Bill Gates once said ‘640kb ought to be enough for anybody’ but as we move into 2021 we now find ourselves struggling with a standard 20mb internet connection. The world is more online than it has ever been before, whether you would like to accept it or not, and additional to that it’s now become a very clear habit in the way we research, gossip, communicate and buy.

Did you know it takes doing 66 days for something to become a habit, with more people staying at home, causing a rise in online networking and social media research being online is a habit that’s here to last.

But your audience isn’t online, I hear you say. Then I challenge you to consider how long you’ve been saying that, and if that was right 5 years ago is it the same now. We need to accept that our audience is getting younger, even if we consistently target 40-50 year olds each year new people with new characteristics are falling into that 40’s target audience.

To break down it down, 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Generation X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are active social media users, social media is getting more used.

So why use Social Media in 2021

Know more about your customers

Do you know you ICP (ideal customer profile). By being on social media, you can use the analysis tools offered in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google to find out more about the people that are interacting with you and who out of those buy. This includes age, location, gender, and their interests. This information will help to reflect on your ideal customer profile. This will in turn help with what content to deliver on your social media page in the future, and knowing what it takes to convert a prospect into a client.

Customers can find your business easier

Think about the steps you take to find a business, shop or store and their opening hours. What do you do?

1. Pick up your phone and open Chrome, Google Search, or Safari
2. Type in their name
3. Look at their Google My business listing for opening hours, or click on their website.

Do you want to know if the new hairdresser in town has Sky football TV to watch? (Apparently it’s a thing) Again, you most likely check via an app on your phone online.

I believe not being online is more damaging then not having a branded van.

For those of you that don’t have a website, you can use social media for free to create a landing page that when optimised can appear in Google or Bing searches. Customers can use it to find out your opening hours, your location, and your services. They can also use it to check for any current promotions e.g., 20% off. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter all these have space to leave detailed info but do use the one where your customers hang out, not just the one you know.

Customers are using social media to research products

Your social media account is a great place to share your products and services. By putting out content customers can decide if your business is able to meet their needs. For example, you can post about what paints and tools you use. Or about the different services you offer e.g. painting kitchen furniture. Did you know 54% of social browsers use social media to research products? Social media allows you to be versatile and bring new products and services to the market place quickly and test what the feedback might be.

User-generated content increases selling power of your brand

In 2020 we found that more customers where eager to get involved in helping promote brands then ever before. Community spirit was raised, and even though larger businesses such as Amazon thrived, people turned to local service based businesses for practical support.

User-generated content is content created by customers e.g., photos, videos, text, audio. For example, a customer might share a video of their newly-painted kitchen. Content created organically by customers increases trust in a brand. 50% of consumers say that seeing user-generated content would increase their chances of buying products through a brand’s social media.

In 2021 we need to use this to our advantage encouraging customers to post images or leave reviews on platforms such as on Google My Business and Facebook. If again you’re in the mindset that there’s no point asking because your customers wont, I challenge you to think what might be stopping them, what you can do about that, or even if you really do ask or just speculate.

These are just a few of the points off the top of my mind. Of course, there are many more reasons why we should be using social media and how using it is going to improve the amount of sales we make within our decorating businesses. If you want to find more, and not already a member, join our free Facebooks marketing and business support group,