Wait… Your Business Isn’t on Social Media!? 8 Benefits Social Media Marketing Provides Businesses
In the year 2020, we still have hundreds of thousands of businesses that are not present on social media. But why!? Social Media Marketing provides businesses with free tools to easily connect and communicate with their existing and potential customers online. Not only that, but now social media is being used more for customer service inquiries and fostering an engaging social community giving users more options to interact with their favorite brands.
If you have always had the mindset that social media can’t help your business, we have 8 benefits to share with you!
#1 Fosters Creativity
Social media gives individuals and businesses a chance to explore their own voice and creativity. Whether you want your brand to include humorous, serious, educational, or inspiring messaging, you have the power to create that and share it with your audience! Before engaging with social media platforms, be sure you know the ins and outs of your brand to effectively communicate about it online. Nothing is worse than a brand that doesn’t know their true identity.
#2 Helps Build Engaged Communities
By posting regular updates to your chosen social media channels, you are helping users learn more about your business. From the services or products you offer, to your company culture and industry inspiration, a variety of ideas exist to inform online users about your business. It is said that 90% of people buy from brands they follow on social media, so wouldn’t you want to keep them updated about new offerings in your business to keep them a customer for life?
Not only can you keep users engaged with regular social media posting, but you can also share user-generated content to your pages, helping to provide stronger customer and brand loyalty. If someone takes the time to showcase or credit your business online, it is always best practice to share it back to your community.
#3 Faster, Easier Customer Care
Long gone are the days where users are waiting days if not weeks for a response back from customer service. Now users are jumping onto social media to message brands directly and expecting an answer in less than 24 hours. With automated bots and other messaging tools available on social media platforms, customer care is becoming faster and easier than ever before.
#4 Branding, Branding, Branding
Branding encompasses many aspects of a business, but for social media it is one of the most valuable. Conversions from social media aren’t typically high, however the impression your brand gives off online and the reputation you build significantly enhances this opportunity. By keeping your brand image and messaging consistent across social media platforms, you’re further enforcing users to keep your brand top of mind during certain buying decisions.
#5 Compliments Advertising
You’ve likely heard the term, pay to play, and those words certainly ring true on social media. While posting consistent, engaging content to your pages is important, the opportunities for increased reach, web traffic, and conversions aren’t as abundant through organic means. By combining your organic and paid social media efforts you have the ability to not only educate your customers about your brand and business, but you can also target individuals with dedicated ads to meet any business goal you’re looking to accomplish. From increased followers and web traffic to more video views and brand awareness, social media advertising provides endless opportunities to meet your goals.
#6 Cost-Effective
Traditionally, social media marketing has been the most cost-effective digital marketing tactic. Why? Because you can place your business on social media platforms for FREE! While yes, social media is time consuming and you may look to hire out, agencies offering social media traditionally price this lower than other digital marketing services.
#7 Helps Strengthen SEO
As a digital marketing company, we love this benefit the most! For years, the debate on whether or not social media can help SEO has been non-stop. By combining these marketing efforts, social media can help:
- Boost local search results
- Increase brand recognition
- Take up more real estate in search engines (ie. Ranking your Facebook page, Instagram page, etc.)
- Provide increased page strength via post sharing
- Improve online visibility
Users have a variety of ways to find businesses online. From a Google Search, to an advertisement, to a social media post, to a friend recommendation, users can find your business through multiple avenues and combining your online efforts allows your business increased opportunities to capture the attention of potential customers.
#8 Provides Authenticity
Users are getting smarter when it comes to identifying legitimate brands online. By posting regularly on social media, you can show consumers that your brand is genuine and authentic. Avoid being salesy and aggressive online as this will turn off users. Consumers want to feel inspired, entertained, and learn about a brand’s story on social media, so focus your content strategy around these 3 points.
We understand you may see some challenges as it pertains to the time social media requires or the platforms you have to chose from, but your business should no longer ignore the benefits social media marketing can have for your business. Interested in getting started? Contact us today for a free social media consultation!
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