Introduction
When you think about skydiving, what comes to mind? An adventure filled with the full flow of adrenaline, where every moment counts. This experience may seem worlds apart from SaaS business, yet there is an expected convergent point. The same way no one would dare jump out of a flying plane without a parachute, you also wouldn’t dare starting a SaaS business without leveraging social media, especially in this digital era.
On average, eleven people start using social media every second. It is a bustling city that never gets a sleep and the network grows fast and becomes larger than the population of China. Think about it. That is the extent of scale and reach that social media platforms offer a newly established SaaS business.
Social media, since invention, has impacted different industries and there is only one result when used to an advantage; rapid growth and expansion. In an industry like SaaS, customer engagement, brand promotion and lead creation are some of the most important elements of marketing that must be right for growth to be realized, and that is where social media has come in handy over the past two decades.
Social Media Impact on Customer Interaction, Product Exposure and Customer Feedback in the SaaS Industry
Since eleven people get on social media every second, it important to note that most of potential customers interact with products on social media before making their decision. In fact, data shows that 76 percent of online users made a decision to buy a product they saw on a brand’s website. 65 percent of United States consumers said that a link they found in social media posts led them to products they were not intending to buy.
According to Sprout Social, 78 percent of consumers are likely to purchase from a brand if it engages on social media.
Furthermore, SaaS companies have been able to interact easily with customers on social media. They have also been able to collect the views and feedback regarding products. These companies, according to research, are amongst the 90 percent of companies that have credited social media for their business exposure. Social media has helped SaaS companies increase their leads and sales.
Social Media Impacted Segmentation for Tailored Messaging
The SaaS industry depends heavily on market segmentation of audience, for the purposes of understanding target audience. Social media made it easier for companies to divide target audience into smaller, manageable groups based on shared characteristics. For a market as crowded as SaaS, social media has impacted the way individual players effectively segment it for relevant and personalized messaging.
Social media enabled segmentation into three categories:
- Behavioral Segmentation – grouping based on behavior, for example, pattern of usage of the product, past purchases or engagement with previous campaigns.
- Engagement-level segmentation – social media has made it easy for the companies in the SaaS industry to know those with minimal interaction with a product and those who highly engage with the same product. This made it easy for companies to provide value to the active ones while providing tailored messaging to nurture the less engaged.
- Needs-based Segmentation – social media has impacted the groups created because companies can now segment audiences based on the needs and challenges, while providing solutions that resonate with each group.
Spoilt for Choices when Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms
The existence of social media platforms has offered several options for companies within the industry to choose from. For SaaS companies, being on social media platforms is not enough. The most important thing is to be on the right social media platform.
Presence of social media platforms has informed the decision of companies in terms of understanding every platform’s user demographic and content strengths.
For instance, companies have come to realize that LinkedIn is mostly used when trying to reach the professionals, X is used when trying to reach young and tech-savvy individuals. YouTube, on the other hand, is used for wide-ranging needs, including educational and entertainment content.
As a result of this, SaaS companies have been able to choose platforms where their target audiences are most active. For example, For B2B SaaS, companies have learnt that X and LinkedIn are more effective, while B2C SaaS companies have gone for platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Final Thoughts
The power of social media in this digital era is undeniable. Several companies have embraced social media as an important tool for their survival and growth. Those in SaaS industry have not been left behind.
Not only has social media impacted the way SaaS companies interact with potential and current customers, but it has also helped companies keep up with what is trendy and relevant in the industry.