Using social media to get ahead of the competition

Learn how you compare with others in your industry and how to improve social media ROI

Are your social media efforts working for you? Sure, you have a presence on all the relevant social media platforms and you receive periodic feedback from customers, but do any of these things increase your market share or improve your brand? How can you find out?

Let’s face it. Social media is a waste of time unless it helps you achieve measurable results. This includes knowing if you are gaining leads and how your efforts stack up against the competition. Now there is a resource that can help. Our partners at HubSpot have created the 2015 Social Media Benchmarks Report, featuring data from thousands of businesses. With help from PR, you can learn to use this information to your advantage.

Highlights of the report

The report comes with a zip file of graphs you can use in your own marketing materials.
It covers numerous industries, such as real estate, business/financial services, consumer goods, e-commerce, health care and manufacturing.
The report will help you answer measurement questions, such as whether you are doing enough on social media based on your industry and size, and offer revelations about how to increase customer engagement levels.

Select findings from the report

Go for quality over quantity – The industries with the least amount of posts were found to have the most consumer interaction (on average). On the contrary, the real estate industry averages more posts, but has the lowest customer interface. The same goes for followers. Just because you have lots of followers doesn’t necessarily mean you are engaging them effectively.

You have to challenge yourself – Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and use tools to further engage audiences, such as images and visual storytelling. This may be especially beneficial for those in the software/technology industries. Retail and commerce industries must also seek more unique methods for sharing information about products.

It’s vital to measure constantly – Only by experimenting with content and frequency can you find the ideal balance for your company. Evaluate what techniques are working with each buyer persona and adjust accordingly.

How PR can help

Social media allows you to tell your story directly to the public. You can easily distribute lots of data, using accompanying visuals or infographics and links, which readers can effortlessly share and hence help spread your messages.

With social media, you can even work to improve your reputation and position your company and CEO as leaders in your industry. Nonetheless, to be most effective, all of this must be done consistently, proactively and correctly. This can be an exhausting responsibility to handle on your own, even with an in-house PR staff. Instead, let the experts at Axia Public Relations manage your social media. We will use social media to breathe new life into your content management strategies for increased customer engagement, brand recognition and profitability. Contact us today to learn more about this report. You can also download our e-book The Essential Social Media Management Guide for additional tips and information on making the most of your social media efforts.

Lisa-G-Color-SM Lisa Goldsberry is a writer for Axia Public Relations with more than 15 years of public relations experience. She specializes in business and technology PR. Lisa has worked with Axia since December 2013. Connect with Axia Public Relations on Twitter at @axiapr.