Meeting and interacting with people in your industry provides you with connections you need to move your business forward. Networking skills even provide you with connections you didn’t think you would need – until you did.
Luckily, there’s an app for that.
Several, actually. Never have there been more opportunities to engage your buyers. Social media, it seems, has overtaken the Internet. While some may bemoan its presence as taking away from that “personal” connection, social networking has created myriad opportunities for marketers to reach out to consumers and engage them on a whole new level.
According to Social Media Examiner, there are more than 800 million active Facebook users – 53 percent of whom follow at least one brand on Facebook. Mashable.com went on to reveal that when consumers follow a brand, it’s because they’re current customers (58 percent) or want to receive promotions (57 percent). What’s more, of those followers, 56 percent of them are more likely to recommend that brand to a friend, according to Mashable.
What does this mean for the fresh-cut industry? If you’re not present on social media, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Social networking sites are no longer a second thought for consumers. They are an expectation. Consumers expect to be able to visit sites such as Facebook and find the brands they purchase on a regular basis – and discover new ones.
And they expect to be able to interact with them on a more intimate level than simply visiting that company’s website. They expect a relationship. Unfortunately, All Twitter reports that 95 percent of consumers’ wall posts to companies go unanswered.
In this online, 24/7 world, your networking opportunities are so plentiful that it can be hard to keep up.
Luckily, there’s an app for that, too.
Well, maybe not an app. But a company. Great American Media Services, publisher of Fresh Cut, has launched a media services division. Our goal? To help you develop relationships with your customers – be they purchases of processing equipment or shoppers of salads. We want to help you manage your social media presence – and reputation – while actively engaging with your customers and giving them a deeper relationship with your brand.
If you’d like to hear more about this service, email me at kwarren@greatamericanpublish.com, or call me at 616-887-9008, ext. 110. I’d love to talk with you about the plethora of media services we offer.
