Every business today needs to leverage proper social media channels in the best possible way. Not because it’s the “in thing”, and not because it sounds simple, but because their target audience is hanging around the popular social networks. And they’re engaging with their favorite brands and connecting with them on
different levels.
Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2018, an estimated 2.65 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 3.1 billion in 2021.
So what does this mean for you? Well, not only are your potential customers on social media, there’s also a good chance that many of them are checking these sites every day. It doesn’t matter if you run a small local shop or a big national company. Social media is an essential piece of your business
marketing strategy.
Social platforms help you connect with your customers, increase awareness about your brand, and boost your leads and sales. With more than three billion people around the world using social media every month, it’s no passing trend.
Facebook, the largest social media platform in the world, has 2.4 billion users. Other social media platforms including Youtube and Whatsapp also have more than one billion users each.
These numbers are huge – there are 7.7 billion people in the world, with at least 3.5 billion of us online. This means social media platforms are used by one-in-three people in the world, and more than two-thirds of all internet users.
Social media has changed the world. The rapid and vast adoption of these technologies is changing how we market our businesses, pique interest and gain leads.
If you still need convincing, here are 5 more reasons to take advantage of social media marketing.
Social media boosts your visibility among potential customers, letting you reach a wide audience by using a large amount of time and effort. And it’s free to create a business profile on all the major social networks, so you have nothing to lose. Creating and sharing your business-specific content presents you with a way to humanize your brand, and gain an inline persona and presence. present your brand’s voice and personality. By posting compelling content that adds value for your target audience, you are making your brand both more accessible and familiar for new leads and current customers.
Social connections and genuine communication are integral parts of social media, and this type of outreach gives you an opportunity to attach a face, name, and personality to your brand. Social media marketing and outreach allow you to show the human side of your business through one-on-one conversations, personal tidbits, and nonbusiness interaction.
Even if you automate parts of your social media activity, you can fit in a moderate amount of live, on-the-spot communication to create richer, more "human" relationships that go beyond direct customer service. No one wants to feel like they are talking to a bot.
According to Forbes, 62% of millennials say that if a brand engages them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. Businesses can achieve brand loyalty on social media by sharing valuable content or useful content with followers. Both current customers and potential customers need to know they are learning something, feeling something, or being offered something by interacting and following brand pages.
Social media allows you to build relationships and interact with customers in real-time, adding a pretty impressive personal touch. It’s the building of this relationship that creates a sense of partnership, belonging, and brand loyalty.
Social media is an effective way to build relationships with leads and customers that lead to greater satisfaction and loyalty over time. In fact, a study from Texas Tech University shows that brands who engage with their current customers and target audience on social media channels enjoy higher loyalty from their customers.
When brands master the art of educating, entertaining and informing their digital audience, they become one-step-closer to garnering brand loyalty.
Chipotle Ad.
Social Media Marketing allows you to super-segment your marketing efforts, ensuring your content falls on the desired eyes of your choice. Most social media platforms allow brands to use ads to sponsor their businesses to get them in front of the right audience and promote their content. More and more businesses are taking advantage of this tactic to further their reach and boost visibility.
The exact audience that your business is targeting is on social media. You can find them based on what they are talking about and the data that is associated with their profiles. This is a huge advantage for brands with a niche or local market. Use social media as a way to find your customers and solve any needs or problems they may have.
Some businesses do not have the capacity to pack their bags and travel around the nation informing consumers about their products and services. Instead, they let the Internet (specifically social media ads), do it for them.
Social media ads allow you to reach a whole new set of consumers that you may not have had the ability to reach before.
Move over billboards, move over bus kiosks--there’s a new sheriff in town, and it social media marketing. It costs more to print flyers than to make a post on social media. There are Facebook ad campaigns that reach more people than billboards. YouTube, which is the second largest search engine in the world, can be more cost efficient than network TV ads. Social media allows brands to be laser focused and spend less on advertising.
Social media is one of the most cost-efficient digital marketing methods used to syndicate content and increase your business' visibility. Implementing a social media strategy will greatly increase your brand recognition since you will be engaging with a broad audience of consumers.
If you decide to use paid advertising on social media, always start small to see what you should expect. As you become more comfortable, fine tune your strategy and try increasing your budget. Just by spending a small amount of time and money you can significantly increase your conversion rates and eventually get return on investment on the money you initially invested.
Search engine optimization is very important for achieving higher page rankings and obtaining traffic to your business website. While social media doesn't directly increase search engine rankings, Social Media Examiner states that more than 58% of marketers who have been using social media for one year or longer still see improved search engine rankings. Being able to rank in the top positions for your keywords will revolutionize your traffic and continue to generate positive results for your business.
Let's face it, everyone uses Google to find information, and they likely won't navigate past page 1 because their answer normally is on the first page of results. If your business website isn't ranked towards the top of search engine results, you should probably adjust your search engine optimization strategy. To give yourself the best chance of ranking better through social media, create high quality content that integrates your targeted keywords.
Content such as blogs, infographics, case studies, business information, and employee photos will make your business's social media profile intriguing and credible. Once you begin posting quality content, you'll begin to build a social media community where followers will "like" and "share" your content. Most importantly, it gives you more opportunities to get in front of industry influencers who will write about your business and provide links back - which will help to directly increase search engine rankings.
If you’re looking to expand your reach and impression online, and find new ways to build a lasting digital brand, connect with us today.
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