In today’s fast-paced era, social media is no more an option for brands and businesses. It is now a necessity for an individual or business. So, what are the impacts and benefits of social media marketing for any business?
Social media marketing might seem like it’s fairly easy to carry out. But, it does require a well-formulated strategy and an in-depth market research that gives you a good idea about the trends in the market.
Here are some statistics that reveal why social media is important for a business. According to reports, 97% marketers and 78% of sales people are using social media to outsell their peers. Social media is effective especially for small businesses in increasing their online presence.
However, the number or percentage of businesses who are not even considering social media marketing for their business is alarming. Almost 50% of small businesses are not using social media! Even more alarming is that an additional 25% don’t plan to use social media in the near future. Here’s a warning, those of you who are not implementing social media for your business are missing tremendous opportunities.
All the businesses that have a presence across various social media channels will agree to all the points that we will be discussing below.
Here are 7 social media marketing advantages:
Brand awareness
Can you recall some advertisements easily? What is the name of this brand?
According to a recent survey, about 90% of marketers claim that social media generated immense exposure for their company and this is one of its primary advantages.
Social networks are now a substantial part of every marketing strategy. Brands are using social media to tell their brand’s story through social media channels which helps to develop your brand’s image.
Pushing out advertisements about your brand helps online viewers to know about your brand. This makes your brand popular and also easily recognizable by the viewers. So having a good presence on social media ensures that your audience recognizes you and can recall your brand easily.
More website traffic
Without implementing social media for your business, the traffic that is drawn to your website consists of only local customers. Just like search engines, users are searching for products or services offered by your business on social media. They do this by entering keywords that are aligned with your business. As a result, businesses that are sharing more posts on social media show up for the relevant keywords and hence are preferred by the customers.
A single post shared by your business on as many relevant channels makes it possible for users to reach your business organically (searching by the keyword). Without using social media for your business, you might always have the same handful of customers who search for your kind of services. Therefore, optimizing your social media posts and being clever with what your write in the captions can bring you more traffic on your website.
Cost effective
Let’s face it, no business wants to spend an extra amount of money for a task that can be done in a lesser amount. The main goal for any business is to get maximum benefit by investing minimum resources. Amongst the various benefits of social media marketing for business, this is indeed one of the key advantages.
Unlike traditional marketing methods that require larger investments, social media is almost free of cost! The only requirement is access to the Internet and a system (be it PC, tablet or laptop) to spread a word about your business across social media channels.
Build online community
Having a presence across relevant social media channels makes it easy for users who are looking for services/products similar to find your business.
This attracts prospective customers who could turn into your permanent customers/clients. If you are present online, you create the opportunity for your brand or business to create a virtual community of your business. In this community, all members can share their experiences and interests. This further makes it possible for you as a business owner or a marketer to directly communicate with the customers. A great example of this is GoPro. GoPro has a large community of users who upload and share their experiences.
Increase sales
Whatever the nature of your business, the main aim for any business is to generate more sales. And when you use social media marketing for a business, you tend to have more chances of having good sales.
Users who had never heard about your business earlier, now know all about your business and the kind of services/products that you are offering. Having a good online presence can have a direct impact on your sales.
Expert authority
As you publish more and more informative content on social media, you start to establish your business as a credible source of information and also an authoritative account on social media. Sharing posts on social media that add value to your users will only lead to establishing your brand or business as credible in the online space. In no time, people will start to refer to your account for information in your domain. For example, RedAlkemi publishes content on digital marketing and is considered a credible source of information on platforms like LinkedIn.
Word of mouth marketing
Have you purchased a business service/product online? According to the recent survey, most of the users use social media as a medium to make other customers aware of their experience with an organization.
When a user is completely satisfied with the business service, they recommend the business to others also. And a negative experience makes the users share their negative experience, which leaves a bad impact on the brand image.
This comes into play when users share their experience with your brand or business on social media. As a result, customers who are happy with your experience and share the same on social media act as word of mouth advertising for your brand or business!
Are you using social media for your business? How did social media help your business grow? Let us know in the comments below!
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