It’s no secret that Social Media is everywhere. It’s there when you first wake up, when you flicking through your e-mails to get a head start on the day ahead, it’s on your lunch break when you Instagram what you’re about to devour, it’s on your commute home from work when you tweet how stressful your day has been and then it’s even there at night when you Facebook the world about how you survived “hump day” and then search through Pinterest for ideas of how you are going to make your spare room look “Retro-chic” on a budget… although everyone knows you’re still going to buy that tin of Magnolia.

But social media has not just consumed our personal lives, it has consumed our work lives too. It truly is becoming – The Social Takeover.

How many workplaces can now boast they run a “paperless office”? Well, that environmentally friendly move is thanks to good old e-mail. How many high profile (and small scale) businesses now encourage their audience to “like” them on Facebook and “follow us” on Twitter? The harder task would actually to be to name a company who isn’t connected to the internet and social media.
But why? For decades offices worked well, made profit, and thrived with plain old-fashioned typewriters, pen and paper, envelopes and stamps.
Well for one, productivity would have been A LOT slower and supply and demand have gotten A LOT greater. Who can afford to wait until the postman arrives the next day (or heaven forbid in 2 days) for that important contract to be delivered?
Now, through the use of the internet businesses can do business a lot quicker, increasing productivity and through the use of social media, can reach a much wider client base and audience to shout about how fantastic their business is and why you should choose them over a competitor. But it’s not all pomp and sales from the companies – it benefits the consumer too.
Before social media, the choice was limited. Consumers had limited variety of what to buy, where to buy it and what services were available to them.Social media has opened the world of options to them, and with it has come added benefits such as – being notified of SALE events and upcoming special offers and occasions. Which makes it all the more harder for businesses to stay competitive and attract a loyal client base.
It is a statistic that 73% of consumers are likely to recommend a brand that they “follow” on social media. That means as a business you need to be one of the followed brands.But the next questions is – how can you stay at the top of the social media game when there is a never ending list of apps and platforms that you need to stay ahead of your competitors on?

Get on top of your social media game

Step 1 is familiarisation. Familiarise yourslef with the platforms which have the biggest reach, the bigger user reach and the biggest interaction. In becoming fully familiar with all of the available platforms, and eliminating the ones which are essentially white noise and utilising the ones which have the potential to maximise your online business potential – half the battle has been won.
Step 2 – is continuity. A brand will not be built on sporadic posts. To obtain and maintain user engagement there needs to be consistent, frequent posts to grab attention and encourage interaction.
Step 3 – Is adaptability. Technology, platforms and apps are moving, evolving and trending quicker than ever before. It is crucial to be adaptable and move with the times.
As a result of following these 3 simple steps and having a firm understanding of the power of the social takeover, businesses can flourish, grow and expand in ways never before possible.
What an exciting time for businesses in the time ahead. So go on,get connected, what are you waiting for?