Benefits of Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Even though social media has been used for years on the marketing scene, many people still doubt whether it offers real advantages for business purposes. This is because many don’t get a tangible value from social media management in the short run. The digital media space is crowded with thousands of businesses and individuals vying for the attention of consumers. Plus, the process is time-consuming, so you will have to put a lot of time and make every effort to find your place out there and achieve success. With so many skills to master, social networking sites to pick from, and little ability to show a direct return on investment (ROI), it’s pretty difficult to justify investing time and resources in social media marketing.

Search engine optimization plays a role in increasing site traffic and getting higher page rankings. This is immensely important for every business website. Let’s face it, social media cannot directly boost your search engine ranking. Nevertheless, almost sixty percent of marketers who’ve been utilizing social media for extended periods of time (more than one year) are still seeing increased search engine rankings, according to Social Media Examiner. Getting to number one on Google is the goal – or at least dream – of all website owners. More and more people use Google when searching for information. Since the answer is usually on the first page of search engine results, most of them won’t waste their time navigating through other pages.

Search Engine Rankings

Those whose website is not ranked toward the top will not be noticed.  There are numerous search engine optimization strategies that can help you improve your rankings through social media. Most of them rely on creating high-quality content integrating targeted keywords. For instance, content like blogs, case studies, and infographics can make a social media profile more credible and intriguing. Over time, you will start building a social media community and people (your followers) will “share” and “like” your content.

Increased Brand Awareness

Social media is deemed to be a cost-efficient marketing method for increasing the visibility of just about any business. By implementing an appropriate social media strategy, you can build and grow your brand awareness. That means engagement with a wide audience of clients or consumers. To get your business rolling you will need to make social media profiles. That will allow people to interact with you and your content. It’s a good idea to get sponsors employees, and business partners to “share” and “like” your pages and posts. As they get shared and introduced to new individuals (your potential buyers), an increasing number of people will become familiar with your business. Social media enables you to fill in the gaps and expose your business to a new audience. With regular use, it’s very likely to generate a broad audience and eventually start building your reputation.

Improved Brand Loyalty

Will people switch to other services or products if they are newer or cheaper? Are they willing to pick your brand rather than opting for your competition? Well, it largely depends on brand loyalty. When thinking of world-famous companies such as Apple, Samsung or Nike, you will notice their consumers are very loyal and pick them over the competitive brands on a consistent basis. While social media can’t help you build that kind of brand loyalty overnight, it can “push” you to get there much faster. It gives you a unique opportunity to regularly interact with your consumers and have a real-time communication. Speaking of establishing brand loyalty with the use of social media, there is an interesting report published a few years ago by Texas Tech University. It reveals that brands that consistently engage on social media have higher loyalty in most cases. Other research found that about fifty-three percent of Americans following brands on social media channels are extremely loyal to those brands.

Higher Brand Authority

Not only does social media marketing improve brand loyalty, but it can also build brand equity and humanize it. That leads to higher brand authority in the long run. If you interact with your consumers on a regular basis, other people will believe that what you’re doing is honest and right. When going to brag or compliment about your products or services, many people are inclined to turn to popular social networking sites. When they start posting your brand name, that will catch the interest of the new audience. The more followers that are keeping track of your updates on social media channels, the more authoritative and valuable your brand will be.

Higher Conversion Rates

Social media platforms help people stay connected to their communities, friends, and family. So, why not put your brand in the place where millions of people are talking, sharing, and liking every day? Chances are good that some of those people will mention your brand to their friends who are in need of services or products you offer.  Blog posts, images, videos, and comments may lead readers/viewers to your website. By posting statuses, commenting, and sharing content on social media, your brand becomes more interactive. That results in brand personification. Enhanced visibility and increased traffic boost odds of a conversion. More than half of marketers claim that strong relationships with customers turned positive feedback into sales. Also, studies have shown that the lead conversion rates acquired via social media marketing are one hundred percent higher than those through outbound marketing.

More Inbound Traffic

One of the most valuable benefits of social media marketing is that it increases inbound traffic. Otherwise, you’ll be limited to your current users or customers, i.e. people who are in search of the keywords you’ve already ranked for. Social media lets you push the limits and reach people outside of the circle of your loyal customers. It acts as a melting pot where many different ideas and people exist together. Your social media profiles are gateways to your site. When syndicating content and posts on those profiles, you actually increase the chances of acquiring new customers. Keep in mind that only high-quality and relevant content generates more inbound traffic. More traffic further generates more conversions and more leads. Hubspot has published some interesting statistics that prove the effectiveness of social media marketing. According to this source, more than eighty-four percent of marketers found that it’s possible to increase traffic with just about six hours of work per week.

Better Customer Satisfaction

As you already know, social media channels are designed as communication and networking platforms. If you want to humanize your company (brand), take full advantage of these platforms to create a ‘voice’ for your business. Your brand should be devoted to the satisfaction of your customers. By interacting with customers on social media accounts, you publicly send a message of compassion to them. Whether they have a complaint or a question, social media lets you address their problem through interpersonal dialogue. That said, take the time to write personal messages. Consumers appreciate knowing that they’re receiving a personalized response to their comments or questions instead of automated messages. That makes a huge difference to them.

Gain Customer & Marketplace Insights

Another good reason to use social media for business purposes is to find out how your customers behave and what they’re interested in. You can gain valuable information by monitoring their comments and activities on your profiles. That lets you know their opinions regarding your business – the needs and thoughts of your consumers. It’s advisable to syndicate your content for different topics in order to see which kind of content results in the most interest. Logically, you will want to create and post more of that kind of content in the future. Mix and match different options until you find an ideal combination that generates revenue. Social media performance can be measured by means of various tools and platforms, such as Google Analytics, HootSuite, Simplify360, Sprout Social, and RowFeeder. Do not hesitate to make use of them. These tools come in handy when you want to examine the demographics of customers and measure conversions.

Thought Leadership

Do you want to stand out from the rest? Would you like to become a notable influencer or leader in a certain field? Then strive to create well-written and insightful posts on social media. That will not only make you an expert but also a leader. This is a daunting challenge to newcomers though. It requires consistent work and upgrading. To build your presence on social media, you also should utilize online networking tools as well as social media platforms. Promote your authority, share content, reach your target audience and connect with them directly.  Thought leadership is one of the key components of content marketing. It implies providing the deepest and the best answers to the biggest questions of your customers in a format they like to consume. Thought leadership content allows anyone engaged in the important business decisions to achieve strategic alignment among peers. Once your marketing efforts get aligned with an effective social media campaign, your followers will be looking up to you.

Lower Marketing Costs

Would you like to run a campaign marketing without breaking the bank? If so, social media marketing is an excellent cost-effective solution for you. Many marketers incorporate social media marketing into their advertising strategy because it provides good value and good results for the amount paid. It’s completely free to sign up and create profiles on most social networking platforms. By the way, paid social media promotions are relatively affordable in comparison to other marketing strategies. We recommend that you start with a smaller budget when going for paid advertising so as to see what affects you can expect. If it works, you may increase your advertising budget and adjust your strategy after a while. That enables you to save money for other business and marketing expenses. In addition, you will be able to generate an increased ROI and increase conversion rates as well.

Increased Reviews

Reviews are extremely important to your business because most people trust online reviews. For that reason, you should cautiously watch over them on social media. Make every effort to keep reviews positive all the time. Good reviews have the potential to sway buyers to use different products than the ones they originally wanted. Why should you aim to build strong relationships with customers and other experts in your industry? Simply because it’s going to increase the likelihood of landing some new leads. Additionally, you will be referred to prospective customers.

Improved Customer Service

Even though your customer service is highly dedicated and easily reachable through phone and email, you should always consider the communication method your consumers prefer. This is where social media comes into play. Social media lets businesses instantaneously field questions, comments, and concerns of their customers. This is important because all consumers would like to be sure that you will help them in a short period of time when encountering a problem. Chances are your consumers use the popular social networks like Twitter and Facebook. When communicating with them directly and answering their questions publicly, others will be able to see how high quality and prompt your customer service is. The NM Incite survey has shown that seventy-one percent of users receiving a prompt response on social networking sites are likely to recommend choosing that brand to others.

CONCLUSION

As you can see, there are many benefits of social media marketing. Our Canadian Social Media Marketing leads to improved search engine rankings, increased traffic, higher brand authority, better customer satisfaction, higher conversion rates, and much more. You only need to find a way to turn social media to your advantage. If your business still has no social media profiles, consider creating them as soon as possible. It’s a cost-effective type of marketing, so you’ve got nothing to lose. Give it a go and let us know how it has benefited your brand.

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