Benefits of social media marketing
Marketing is one of the most important parts of running a successful business. Without it, your company cannot grow and thrive. But with the right kind of marketing, you can see your business grow into a titan without working like a slave. This is where social media marketing comes in. If done right, you can get away with only a few hours a week dedicated to marketing but major benefits gained. In fact, the benefits of social media marketing are so many and so effective that 91% of US companies make use of it.
All this sounds very promising but what are the actual benefits? Well, let’s take a look at just some of the biggest gains your company will experience when you start using social media marketing.
Search Engine Rankings
These days, if your company isn’t showing up in search engine results, you should start working on that immediately. The internet has become a reliable way to find answers to the needs of customers and you should be getting your share of that pie.
Posting on social media is a great way to start getting some traffic to your site but you need a little more than that. You need to make use of search engine optimization. Once you’ve got this nailed down, you will be blown away by the results. With this approach, your business will be placed where potential clients will see it, and that’s what you need. High-quality content with the right keywords will achieve this. What you want is for Google results to show your company, and with search engine rankings is how that will happen.
What does this have to do with social media marketing? Social media is considered when Google’s search algorithm comes into play and affects its opinion on your quality and trustworthiness. When you have a loyal following on social media who likes and shares your content, you will become trusted and this will boost your results. Plus, you’ll catch the attention of social media influencers, an invaluable tool at getting closer to your clients.
Back in 2014, Social Media Examiner released its 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report.
This survey showed that almost 60% of marketers who have used social media for longer than a year keeps seeing improved search engine rankings. By now, that number has certainly risen even more.
Brand Loyalty
Loyal customers are what every company wants and need – it’s what keeps them growing and prospering. With a loyal brand following, you get a customer base that trusts you and this leads to more support and ‘word-of-mouth’ advertising that you don’t even need to pay for.
You can get this kind of loyalty by using social media marketing. You can form relationships and even bonds with customers and supporters. Many companies introduce their brands with social media and think that the occasional campaign is enough. Of course, it isn’t. By engaging with customers, you show that you care about them and this is valued much more than even the best advertisements.
By engaging on social media, you will also get to know how your clients and customers think and what could be changed about your brand or company to improve their experience. Nowadays, Millenials trust social media even more than traditional advertising, which means if you reach them through social media marketing, you’re more likely to have their support than not.
Brand Awareness
This plays in with brand loyalty – with more visibility, more people know about you and will support your company. By using social media marketing to broaden and grow your brand awareness, you can reach millions of people. The magic of social media is that it reaches the whole world, not just the audience of a TV or radio advertisement.
And because social media users like to share the things they find appealing, if you do your marketing correctly, you’ll find them sharing your brand with their friends, who will share it with their friends and the cycle will continue. Each shared post reaches new individuals, which grows your brand’s awareness. This, naturally, leads to potential clients. Best of all, you only have to invest a few hours a week into this kind of marketing to start seeing results. Just by having a social media page, your brand will benefit and reach new audiences.
Inbound Traffic
Inbound traffic converts to sales, but if you’re not active on social media, your traffic is limited to just your usual customers. By marketing on social media, your brand and company will receive traffic from all over the world.
Potential customers are searching for keywords related to your company, and with proper social media marketing, they’ll find you and not your competitors. With a social media marketing strategy, you will be reaching outside your loyal customer base. Thanks to this marketing, you will be able to pull in customers that have never heard of you before but realise that they actually want what you have on offer. Ideally, you will have a marketing plan that makes use of more than one social media platform.
A requirement for good social media marketing is great content and using different platforms so you’ll be able to reach more people in more creative ways. The benefits of doing so are, as you’re finding out now, many. Good content helps to draw more visitors to your company’s site and more sales.
Brand Authority
Brand authority grows from brand loyalty as well as customer services. But communication is very important to make your brand more authoritative. When your business is seen posting on social media – being interactive with customers – you will build credibility with potential customers. And this builds your authority in the long run.
Using social media marketing will greatly enhance what people think about your brand – if you do it right of course. Regular interaction and a pleasant vibe on social media go a very long way.
As a result, your happy and satisfied customers will be more than eager to spread the word, adding to your authority in your specific market. It is, after all, on social media that people like to share their opinions, good and bad with others who need information about products and services.
Customers who mention and recommend your product is essentially free marketing and a great way to become more popular. It is also a very organic way to introduce new people to your brand. It certainly feels better than having yet another boring ad thrown in your face.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
When you use social media marketing, you are making your company seem more human and friendly. If a customer comments on your social media pages and you give them personal attention, your company is given a softer appearance. This is good as that is what customers want. Imagine for a moment: Would you buy from the guys who are nice to you when you contact them on social media or the guys who you have to struggle to get a hold of through email and telephone calls? The company that replies to your comments or the one that you can’t even track down on the internet?
A good and satisfying experience on social media will lead to a higher quality customer satisfaction, the heart of all good companies. Customers appreciate feeling appreciated. Every positive interaction will build your social media marketing strategy into a successful way of getting your company exposed to the world. In this case, even complaints are handled with care and friendliness, which makes your company look fantastic.
Conversion Rates
When it comes to effective marketing, conversion rates are what shows whether or not what you’re doing is working or not. With social media marketing, you will definitely see results and it will show in higher conversion rates.
The increased visibility of your company from proper social media marketing will give you more opportunities for better conversion. You’ll have more traffic which means better chances at actual conversion rates.
According to research by Social Media Examiner, more than 60% of marketers have noticed that social media platforms led to lead generation benefits. This means that conversions are really happening and making a difference. In short, putting your brand out there in a place where people are talking, liking and sharing information, your traffic will influence your conversion rates. And social media marketing boosts traffic.
Cost-Effectiveness
You will find that social media marketing is one of the most effective advertising strategies when it comes to cost. Creating profiles on these social media platforms costs nothing in most cases. Paid promotions that are available to companies are usually much more affordable than traditional advertising campaigns. You don’t need an extensive budget to make use of marketing plans on social media and in many cases, you can spend only the minimum and still see great results.
In addition, the returns you get are much greater because this kind of advertising goes global. Take into account all the other benefits already discussed and you will realise that the benefits of social media marketing really are almost limitless and super affordable.
This is one of the reasons that this approach to marketing is so popular. That does mean everyone is trying it, but by no means does that mean everyone is doing it right. If you do it the right way, you will be rising above the legion of others who aren’t making the most of social media for marketing.
Marketplace Insights
Marketers will also find benefit from social media marketing in the form of marketplace insight. This kind of marketing is a brilliant way of finding out what your target market needs straight from the consumers/users themselves.
You can keep a close eye on your social media profiles, the comments and opinions of customers as well as what they’re complaining about. You will learn about the needs and wants of potential customers in a way you could never achieve with surveys or other data collection methods. People’s needs and wants are constantly changing and with active social media activity, you will be able to stay on top of these changes. By making the most of social media platforms and marketing, you will get to know the industry you’re working in better. This means you will be able to take better advantage of the gaps or opportunities that others in your industry aren’t even aware of yet.
You could even learn more about the competition and how they’re making use of social media marketing. And all of this will cost you nothing more than a few hours a week of studying your social media data.
Leading The Pack
Once you’ve established yourself as a trusted brand with in-depth awareness, you can become a leader in your industry. You will have insight isn’t learnt any other way and you will have relationships and bonds with your contacts. Of course, this takes time and dedication, but if you’re serious about your company, you’ll be able to pull it off. All good things take time to master, and social media marketing is no different. However, getting together a clever and experienced team will get you on the right road in no time at all.
Conclusion
Building your company’s brand on social media won’t happen overnight and will take some time to achieve effectively. But when you do, you won’t regret it and you’ll see your company reach new heights. You won’t have to pay fortunes for the invaluable information you’ll have at your disposal and the wide audiences you’ll be reaching. There are so many benefits to taking this marketing approach that you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t start using it sooner.
To get the most benefits from social media marketing, make sure to set goals for your marketing campaign and take the time to keep track of the progress. Should you need some guidance along the way, be sure to check out some of the insightful information we share to keep you focused and on the right track.