Your social media strategy is no longer just an option for your business.

To be able to grab a share of the market that you’re targeting, you need to have a clear social media strategy. This will help you reach your intended customers, engage them to interact with your brand, and sustain the connection. Once this is achieved, you will develop trust and confidence that will in the end give you good public relations returns, as well as what all businesses want to achieve – a strong brand, market share, and a base of loyal followers that keep on increasing.

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There are many reasons why you should take notice of digital media, which includes social media and mobile internet usage. Local, regional, and global studies attest to the effectiveness and outreach of this media; such as the 2013 Global Web Index Report which proves that many consumers around the world spend more time on digital rather than traditional media.

Not only that, even the financial services sector is catching on the trend, according to a study by the consultancy firm Accenture. They surveyed 400 financial advisors in the US, including 1,005 high income individuals in order to generate their report on “Closing the Gap: How Tech-Savvy Advisors Can Regain Investor Trust.”

Apparently, approximately 50% of the financial advisors surveyed use social media to interact with their clients. This is not a one-time deal, but a daily habit, as the report showed.

This just proved that businesses in all industries and whatever sector have nothing to lose but everything to gain by building, enforcing, and strengthening their digital efforts.

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Perhaps one thing that will help entrepreneurs to catch on this trend is to wisely put their operating budget or working capital on items that will boost digital presence; such as on a cloud-based phone system from provider like RingCentral, and a heavy duty and high-capacity smart phone that can integrate with their existing business phone system as well as allow them to constantly connect with customers and prospective clients.

Also, about 74% of the financial advisors surveyed revealed that social media enabled them to increase interaction with their existing clients as well as increase assets under management. Another important thing to note is that social media also enabled these financial advisors to convert prospects into clients.

While personal interaction is important for relationship building, it helps to have other channels of communication that are both convenient and non-intrusive for both parties. Digital media filled this gap, through social media and mobile internet. There is actually nothing new here, except that people and consumers are finding other ways to communicate and are showing comfort, familiarity, and trust on using technological devices to keep in touch.

At this point, industries using social media are differentiated and considered to have better value than their unplugged and “disconnected” counterparts, but in the very near future, social media will just be one of those things offered on the fly.

Thus, the most important thing for businesses to remember at this point is to be quick in establishing a solid strategy on how to use this channel to enhance their enterprise. The key here is to make sure that the digital interaction will not just be another strategy, but a meaningful way to connect with the client.

The end goal is to build better customer relationships. Social media is just another vehicle to take you there.

Henry Conrad is a game developer from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Aside from playing online MMORPG and being a tech enthusiast, he loves online shopping especially addicting new games, comics and stuff. Follow him on Twitter and join me in Google +