Social media must be a part of your marketing strategy, no matter whether you have a large or small business. Companies that don’t have active social media accounts miss out on great marketing opportunities.
Social media provides one of the best ways to find prospective customers, connect with them, and establish relationships that give you the opportunity to turn them into loyal customers.
It is easy to get started and you can enhance your visibility if you invest in SEO tools. Here are a few of the many benefits for your business of innovative and strategic social media marketing.
Grow your business cost-effectively
Marketing can be expensive and costs add up very quickly. Social media advertising allows you to get the most value for any money you spend. Placing ads on social platforms will give you the opportunity to grow your business despite its size or your budget. You can always start small, see what works, and increase how much you spend over time.
If you opt for content that entertains or educates instead of using hard-selling ads, you’re more likely to achieve your goals. Customers are far more discerning than they were in the past and don’t like aggressive sales tactics.
By sharing valuable content, you give users a reason to click through to your website. The more quality content you share, the more inbound traffic you will get and the more chance you have of conversions.
The digital marketing head says that customers want to support approachable, knowledgeable, trustworthy brands. You need to convey these qualities to them through what you post on social media. Look for ways to demonstrate that you are a thought leader in your industry. For example, write articles that show your expertise on LinkedIn.
Build awareness of your brand
By using social media, you can reach a wide audience. It is free to create a profile for your business on all social networks. Of course, it is important to find out which social media platforms your potential customers use most so you can focus your efforts in the right place. You will also need to use specific strategies and know exactly what you want to achieve.
Social channels feel more personal than websites so they provide a great way for customers to get a sense of a company’s personality. This makes getting to know your brand more engaging, fun and personal for them.
People respond to authenticity. They want to see the people behind the brand and feel emotionally engaged. Stay true to your brand image – funny, formal, quirky, or casual – and remain consistent in the way you use your brand voice. Customer satisfaction and brand loyalty go hand in hand so one of your main goals should be to establish a loyal customer base.
Encourage customer engagement
If you build up two-way communication with your customers, you understand more about what they want from you and you can start giving it to them.
There are various ways to encourage engagement, such as hosting a live streaming Q&A session via Facebook Live or posting a behind-the-scenes tour of your business on Instagram Stories.
Your customers will also appreciate receiving a personal message when they post a comment rather than an automated response. If you regularly interact with your customers, it helps them to feel you genuinely care about them. Once you have satisfied customers, they are often vocal in their support of you and they are likely to become brand ambassadors who spread the news about your products or services.
Enhance your SEO rankings
In 2014 Google’s Matt Cutts shocked the marketing community when he released a video saying that social signals did not affect search rankings.
Research published by Optinmonster in 2019 differed in that it found that social popularity does help with Google ranking.
Whether social shares affect the position of your web page in search engine rankings or not, your social profiles influence the content of search results. It pays to keep your profiles up-to-date with relevant information and engaging content. “You will find that some of the top results for prominent brand names are their social media profiles.”, said John O. who works at MIMY.
Offer support to your customers
Social media engagement has broken down barriers between brands and their customers. Customers will often use social media channels to find information or solve problems because they provide a convenient and accessible option.
It is important for you to have a system to track customer comments, queries or complaints so you can always respond quickly. When you receive any criticism, you should always listen to it and make your customers feel heard if they raise valid issues.
A final word
Statistics show that more consumers are choosing to make purchases online and the way they interact on social media influences their purchasing decisions. This makes it important for brands to use social media and adapt to the changes in advertising and marketing.
No-one can deny that social media marketing offers many advantages. Using the right social media marketing strategies will lead to more traffic, more brand authority, improved brand loyalty, better SEO, more customer satisfaction and increased sales.
