We live in a digital society so, to thrive, businesses need a digitally skilled workforce, not only in their IT department, but throughout the organisation. Most business leaders recognise the importance of social media and digital marketing, but are only starting to catch up with the reality of what skill sets are needed.
An estimated one-third of organisations lack basic digital skills. In most cases, leaders and managers recognise the shortage of skills in their organisation but are inhibited from investing in training by constraints on their budgets.
7 reasons why businesses should invest in social media and digital marketing?
Your investment in your workforce’s digital skills will help
- Increase your online exposure and reputation
- Drive traffic to your website and increase brand awareness
- Enable you to learn more about, and expand your market
- Generate leads
- Increase and improve sales
- Improve search ranking
- Increase customer satisfaction
Social media increase your brand’s visibility, giving your company broader exposure as a result. Social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook function as an extension of your website, amplifying your message to bigger, and more targeted audiences. They help to keep your name in front of the market and to opens up new markets.
Once you start telling your story online your customers start connecting with you, enabling you to develop a relationship with them – one built on trust, transparency and listening, responsive customer service – that builds brand loyalty
The first step is for businesses to pinpoint what they would like to achieve through social media and digital marketing and to set measurable and realistic goals. Once these goals are clear than they can identify the skillset needed to achieve them.
5 basic skills/knowledge areas you need to be effective on social media
- Understanding the different social media channels and effectively using them for your business goals
- Visual Branding – Understanding the importance of using a consistent brand image across channels
- Listening – basic knowledge of social listening tools
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) skills – Creating content that, over time, ensures your brand, product or commentary appears higher in Google searches.
- Analytical Skills – Being able to measure the impact of your social media efforts
You do not need to be an expert in every one of these but learning these basic skills will make a significant difference to your business. And, in today’s digital society, it is crucial to have enough of an idea to get started or to hire the right talent.
Westminster Business School’s intensive three-hour Strategic Social Media Skills for Executives Workshop will prepare you and your company for a digital future without clearing out your training budget. And, as a big bonus, this workshop also includes a professional photo shoot with John Cassidy, The Headshot Guy.
Meral Crifasi specialises in social media strategy and digital marketing. She has designed and implemented social media strategies and channels for a series of high-calibre brands. Meral’s clients include the University of Westminster and technology start-ups such as iPushPull , Rezzable, iCharts and Penton Media Europe. She is multilingual and is active across multiple social media platforms. She also teaches Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing at Westminster Business School
