one hundred followers on Twitter within a week. This is a hundred more people who know about promotions and offers, may tell their friends, visit the website or use other social media outlets to mention PeachorLemon. All this creates brand awareness and over time increased use of the website, thus increasing its value.

The effect social media can have on brand awareness is critical in the future of small businesses marketing strategy. Brand awareness is only one way in which sales are increased, there are many other important contributing factors. However, as this article has demonstrated, creating brand awareness through social media can have a huge impact on your business and revenues.

Ortegra helps develop early stage companies or startups into revenue generating enterprises. Ortegra guides entrepreneurs through their Web Application Development, SEO and Online Marketing Campaigns. For more articles and tips and tricks visit Ortegra.com