Believe it or not, but some people still own flip phones, and the number one comment I continue to hear from clients is "what is social media marketing going to do for me? Do I really need it?".
Yes, you do!
Did you know that 90% of all marketers say social media marketing has increased their business exposure? Or that 66% of marketers that spend at least 6 hours on the social media platforms per week have seen more leads? No matter what type of product or service you sell and who you sell it to, the use of social media as a marketing tool can definitely help you grow your brand awareness and increase your sales.
Here are five compelling reason why you should be using social media marketing for your business:
1. Social Media Marketing and Advertising is very important for Web Traffic
You alreeady know that a substantial portion of your customers and potential leads are on social media. This recent Pew Research Center study found that 68% of American adults are on Facebook. Among 18 to 24-year-olds, 78% use Instagram and 45% use Twitter. Even the age group 65 and older, are social media users (37%).
Having access to all those potential customers helps you boost your traffic, in particular when publishing new site content. It can take a while for Google to catch your new blog post or updates made to your homepage. Therefore, very few customers will know about your new content until they are maybe searching for your product or service.
Using social media and posting your blog content, for exmaple, provides an opportunity for the social media users worldwide to find your new content and click through to your website.
Those posts will show up in the newfeeds of followers and people interested in your product or service. The two results of these actions are (1) very targeted traffic/ higher traffic numbers, and (2) you are attracting and bringing the type of visitors to your published content and website you are expecting to reach.
Your content strategy is the most important factor for your search rankings. But driving traffic to your content pages will help them to climb much faster. In addition to sharing your new content, simply re-share content (each post) once a month. Social media posts can increase your reach by tagging the relevant accounts related to or included in your content. Doing so makes it far more likely for followers to share or retweet your content and once again it will drive traffic back to your website.
2. Social Media is THE BEST Tool to Connect
Social media marketing is a very effective tool to help you understand your audience, by interacting with your customer base. Their posts, tweets, and updates will help you gain insights into their daily lives, consumer behaviors, and answer multiple questions (What products are they buying and why?, What hobbies do they have?, What posts do they love to share?, What websites do they visit?). These insights have obvious marketing benefits. When you understand your customers, you can write better content and more compelling posts, which leads to more traffic. But the benefits can sometimes go far beyond marketing, helping you identify customer pain points, improve sales conversions and even refine your product strategy.
For consumers, social media like Instagram, Facebook, etc. are social networks and not marketing machines. Customers don’t want to be pitched to — they want authentic engagement. So when you stop seeing social media as a way to pitch your customers, bombarding them with discount codes, new product announcements and customer reviews; and start seeing and using it as a way to connect with them, it will transform your brand. You become part of social conversation by helping customers answer their questions, entertaining and informing them with relevant and relatable content or bonding over shared interests. Over time, you will transform from being just a brand, but instead become a part of the community.
Social media platforms also offer highly targeted ads, which can be customized around your customers’ needs. Facebook ads, for example, can target customers by factors like age, location, education level, industry and even user behavior — e.g. the pages a user has liked. And in terms of an event, it can help you get noticed to even earn media coverage. Whatever metrics you use to evaluate and measure the success of an event, it will always demand proper promotion. Your active social media presence will benefit your social promotion actions.
3. Brand Image Thrives on Social Media Marketing
Social media is key to customer service. Study after study has shown that consumers will reward companies that respond to their requests and complaints. A strong and engaged social media marketing presence will help you to keep customers happy, and keep your public image positive. Customers expect you to solve a problem with your product or service right away. But there are only a few companies meeting those expectations. A Sprout Social study found that, on average, customers want responses to social media companies within four hours (industry average response time is about 10 hours!). And if you think this doesn't directly affect your profits, here is a Twitter study that shows you otherwise.
We already know that brands with active social media profiles have more loyal customers. So when you are taking the time to engage your following by providing useful information, help and entertainment, without asking for anything in return, you are building a connection. It also shows your customers you value them, and in a competitive market it will make a huge difference.
Social media is actually the perfect addition to your PR- and overall Marketing strategy, especially when you are launching a new product or making a huge change in your company. But most people get the distribution part wrong, because traditional press release distribution services are overrated. First of all, the SEO value of press release distribution via wire services is exactly zero, and has been for years. Second, press release distribution services are expensive and rarely produce ROI. Social media, on the other hand, provides you with an opportunity to reach your target audience in a more personal and conversational way. Your followers can interact with you and your released content right then and there, if they have any questions.
4. The Right Strategy Can Help You Beat the Competition
The existing world of social media branding can feel very intimidating. But it is a lot easier than you think, because most brands are not doing it right. Big brands may have sophisticated social media presences, but Small - and Medium Enterprises rarely do. They start creating social media accounts, because it is not expensive and it is what everyone else does. But without investing in a carefully planned social media strategy - Without making an impact. I
Big brands have obvious advantages: better name recognition, bigger budgets, and most likely more influencers who want to engage with their brand. But SMEs have one big built-in social media advantage most big brands don’t: authenticity. If you are an entrepreneur with an inspiring story, a local company with ties to your community or an underground brand offering something new and exciting to early adopters, that can resonate with consumers — even if you don’t have a massive ad budget.
Don't try to do what your competitors are doing, just take the time to develop your strategy and find a way to connect with your own market in a way that builds your own brand. Post regularly and respond to messages and comments promptly. Even if your competitors have been on social media longer than you have, you can build a following they can’t possibly match.
An active social media team is key to effective news-jacking. It will enable you to track and react quickly to current events. Your brand could get mentioned on a TV show, or tweeted about by an influencer. If you can jump in and engage with the story while everyone is paying attention, it can lead to viral posts, traffic boosts, press coverage and greater visibility for your brand. If you join in too late, it will look like you are just another company trying to ride the trend.
5. Social Media Marketing is Important for Sales and ROI
Social media marketing is important for your business, because it will get you more sales. By accompanying the customer journey digitally and providing the right content at the right time, social media marketing will do far more than just increasing brand presence - it can influence customer buying decisions at multiple points along their customer journey.
Social media marketing enables you to search out customers looking for information related to your product — even if they aren’t familiar with your company. If you follow, for example, specific keywords related to your industry or products, you can spot people talking about those products. Instantly you can become part of the conversation in a positive manner by directing them to your site, or explaining them how your product can address their needs.
From joining Facebook groups to answering Quora questions, social media provides multiple opportunities to demonstrate your expertise. And if you use this strategy regularly, it can greatly increase your brand’s reach in Google search. Especially new leads, impressed with your helpful information, will be more likely to visit your website to purchase your products after these types of positive social interactions.
By boosting the right social media posts, you can bring in a lot of traffic at a fraction of the cost of targeted Google ads. As of 2018, the average Google AdWords cost per click varied from $1.20 to $5.27. But depending on the keyword targeted, you could end up paying $50 or more for a single click. Boosted posts and targeted ads, for example, give you a lot more control over when your message gets amplified, which means you can spend your advertising budget more strategically by focusing on the posts that matter most to your audience.
Social media marketing is fun! The chance of building real connections by interacting with your audience, expressing yourself and what your brand is about, is incredibly rewarding. No marketing tool or technique plays a bigger role in influencing your brand perception than social media.
Are You Ready To Go Social?!
Regularly interact with followers, improve your public image and give your brand the sales it deserves!